The usual time and temperature for baking layer cakes is 400 deg. Fah., for twenty minutes. Loaf cakes, made with butter, with or without chocolate, take a temperature of from 350 deg. to 375 deg, Fah. for from forty minutes to an hour. These temperatures are approximate, and are in accordance with the general rules for oven temperature, but this has to be adapted to the recipe. The more sugar used the lower should be the temperature, to avoid burning, and especially when molasses is used does the need to decrease temperature become imperative. The more butter used the higher should be the temperature, at least, until the cake is "set," to keep it from falling. Cakes with much butter need the greatest heat at first, and then a reduced temperature. So do all cakes of small size. Large cakes are better at a uniform temperature, not so high as the average. A different flavor is produced, especially in very rich cakes with a good many eggs, when put into a cool oven and baked with gradually increasing heat, from that developed by a high initial temperature and then a decreased heat. The quality of the flour and shortening also affect the temperature and time needed in baking. It is a good safe thing to follow the rules, and to temper them with judgment. When the cake is just firm in the center, and has shrunk from the sides of the pan, it is done, no matter what the temperature has been or how long it has baked. But you will always get your cake at this condition, more surely and safely, by following the rules, though you must be on the alert to use them with flexibility. QUERY NO. 4248.--"Will you please give me a recipe for Canned Pimientoes?" Canned Pimientoes Cut round the stem of each, and with a small, sharp knife remove the seeds and the white partitions inside. Set on a baking sheet in a hot oven until the thin outside skin puffs and cracks, then remove it with a small, sharp knife. Or they may be scalded, then dipped into cold water and the skin be carefully removed. Sometimes the skin is left on. Now press each one flat, and arrange them in layers, alternately overlapping one another, in the jars, without liquid, and process for twenty-five to thirty-five minutes at 212 deg. Fah. During the processing a thick liquid should exude, covering the pimientoes. QUERY NO. 4249.--"I should like a recipe for New York Ice Cream." Classes of Ice Cream There are three distinct classes of Ice Cream: The Philadelphia, which is supposed to be made of heavy cream; the French, which is made with eggs on a soft custard foundation; and the so-called American, which is made on the foundation of a thin white sauce. All three classes are made in New York, and in every other large city, but we have never heard that any special recipe for ice cream is peculiar to New York. The less expensive forms of cream, in that and every other city, are those based on a thin white sauce, sweetened, flavored, and frozen. * * * * *