Icing

Ingredients

• the white of one egg
• a cup of confectioners' sugar
• two teaspoons of cold water
• the flavor you choose

Method

1. 1

   Beat stiff the white of one egg, stir in a cup of confectioners' sugar, two teaspoons of cold water, and the flavor you choose.

2. 2

   Spread the icing upon the cake with a broad-bladed knife, constantly dipping the knife in cold water to spread the icing smooth.

As published

This recipe was extracted from The home cook book (1905) by Christine Frederick, page 163. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

ICING, FILLING, CAKE 299 As to the time and temperature for the baking of cake, consider its thickness. Small patty-pan cakes and layer cakes require a much hotter oven than loaf cake. If you are using a gas range, turn on both burners for the small or thin cakes ; they ought to bake in twent}- or thirty minutes. A loaf cake requires a slower heat. Both demand the heat at the begin- ning coming from below, while all the tiny air-cells are swell- ing larger and larger. If the heat were to come from above, a crust would form, the rising process would end in the bubbles bursting and the mixture settling down heavy as lead. Allow the cake to stand on the lower shelf of the oven till the pan is full, then very carefully move it to the highest shelf, if it does not seem to be hot enough below. Here it will brown more evenly. Always keep the pans as far as pos- sible from the sides of the oven ; if not hot enough to burn cake, they will likely be hot enough to make it rise unevenly. When the following receipts call for the butter to be creamed before adding the sugar, this should always be heeded. The creaming consists in beating and working the butter until it becomes like thick cream. In this way the oil cells are broken and the texture of the cake made finer in consequence. Sifting the flour makes it lighter, and, unless stated other- wise, should be measured after sifting. It is safer to test the cake batter by dropping a little on a small pan and baking. If it spreads and is flat, the batter needs more flour. If tough, it needs a little more milk. Some flour thickens more readily than others, so the exact amount can not be judged. When using bicarbonate of soda, a level teaspoon is meant unless otherwise stated. CAKES FOR SPECIAL OCCASIONS Many housekeepers look aghast when the question of decorating cakes comes up, and it arises quite often in a family where there are young folk. Every housekeeper may 300 THE HOME COOK BOOK try her hand at this feature, which does not involve much extra trouble and needs very little skill. Once in a while a prettily decorated cake brought to the table when there are no guests other than one's immediate family will elicit many encomiums and also tempt the appe- tite. To write the name on a birthday cake no expensive ap- paratus is required: just a couple of cornucopias made of thick writing paper and sewed up the side. When the cake is ready, cover thickly with icing and set until firm. Fill the cornucopia with whatever icing the decoration is to be of, then, holding steadily in the left hand, commence to press from the larger end toward the smaller, pressing the icing out in a slender line from the opening. Roses and other flowers and geometrical designs and fancy tracings may be made. Unless accustomed to this work, it is better to trace with a sharp-pointed skewer the design on to the icing first, then following it out with the colored. ICING Beat stiff the white of one egg, stir in a cup of confec- tioners' sugar, two teaspoons of cold water, and the flavor you choose

Cook this with the app: pantry check, scaling, and the assistant.