Icing
Whites of four eggs, one pound of powdered sugar; beat the whites on a platter with the sugar, putting in a handful of sugar at a time until all is beaten in. This method of making icing I consider far superior to the way of heating the eggs first and alone.
This is boiled-sugar-free royal icing of the plainest sort: raw whites beaten with sugar until stiff, then spread and left to dry in air. The technique is sound, but nothing in it ever reaches a temperature that would make raw egg white safe, which is why it should not be made as written.
- Why the cautionThe whites are never heated at any stage, and the finished icing is eaten as-is after air-drying on the cake. Raw egg white carries a Salmonella risk that drying at room temperature does not remove; sugar at this concentration slows microbial growth but does not sterilise. A current recipe using pasteurised whites or meringue powder should be used instead.
- The author's argumentThe closing remark is a swipe at the rival method, in which the whites were warmed alone before sugar was added. This writer plainly prefers the cold-beaten method, though the recipe gives no reason beyond the assertion.
- "Powdered sugar" in this periodNineteenth-century powdered sugar meant loaf or granulated sugar crushed and sifted fine at home, with no anti-caking starch in it. Modern confectioners' sugar contains cornstarch, which changes the texture and dulls the shine of an icing like this one.
- A pound of sugarA pound of sifted sugar is roughly three and a half to four cups, beaten into four whites of about half a cup total. That is a very stiff, spreadable icing rather than a pourable glaze.
- The platterBeating on a flat platter with a broad knife or spatula, rather than in a bowl with a whisk, was a common method in period cookery writing. The wide surface lets the cook work the sugar in gradually, which may be part of why the recipe calls for a handful at a time.
- YieldA pound of sugar with four whites makes a generous quantity, roughly enough to cover a large cake.
Uncooked icing of whites and fine sugar was a common finish for cakes in English and American households through the nineteenth century, before the confectioner's boiled fondant and buttercreams reached home kitchens. Its virtue was that it needed no thermometer and no sugar-boiling skill, only patience and a strong arm; the icing dried hard in a warm room. The dispute the writer alludes to, over whether to warm the whites before adding sugar, is evidenced here only by the writer's own aside, and the confident personal verdict is the kind of first-person judgement common in period cookery writing.