Bread, cakes, and biscuits

Cakes, however, and suchlike things are iced on a dif- ferent plan. It is comparatively easy, with a little care, to ice a cake plainly, i.e., to cover it all over with any icing to taste. The difficulty comes in when ambition prompts one to garnish this smooth surface with designs and orna- ments in other kinds and coloured icings. Still, this difficulty is not insuperable. To begin, however, with the plain surface icing. First see that your cake is steady. If you are addic'ed to cake making you will find it a comfort to invest in a cake-drum as it is called, i.e., a block of smooth wood, mounted on a swivel fastened securely to a firm base, on which, when the cake is placed, it can be turned round and round, as the exigencies of icing require. These cake-drums can be procured from any maker of con- fectionery utensils. Failing this, however, cake icing may be very satisfactorily managed by mounting the cake on a plain round cake, or Charlotte mould turned wrong side up, being careful to choose a mould somewhat smaller than the cake you intend to ice, so as to allow the knife, used in applying the icing, to go freely round the cake. Having fixed yoiir cake to your mind, pile on the top of it as much of the icing as you judge sufficient to cover the top, or the sides as well ; then, with a palette knife long CAKE DECORATION, Ac. 183 enough to go across the cake at its widest, gently smooth this icing firmly and evenly across the cake in one direction, neither liftiug nor turning the knife nor scraping the cake ; when the top is evenly and smoothly covered, draw the knife off with one steady sweep. If, as usually happens with beginners, on finishing the top you find the surface is rather rough and ridgy, lift the cake and knock it gently against the table ; this will settle the icing, and fill up the Fig. 2. furi’ows which at first the knife is sure to leave. The two accompanying illustrations. Figs. 1 and 2, will explain this process better than much written explanation, besides showing the use of the cake-drum. If the cake is only to be iced on top it can now be set aside to dry. If, however, you wish the sides to be iced, let the icing run down from the top as you smooth the latter, then roughly pass the knife round the sides of the cake to ensure all parts being well 184 BREAD, CAKES, AND BISCUITS. covered (as in Fig. 3), finishing it by passing the knife carefully round it with an even, circular sweep (never lifting the knife till the whole circle is made, or it will leave a ridge), to secure a nice smooth surface. The knife must not be laid flat on the cake, but held slantingly, the back of the knife against the cake, and the blade at an angle of 45°, so as to carry off the surplus sugar with the sweep of the knife as you finish the circle. Let it stand till firm, in a dry place, if to be left as it is ; but if to be ornamented with bonbons, glace, fruits, &c., put these on Fig. 3.