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Dessert

Boiled Icing

A boiled sugar icing made by boiling sugar and water, then folding into beaten egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Tracy, Suzanne. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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Boiled Icing

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup

  1. Add one cupful of granulated sugar and one-fourth cupful of water.

  2. Boil the water and sugar together until it will form a soft ball when dropped in ice water.

Whip the egg white

  1. Beat the white of an egg until stiff.

Combine and flavor

  1. Pour the boiling syrup over the beaten white of the egg and stir until it thickens.

  2. Flavor with any desired flavoring.

By Tracy, Suzanne. [from old catalog]. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Granulated sugar
Sweetens the icing and, when boiled to a soft ball, helps it set into a smooth texture.
Egg white (in the method)
When beaten until stiff, it traps air and gives the icing a light, fluffy body.

The step that matters

Boil the syrup to a soft ball. The syrup's final texture depends on how far it is cooked. Stopping too early leaves the icing thin and runny, while cooking too long makes it stiff and grainy as it cools.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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