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Boiled Frosting
Whites of three eggs beaten to a stiff froth, one large cup granulated sugar moistened with four table-spoons hot water; boil sugar briskly for five minutes or until it "jingles" on the bottom of the cup when dropped into cold water, or "ropes" or threads when dropped from the end of the spoon. Then, with left hand, pour the boiling syrup upon the beaten eggs in a small stream, while beating hard with right hand. This is an excellent frosting. If preferred, add half pound sweet almonds blanched and pounded to a paste, or a cup of hickory-nut meats, chopped fine, and it will be perfectly delicious. This amount will frost the top of two large cakes. Mrs. A. S. C.
This is an Italian meringue in all but name: hot sugar syrup beaten into raw whites, which cooks them as it goes. The whole recipe hinges on the syrup being at the right stage when it hits the eggs.
- The cold-water test, in degrees"Ropes" or threads from the spoon is the thread stage, about 230-235F on a candy thermometer. Five minutes is a rough guide only; the time depends on your pan and burner, so go by temperature or by the thread.
- Syrup too cool or too hotToo cool and the frosting stays runny and will not hold a peak; too hot and it sets before you can spread it. Pull the pan when the thread forms.
- Sugar quantity"One large cup" means a generous cup, roughly 7-8 oz by weight. Three whites to that amount of sugar gives a soft, marshmallowy icing rather than a stiff one; if you want a firmer meringue, use two whites.
- Two hands, or one mixerA stand mixer does what the original asks of your left and right hands. Whip the whites to stiff peaks first, then pour the syrup down the side of the bowl in a thin stream with the mixer running, and keep beating until the bowl is only just warm, about 7-10 minutes.
- StabilizersA pinch of salt and 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar beaten into the whites at the start helps stabilise the meringue and makes it less likely to weep.
- The nut variationsHalf a pound of blanched almonds pounded to a paste is a large addition and turns this into something closer to an almond frosting; fold it in at the end, off the mixer, and spread thickly. Hickory nuts can be replaced with pecans, which are the same family and much easier to find shelled.
- Work quicklyBoiled frosting spreads best while still slightly warm and skins over as it cools. Have the cakes cooled and ready before you start the syrup.
- YieldEnough for the tops of two large cakes as written, or to fill and cover a single two-layer cake if you are not generous with it.
- Raw whitesThe hot syrup brings the whites close to but not reliably past a pasteurizing temperature. If serving anyone who should avoid undercooked egg, use pasteurized whites in the carton.
Boiled frosting was one of the common white icings in American kitchens in the second half of the nineteenth century, before cheap commercial confectioners' sugar made butter and powdered-sugar frostings the default. Home cooks generally judged sugar syrups by hand rather than by thermometer: the jingle of a dropped bead in cold water, the thread pulling from a spoon, and the higher soft ball and crack stages, all of which correspond to temperatures a thermometer now reads directly. The Dixie Cook Book, like other compiled American household books of the period, prints such recipes over contributors' initials, and Mrs. A. S. C.'s hickory-nut version reflects a common regional ingredient: hickory nuts were gathered rather than bought, and appear often in Midwestern and Southern receipts of the period where a modern cook would reach for pecans or walnuts.