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Icing, Almond, for Cakes
INGREDIENTS.-To every lb. of finelypounded loaf sugar, allow 1 lb. of sweet almonds, the whites of 4 eggs, a little rosewater.
Blanch the almonds, and pound them (a few at a time) in a mortar to a paste, adding a little rosewater to facilitate the operation. Whisk the whites of the eggs to a strong froth: mix them with the pounded almonds, stir in the sugar, and BENEDICTINE ICE PUDDING. beat altogether. When the cake is sufficiently baked, lay on the almond icing, and put it into the oven to dry. Before laying this preparation on the cake, great care must be taken that it is nice and smooth, which is easily accomplished by well beating the mixture. DECORATIONS FOR ICED CAKES. slow fire, adding, if there be none in the chocolate, a flavouring of vanilla. When melted smooth, spread on the cake or cakes and dry them in a cool oven.
TIME.-10 minutes to melt the chocolate.
SEASONABLE at any time.
This is Victorian marzipan — equal weights of almonds and sugar bound with egg white — used as the undercoat beneath royal icing rather than as a sweet in its own right. The hinge is the texture of the almond paste: it must be pounded and beaten genuinely smooth, or the surface will drag and pit when you spread it.
- Loaf sugar, finely poundedLoaf sugar was cone sugar broken up and crushed by hand. Use caster (superfine) sugar for a slightly grainy traditional finish, or sifted confectioners' sugar for a smoother, more workable paste.
- Sweet almondsThe distinction from bitter almonds mattered to Victorian cooks and is unlikely to trouble a modern shopper, since bitter almonds are not generally sold — buy whole blanched almonds, or blanch skin-on almonds by 60 seconds in boiling water and slipping the skins off. Do not substitute almond flour if you want the original close texture, though it will work at a pinch.
- The mortar, replacedA food processor does in two minutes what the mortar did in half an hour. Pulse the almonds with a spoonful of the sugar to stop them oiling into butter, and add the rosewater as directed to keep the paste from seizing.
- Rosewater"A little" means a teaspoon or two per pound. Rosewater strengths vary widely between brands; start with one teaspoon and taste, as it turns soapy quickly.
- Egg whitesFour whites to two pounds of almonds and sugar gives a stiff, spreadable mixture. If the icing will only be dried in a cool oven rather than properly baked, use pasteurised whites — the drying step does not reliably bring egg to a safe temperature.
- A cool ovenConventionally glossed as around 250–275F. The recipe gives no drying time for the almond icing; dry only until the surface sets without colouring, as higher heat browns the almonds and cracks the sheet.
- Applying itThe recipe has you lay it on as soon as the cake is baked; a fully cooled cake is easier to work on. Brush with a little warmed sieved apricot jam first so the paste grips, then spread it smooth.
- YieldA pound of almonds and a pound of sugar makes roughly 2 lb of paste, enough to cover the top and sides of an 8- to 9-inch round cake with a comfortable margin.
Almond icing occupies a middle place in the Victorian cake: laid on the baked surface, dried, and then covered with the white sugar icing that took the decoration. The equal-weight formula of almonds to sugar is the same one behind marchpane, the moulded almond confection of Tudor and Stuart banquets, and behind the marzipan layer still standard on British Christmas and wedding cakes. Rosewater as the flavouring is the older habit — it was the default sweet perfume in English kitchens for centuries before vanilla extract became cheap and general, and it survives in this recipe partly as tradition and partly because a liquid is genuinely needed to keep pounded almonds from turning to oil. The practical logic is preservative as well as decorative: the almond layer seals the crumb, which is why fruit cakes covered this way kept for months.