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Gum Arabic Icing

To give to cake icing the tenacity that allows borders of fringe and loop work to be made on cakes, with strings of fine piping hanging between points several inches apart without breaking, mix with every pound of fine powdered sugar from 1 to 2 ounces of gum arabic. Powder the gum and dissolve it first in a spoonful of hot water in a cup set on the side of the range, and add a little at a time to the icing while beating it up. The paste of gum tragacanth (gum dragon) as prepared for making gum paste can also be used in the same manner.

The ordinary methods and means employed for cake and center piece ornamention having now been explained the writer will here state that he has a different method of his own, which produces ornamental effects incomparably superior to the common clumsy pyramid of cakes or the unmeaning and futile temple of gum paste, and which have gained the admiration of some of the people whose approbation in such matters decides the question of merit. The new method may be fully explained with the aid of illustrations, in a few additional pages at some future time.

A Few Candies for Amateur Candy Pullers.

The French confectioners recognize as many as twelve stages or degrees in boiling sugar, ranging from the "petit lisse" to the "caramel noir"--from simple syrup to burnt sugar caramel. However, we have not time to learn the degrees--only just a little time to make some candy.