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Sugar Icings and Glazings, for Cakes, Etc

Take two pounds of icing sugar in a bowl. Throw in the whites of two, or if necessary three, eggs. The whites must not be whisked, but thrown in as they are. Beat the mixture well with a wooden spoon or fork. Add a tea-spoonful of lemon-juice, a few drops at a time. When a smooth paste which will not run is produced, the icing is ready. It should be spread evenly over the cake (which has been already baked and allowed to cool) with hands which have been well wetted with cold water.

It may be coloured, if liked, with cochineal, etc. If it is wished to ornament the cake with an ice beading, put a little of the icing into a small piece of white paper twisted into the form of a white sugar-bag. Squeeze this so that the sugar will come out through the hole at the bottom in a thin stream, and with this form any suitable devices on the cake. To impart to pastry a clear glaze which resembles barley-sugar, dip the surface of the pastry into liquid caramel (see SUGAR BOILING), or sift powdered and dry white sugar thickly upon it, and melt it by holding a salamander or red-hot shovel close to it. This glaze needs to be carefully preserved from damp. The icing must be dried in a cool oven.