Virginia Cookery-book

Three cups of sugar, three eggs, three cups of sifted flour, one cup of sour cream, one small teaspoonful of soda. Add the cream and soda last. The batter will be uncommonly stiff. Half fill cups with it, and bake in a quick oven. Flavor with what you like. VIRGINIA COOKERY-BOOK, 195 CHAPTER XVL ICINGS. Icing for Cake, No. 1. — ^Icing for Cake, No. 3. — Transparent Icing. —-To Make Boiled Icing. — Chocolate Icing.— Bed or Pink Coloring for Icings, Jelly, etc. , Nos. 1 and 3. Icing fob Cakb, No. 1. To the whites of three eggs put one pound of very fine pulverized white sugar, and any flavoring you like, either the juioe of a large lemon strained, or a teaspoonful of extract of rose or vanilla ; sift the sugar into a bowl and break the eggs into it, being very careful not to let a particle of the yolk be mixed with the whites ; beat the latter with the sugar until they are very light, using a wooden spoon or paddle ; when become very white and smooth add a pinch of cream of tartar, to promote rapid hardening; wipe the cake over with a little flour, and apply the icing by means of a knife with a broad blade ; keep a bowl of water at hand in which the knife may be repeatedly dipped, for this gives a fine gloss. The icing should not run off the cake ; if it does, add more sugar. Icing for Cakb, No. 2, Another equally good way to make icing is to whip up the whites of four eggs till they stand alone, then to add one pound of sifted sugar, a spoonful at a time, beating all the while, and so lightly that the whites never fall, and when applied can be put on in a thick coating, of which not a drop will roll off ; add a little dissolved gumarabic, to prevent the icing from peeling off in a sheet when cut into. This kind of icing dries rapidly, especially when exposed to the heat of a fire, but take care not to set it near enough for the color to be browned ; flavor with orange or lemon-juice, or any extract fancied. If you wish to ornament your iced cakes with flowers or figures, you must either purchase a cone, patented for the purpose, or make a paper cone for yourself, gluing the sides together and making an opening at the bottom large enough for the icing to come out in dots or a continuous stream, made to follow the outline of a design, sketched lightly on the smooth coating of icing that has been put on in the first instance. Wax tapers are fastened on the top of birthday cakes by melting them a little at the lower end, and holding them a minute or two gently in position, when they will keep in place. Transparent Icing. For a large cake put two pounds of finely powdered white sugar in a small kettle, and add to it a pint of water; let them boil together until quite thick; then rub the sugar against the sides of the kettle until it looks white and milky; then flavor with two table-spoonfuls of lemon-juice, or enough vanilla to impart a delicate flavor, and pour the icing while hot over the cake so as to coat it all over. To Make Boiled Icing. Two pounds of pure white sugar are to be put into a stewpan with half a pint of water, and boiled until the water is out, but the sugar must not be suffered to candy; take it off the fire, and when cool enough not to harden them^ beat the whites of eight eggs very light, and stir all well together ; flavor, and apply to the cake like any other frosting. Some persons prefer this mode of making it to any other. Chocolate Icing. Three table-spoonfuls of grated chocolate, five tablespoonfuls of white sugar, a lump of butter the size of a hickory-nut, and one spoonful of cream. This icing must be boiled about ten minutes, and then spread hot over the cake to be iced. Red or Pink Coloring for Icings, Jelly, etc.. No. 1.