Cake Icing recipes and information

Cake Icings

Royal icing should be stiff enough to hold its shape on the spoon.

PLASTIC ICING
1 egg-white, 1 heaped tblspn liquid glucose, 1 dstspn glycerine, juice of I lemon, flavouring, colour­ing, approx. 1/-21b sifted pure icing sugar.
Dissolve glucose over hot water, gradually add 'icing sugar to egg-white, beating in well after each addition until mixture begins to stiffen. Add lemon juice, beat and then add more icing sugar.
Beat again, then add glycer­ine and dissolved glucose. Beat well, continue adding more icing sugar until mixture stiff­ens. Add flavouring and the colouring, making the colour just slightly deeper than re­quired when finished.
Put remainder of icing sugar on a tray or slab, make a bay in the centre and add the icing. Gradually work icing sugar in until mixture is stiff enough to roll out.
To test, press your fingers well into the centre. If they come out sticky, continue to add more icing sugar until mixture loses all signs of sticki­ness.
Pat out and then roll out to 2in less than the size required. Brush the coating of almond paste with egg-white, place the icing over a rolling-pin and lift on to cake.
Using the rolling-pin, work icing down to the base all around and then work out any cracks. Smooth the surface with hands dusted with icing sugar. If a glossy surface is required, rub over with hands dusted with cornflour.
Trim uneven pieces of icing from base of cake and then lift cake on to prepared board. Leave until dry before decor­ating.
This quantity will cover top and sides of an 8in square or round cake.

FONDANT
1-1 1/2 1b pure icing sugar, 1 egg-white, 2oz liquid glu­cose, tspn lemon juice, flavouring, colouring.
Sift icing sugar into a basin. Beat egg-whites only until broken up. Add to icing sugar, together with lemon juice, glucose melted over hot water,
flavouring. Work in icing sugar gradually until mixed in. Add colouring and knead in. Turn on to a marble slab or on to a board dusted with icing sugar and knead until smooth. Enough for top and sides of an 8in round or square cake.

ROYAL ICING
1 egg-white, approx. 8oz pure icing sugar, 1 tspn liquid glucose, 2 drops acetic acid or a squeeze of lemon juice, colouring.
Sift icing sugar through a very fine sieve, beat egg-white until fluffy. Gradually add the icing sugar to the egg-white, beating well after each addi­tion, until it begins to stiffen. (Royal icing is stiffened by beating and not by quick addi­tion of the sugar).
Dissolve glucose over hot water and beat in well. Add acetic acid or lemon juice, beat well. Continue beating in more icing sugar until mixture will point or hold its shape on the spoon when spoon is with­drawn from mixture.
(If using an electric mixer, have it on the lowest speed).
Cover basin with a damp cloth while using. To store. put into a screw-top jar with a piece of damp paper under the lid. In warm weather keep jar in refrigerator. When neededtransfer to a basin and beat well before using.

Note: Where a recipe says pure icing sugar, be sure you use that and not an icing mixture which contains a percent­age of cornflour intended to keep it soft. This is a particularly important point to re­member when you're making royal icing. It won't keep its shape when piped if the mix­ture is used. This is the test if you're in doubt:
Put a teaspoonful in a glass of cold water and stir well. If the water remains clear on top the sugar is pure but if it turns cloudy it's an icing mixture.

ALMOND PASTE
llb icing sugar, 4oz ground almonds or marzi­pan meal, juice of lemon, 1 egg-yolk, 2 tblspns sherry, little almond essence if liked.
Sift icing sugar, combine with ground almonds or marzi­pan meal. Mix together lemon juice, sherry and egg-yolk. Mix into icing sugar nearly all at once to form a paste which can be rolled out. If mixture is too dry, add a little more sherry as it's a preservative.
Divide the paste thus: Into 4 sections for a square cake-1 for the top, 3 for the sides (there should be only 3 joins); 3 sections for a round cake-1 for the top, 2 for the sides.
Be sure surface of cake is smooth. If cake has risen in the centre, level it off with a knife and brush off any surplus crumbs. Fill any small cracks with the paste.
If top is too rough, level it off, turn cake upside down and use the flat surface of the bottom as the top.
Roll each side piece to the length and width required. Brush over with egg-white or warm apricot glaze and place around cake.
Roll top piece to size and shape required. Brush cake with egg-white or warm apricot glaze, put paste over a rolling-
pin and place on top of cake.
With hands dusted with icing sugar, smooth the surface and rub out any cracks and joins. Cut off surplus paste from base of cake.
This quantity of paste will cover the top and sides of a round or square 8in cake. Cover the cake with the paste at least one week before putting on the final covering.
For the glaze, put 1/2 lb smooth apricot jam into a pan with 1 1/2 tblspns cold water. Stir over low heat about 5 minutes. Press through a sieve and bring to the boil again.

SEVEN-MINUTE FROSTING
3/4 cup sugar, 1 tblspn water, 1 egg-white, 1 tspn lemon juice. 1 tspn vanilla essence, colouring if needed.
Put sugar, water and egg-white into a basin and beat over boiling water until mix­ture holds its shape on the beater when beater is removed from basin—about 7 minutes. Stir in lemon juice, essence and colouring and quickly spread over cake.

VIENNA ICING
4oz butter, 7 - 8oz sifted icing sugar, 2 tblspns sherry or fruit juice.
Beat butter until softened, gradually beat in the sifted icing sugar, adding sherry or fruit juice to make mixture of spreading consistency.
Chocolate Vienna Icing: Put 2oz dark chocolate, 1 dstspn cocoa and 2 tblspns sherry or water into a saucepan and heat gently until chocolate has melt­ed. Cool. Soften 4oz butter or margarine, gradually beat in 8oz sifted icing sugar. When creamy, gradually stir in the chocolate mixture.

COLOUR BLENDING
VEGETABLE colourings are used for tinting the icings. Always add spar­ingly from the tip of a metal skewer—never pour direct from the bottle.
• By experimenting in colour-blending you can get lots of pretty shades. For example:
Yellow with a drop of cara­mel gives cream.
Yellow and rose pink make peach and apricot shades.
Greens are improved by the addition of a few drops of yellow.
Violet, lavender and purple shades are made by blending rose pink with blue in varying proportions.
Dark colours such as deep red must be painted on when the icing is dry.

GLACE ICING
5oz-6oz sifted icing sugar, 1 tspn butter, little fruit juice or milk, colouring.
Prepare the cake by pinning a double band of greaseproof paper around it, extending about kin above rim of cake. Put icing sugar, butter and fruit juice into a saucepan, add just sufficient cold water to mix to a stiff paste. Add any colouring. Cook over low heat; stirring constantly, until mixture will pour readily from a spoon. Quickly pour over cake and spread with the back of a spoon.

MODELLING PASTE
3/4lb sifted icing sugar, 1 tspn white vegetable shorten­ing, 1 tspn gelatin, 1 1/2  tblspns water.
Combine shortening, gelatin and water in a small saucepan. Stir over gentle heat until shortening and gelatin have dissolved. Put aside to cool. Put ilb of the icing sugar into a basin. Make a well in the centre, add the cooled mixture. Stir with a wooden spoon until all the dry icing sugar has been mixed in.
Turn on to a board and knead in enough of the re­maining icing sugar to make a good consistency for moulding. Any colouring can be kneaded in or painted on when the modelling is completed. Keep the paste in a screw-top jar or covered basin.