HELOISE Tricks of the trade help when baking cakes

Dear Readers: If you bake cakes, here are a few tricks of the trade that might be of interest:
U When a cake recipe instructs you to flour the pan, use a bit of the dry cake mix instead. This way, there won't be any powdery mess on the cake -- this is especially true for dark cakes.
UFor a perfectly shaped cake without broken corners or edges, grease the pan, then line it with greased waxed paper. After baking and when the cake has cooled, carefully invert the pan and peel off the paper.
UTo keep a cake from sliding around the plate during transit, put a bit of frosting in a circle on the plate before placing the cake on it. The frosting will hold the cake in place deliciously, and your dessert will arrive in perfect shape.
UWhen using a boxed cake mix, put the water in the bowl first before adding the powdered mix. This helps prevent those powder pockets at the bottom of the bowl.
For lots and lots of other cake hints, recipes and much more, send for a copy of my four-page pamphlet titled Heloise's Cake Recipes. Mail your request, along with $3 and a long, self-addressed, stamped (60 cents) envelope, to: Heloise/Cakes, P.O. Box 795001, San Antonio, Texas 78279-5001. Here's a quick strawberry-icing recipe to try: Mix 1 box of powdered sugar, 1 stick of margarine or butter and 1/2 container of thawed frozen strawberries well, and use to top a cooled cake -- yum! Heloise
Dear Heloise: Here is another idea for storing onions that should help them last for about six months: I like Vidalia onions, so when they are in season, I buy a couple of cases. I string them up in the legs of panty hose, tying a knot between each one, and then hang them up in a cool, dry place. Lawrence Smith, Eureka Springs, Ark.
Dear Heloise: When my two sons were young, I found that freezing marshmallows not only kept the marshmallows from becoming sticky, but they were a good, cold treat on a hot summer day. Donna Tanzillo, Kewanee, Ill.
Dear Heloise: For years, I have used a hint that came from your mother -- transferring coffee from the can to a storage canister by using an extra coffee lid with a "V" cut in it.
With the new plastic coffee cans, a new solution was needed. So, I don't remove the foil from the can top, but cut a "V" in it opposite the handle area.
Thanks to your dear mother, and to you for following in her footsteps. Helen Peel, Irving, Texas
King Features Syndicate