Vintage Cake Icing Recipes 1889 - 1929

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Vintage Cake Icing Recipes 1889 - 1929
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  • these vintage cake icing recipes are taken from mom's old recipe scrapbooks, circa 1929. mom often used these easy cake frosting recipes to decorate cakes for birthdays and everyday use.
  • seven minute icing recipe
  • 1 egg white , 3/4 cups white sugar, 1 tbsp corn syrup , 1/4 tsp cream of tartar , 3 tbsp water, 1/2 tsp vanilla. combine all ingredients, except flavoring, in top of double boiler and beat; place over rapidly boiling water and beat 7 minutes or until frosting is fluffy and will hold shape; remove from stove, add flavor and beat
  • 3 tbsp butter , 1-1/2 cups icing sugar , 1-1/2 tbsp milk , 1/2 tsp vanilla; beat.
  • 1/4 cup butter , 1/2 tsp salt , 2 tsp vanilla , 3 cups icing sugar , 1/4 cup milk. combine all ingredients and mix.
  • in a saucepan combine 3 tbsp butter, 3 tbsp milk, 1/2 cup dark brown sugar. heat till dissolved, beat in 1-2/3 cups icing sugar and 1/2 tsp vanilla; beat till creamy.
  • these old-fashioned , homemade icing recipes are taken from the white house cook book by hugo ziemann, steward of the white house, and mrs. f. litre. gillette, a celebrated 19th-century cookbook author, published by the saalfield publishing company, new york, in 1913.
  • in the first place, the eggs should be cold, and the platter on which they are to be beaten also cold. allow, for the white of 1 egg, 1 small teacupful of powdered sugar. break the eggs and throw a small handful of the sugar on them as soon as you begin beating; keep adding it at intervals until it is all used up. the eggs must not be beaten until the sugar has been added in this way, which gives a smooth, tender frosting, and 1 that will dry much sooner than the old way.
  • spread with a broad knife evenly over the cake, and if it seems too thin, beat in a little more sugar. cover the cake with two coats
  • a little lemon juice, or half a teaspoonful of tartaric acid, added to the frosting while being beaten, makes it white and more frothy.
  • the flavors mostly used are lemon, vanilla, almond, rose, chocolate, and orange.
  • if you wish to ornament with figures or flowers, make up rather more icing, keep about 1-third out until that on the cake is dried; then, with a clean glass syringe, apply it in such forms as you desire and dry as before; what you keep out to ornament with may be tinted pink with cochineal , blue with indigo, yellow with saffron or the grated rind off an orange strained through a cloth, green with spinach juice and brown with chocolate, purple with cochineal and indigo. strawberry, or currant and cranberry juices color a delicate pink.
  • set the cake in a cool oven with the door open to dry, or in a draught in an open window.
  • the whites of three eggs, beaten up with three cups of fine, white sugar. blanch a lb of sweet almonds, lb them in a mortar with a little sugar, until a fine paste, then add the whites of eggs, sugar
  • put into a shallow pan four tablespoonfuls of scraped chocolate, and place it where it will melt gradually, but not scorch; when melted, stir in three tablespoonfuls of milk or cream and 1 of water; mix all well together, and add 1 scant teacupful of sugar; boil about five minutes, and while hot, and when the cakes are nearly cold, spread some evenly over the surface of 1 of the cakes; put a second 1 on top, alternating the mixture and cakes; then cover top and sides, and set in a warm oven to harden.
  • all who have tried recipe after recipe, vainly hoping to find 1 where the chocolate sticks to the cake and not to the fingers, will appreciate the above. in making those most palatable of cakes, chocolate eclairs, the recipe just given will be found very satisfactory.
  • mix with boiled icing 1 oz each of chopped citron, candied cherries, seedless raisins, candied pineapple, and blanched almonds.
  • to 1 lb of extra-refined sugar add 1 oz of fine white starch; lb finely together and then sift them through gauze; then beat the whites of three eggs to a froth. the secret of success is to beat the eggs long enough, and always 1 way; add the powdered sugar by degrees, or it will spoil the froth of the eggs. when all the sugar is stirred in continue the whipping for half an hour longer, adding more sugar if the ice is too thin.
  • take a little of the icing and lay it aside for ornamenting afterward. when the cake comes out of the oven, spread the sugar icing smoothly over it with a knife and dry it at once in a cool oven.
  • for ornamenting the cake, the icing may be tinged any color preferred. for pink, use a few drops of cochineal ; for yellow, a pinch of saffron dissolved; for green, the juice of some chopped spinach. whichever is chosen, let the coloring be first mixed with a little colorless spirit and then stirred into the white icing until the tint is deep enough.
  • to ornament the cake with it, make a cone of stiff writing paper and squeeze the colored icing through it, so as to form leaves, beading or letters, as the case may be. it requires nicety and care to do it with success.

Directions:

  1. Boiled Frosting Recipe
  2. To one pound of finest pulverized sugar add three wineglassfuls of clear water. Let it stand until it dissolves; then boil it until it is perfectly clear and threads from the spoon. Beat well the whites of four eggs. Pour the sugar into the dish with the eggs, but do not mix them until the syrup is lukewarm; then beat all well together for one-half hour.
  3. Season to your taste with vanilla, rose water, or lemon juice. The first coating may be put on the cake as soon as it is well mixed. Rub the cake with a little flour before you apply the icing. While the first coat is drying continue to beat the remainder; you will not have to wait long if the cake is set in a warm place near the fire. This is said to be a most excellent recipe for icing.
  4. Frosting Recipe, Without Eggs
  5. An excellent frosting may be made without eggs or gelatin, which will keep longer and cut more easily, causing no breakage or crumbling and withal is very economical.
  6. Take one cup of granulated sugar; dampen it with one-fourth of a cup of milk, or five tablespoonfuls; place it on the fire in a suitable dish and stir it until it boils; then let it boil for five minutes without stirring; remove it from the fire and set the dish in another of cold water; add flavoring. While it is cooling, stir or beat it constantly and it will become a thick, creamy frosting.
  7. Gelatin Frosting
  8. Soak one teaspoonful of gelatin in one tablespoonful of cold water half an hour, dissolve in two tablespoonfuls of hot water; add one cup of powdered sugar and stir until smooth.
  9. Golden Frosting
  10. A very delicious and handsome frosting can be made by using the yolks of eggs instead of the whites. Proceed exactly as for ordinary frosting. It will harden just as nicely as that does. This is particularly good for orange cake, harmonizing with the color of the cake in a way to please
  11. Icing Recipes
  12. These old-fashioned cake icing recipes are taken from the book Aunt Babette's Cook Book, Foreign and Domestic Receipts for the Household by Aunt Babette, published by Bloch Publishing and Printing Company, Chicago, in 1889.
  13. Boiled Icing Recipe
  14. Take one cup of sugar to the beaten white of one egg. Put the sugar on to boil with two tablespoonfuls of water. When this has boiled clear pour on the beaten white of the egg, stirring constantly until cold. Flavor with rose water and vanilla mixed.
  15. Almond Icing (Marzipan Icing Recipe)
  16. Take the whites of two eggs and half a pound of sweet almonds, with a few bitter, mixed, which should be blanched, dried and grated, or pounded to a paste. Beat the whites of the eggs, add half a pound of confectioner's sugar, a handful at a time, until all is used up, and then add the almonds and a few spoonfuls of rose water. Spread between or on top of cake. Put on thick, and when nearly dry cover with a plain icing.
  17. If the cakes are well dredged with a little flour after baking, and then carefully wiped before the icing is put on, it will not run, and can be spread more smoothly. Put the frosting in the center of the cake, dip a knife in cold water and spread from the center toward the edge.
  18. Plain White Icing Recipe
  19. Beat up the white of an egg with one-quarter of a pound of pulverized sugar until thick; half a pound for two whites, and so on. Set in a very warm place to dry.
  20. Pink Icing
  21. This icing is made as above, or like boiled icing, using pink confectioner's sugar or color with cochineal [food coloring] or prepared fruit coloring, which you may procure at any first-class grocery.
  22. Yellow Icing
  23. Grate the peel of one or more oranges; put the peel in a fine batiste [fabric] rag; tie it up and boil in a few spoonfuls of water. Squeeze it to extract the color, and boil with as much sugar as you want for icing - say two whites of eggs, juice of one orange and two cups of sugar. You may use the orange juice in place of the water.
  24. Chocolate Icing
  25. Make a stiff icing by beating the whites of four eggs, and adding gradually one pound of sifted powdered sugar. Add gradually one-third of a cake of bitter chocolate, which you have previously melted in a tin cup on the back of the stove. Mix with icing and flavor with vanilla. This quantity is enough to ice the layers and top of a large cake.
  26. Chocolate Icing Recipe, Without Eggs
  27. Boil chocolate with very little water and sugar until thick. It must harden on the spoon when cool. Flavor with vanilla and spread. Set in a very warm place to harden.
  28. Chocolate Icing, Unboiled
  29. Beat the whites of three eggs and one and one-half cups of pulverized sugar, added gradually while beating. Beat until very thick, then add four heaping tablespoonfuls of grated chocolate and two teaspoonfuls of vanilla.
  30. Frosting for a strawberry cake should not be set in the oven, and it should not be frosted longer than half an hour before serving, and then set in the ice chest immediately. Try this and you will never do otherwise. Tastes like whipped cream. You may flavor with vanilla or strawberry juice.
  31. Lemon Peel Flavoring For Use With Cake Icing Recipes
  32. Keep a wide-mouthed bottle of brandy in which to throw lemon peel. Often, you will have use for the juice of lemons only. Then it will be economical to put the lemon peel in the bottle to use for flavoring. A teaspoonful of this is sufficient for the largest cake.
  33. Unboiled Icing
  34. Take the white of one egg, and add to it [approximately] the same quantity of water. Stir into this as much confectioner's sugar to make it of the right consistency to spread upon the cake. Flavor with any flavoring desired. You may color it pink as you would boiled frosting by adding fruit coloring.
  35. Chocolate Icing Recipe
  36. Prepare the above unboiled icing, add as much grated chocolate as you desire and flavor with vanilla.
  37. Yellow or Golden Icing
  38. Is made just as you would the white unboiled icing, substituting the yolk of the egg instead of the white, flavor with orange juice, and if you wish a deeper yellow, grate the orange peel into the juice of the orange, and strain through a fine piece of cheesecloth before adding to the yellow icing.
  39. Coconut Icing
  40. Mix coconut with the unboiled icing. If you desire to spread it between the cakes, scatter more coconut over and between the layers.
  41. Nut Icing
  42. Mix any quantity of finely chopped nuts into any quantity of cream icing (unboiled) as in the foregoing receipts. Ice the top of cake with plain icing, and lay the halves of walnuts on top.
  43. Maple Sugar Icing
  44. Boil two cupfuls of maple sugar, with half a cupful of boiling water until it threads from the spoon. Pour it upon the beaten whites of two eggs and beat until cold. Spread between and on top of cake. A pretty effect is made by sprinkling desiccated coconut on top of cake.
  45. Caramel Icing Recipe
  46. Two cupfuls of granulated sugar, a piece of best butter the size of an egg, and one scant cupful of sweet milk. Boil very briskly for ten minutes, being careful not to burn. Flavor with vanilla. Stir until cold.
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Nutrition Facts

Per ServingPer 100 g
Amount Per 1 Serving
Calories 993.04 Kcal (4158 kJ)
Calories from fat 724.26 Kcal
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 80.47g 124%
Cholesterol 213.6mg 71%
Sodium 948.36mg 40%
Potassium 955.81mg 20%
Total Carbs 6.36g 2%
Sugars 1.82g 7%
Protein 61.86g 124%
Vitamin A 1mg 33%
Calcium 72.9mg 7%
Amount Per 100 g
Calories 135.09 Kcal (566 kJ)
Calories from fat 98.53 Kcal
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 10.95g 124%
Cholesterol 29.06mg 71%
Sodium 129.01mg 40%
Potassium 130.02mg 20%
Total Carbs 0.86g 2%
Sugars 0.25g 7%
Protein 8.41g 124%
Vitamin A 0.1mg 33%
Calcium 9.9mg 7%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
Find out how many calories should you eat.

Tastes

  • salty
  • savory
  • bitter
  • sweet
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Recipe Tags

Weightwatchers Points

  • 26.6
    Points
  • 27
    PointsPlus

Good Points

  • saturated fat free,
  • low sodium,
  • sugar free

Bad Points

  • High in Sodium,
  • High in Total Fat

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