Now force out this icing as fancy dictates, experimenting first on the back of a plate or even a piece of paper until you get a definite and regular pattern. Then try your hand on the cake itself. Dots, stars, or rosettes are easier than a long flowing pattern, and they can be arranged very effectively. Points may be pricked at regular intervals on the cake to act as a guide in forming any pattern. Then press the icing slowly through the tube, following any device you may have in view. Of course this piping is an art which cannot be learned in a day, but if it is com- menced at the simple stages and gradually worked up to something more difficult, it will be found a most fascinating employment. Cotton and india- rubber bags are also sold for the purpose of piping, but when once the use of the paper bag is mastered it will be found much more satisfactory than any other kind, and it will do finer work. An empty paper bag, if not broken, may be refilled with icing and used again. A little colouring may also be added to the icing when desired, but this should be in the form of a paste, as any liquid would spoil the icing. When a cake is to be in two or three tiers, as in the case of a wedding cake, the cakes must be in graduated sizes, the plain coatings of icing put on separately, and then the cakes stuck together by means of a little icing before the decorating or piping is commenced. Note. — Any icing used for practising purposes may, if it is kept clean and not allowed to harden, be put back into the basin, and beaten up again with the whole. 2854. Fondant Icing 2 lbs. loaf sugar. \ pint water. £ lb. glucose✪ Fondant Icing. This is the most difficult kind of icing to make, and one that is not frequently tried by the amateur. It is, however, one of the nicest to eat, since it melts away in the mouth like a fondant bon-bon. The following directions may therefore prove useful. To Make the Fondant. — Use good loaf sugar. Put all the ingredients into a white enamelled saucepan or sugar boiler, and melt gradually over the fire, stirring all the time (it must not be allowed to boil before the sugar is melted). Remove any scum, then put the lid on the saucepan, and boil quickly for 5 minutes. Skim again, and wash round the sides of the saucepan with a small brush. Now put in a sugar thermometer, and boil with the lid off, and to a temperature of 240°, or to what is called the “soft ball ” (see p. 597). Pour out on a marble slab, and let the syrup cool until it can be rolled up at the sides in a sort of soft sheet. Work with a wooden spatula, turning the mixture over and over until it is quite white. Then pound with the hands until the fondant is quite smooth, and like a piece of putty. This is very hard work, so that it is better not to attempt too much at one time. The fondant is now made, and in this form it may be wrapped in paper and kept for some time in an air-tight box. If no marble slab is available, a small quantity of fondant can be worked up in a basin or on a large flat dish.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Now force out this icing as fancy dictates, experimenting first on the back of a plate or even a piece of paper until you get a definite and regular pattern. Then try your hand on the cake itself. Dots, stars, or rosettes are easier than a long flowing pattern, and they can be arranged very effectively. Points may be pricked at regular intervals on the cake to act as a guide in forming any pattern. Then press the icing slowly through the tube, following any device you may have in view. Of course this piping is an art which cannot be learned in a day, but if it is commenced at the simple stages and gradually worked up to something more difficult, it will be found a most fascinating employment. Cotton and indiarubber bags are also sold for the purpose of piping, but when once the use of the paper bag is mastered it will be found much more satisfactory than any other kind, and it will do finer work. An empty paper bag, if not broken, may be refilled with icing and used again. A little colouring may also be added to the icing when desired, but this should be in the form of a paste, as any liquid would spoil the icing. When a cake is to be in two or three tiers, as in the case of a wedding cake, the cakes must be in graduated sizes, the plain coatings of icing put on separately, and then the cakes stuck together by means of a little icing before the decorating or piping is commenced. Note. — Any icing used for practising purposes may, if it is kept clean and not allowed to harden, be put back into the basin, and beaten up again with the whole. 2854. Fondant Icing 2 lbs. loaf sugar. \ pint water. £ lb. glucose. This is the most difficult kind of icing to make, and one that is not frequently tried by the amateur. It is, however, one of the nicest to eat, since it melts away in the mouth like a fondant bon-bon. The following directions may therefore prove useful. To Make the Fondant. — Use good loaf sugar. Put all the ingredients into a white enamelled saucepan or sugar boiler, and melt gradually over the fire, stirring all the time (it must not be allowed to boil before the sugar is melted). Remove any scum, then put the lid on the saucepan, and boil quickly for 5 minutes. Skim again, and wash round the sides of the saucepan with a small brush. Now put in a sugar thermometer, and boil with the lid off, and to a temperature of 240°, or to what is called the “soft ball ” (see p. 597). Pour out on a marble slab, and let the syrup cool until it can be rolled up at the sides in a sort of soft sheet. Work with a wooden spatula, turning the mixture over and over until it is quite white. Then pound with the hands until the fondant is quite smooth, and like a piece of putty. This is very hard work, so that it is better not to attempt too much at one time. The fondant is now made, and in this form it may be wrapped in paper and kept for some time in an air-tight box. If no marble slab is available, a small quantity of fondant can be worked up in a basin or on a large flat dish.

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Fondant Icing

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