Caramel Icing
Ingredients
Directions
Make the caramel
In a granite basin, combine dark brown sugar and water, then burn until black.
Set aside to cool for later use.
Finish the icing
When ready to make the icing, pour a little cold water on the burnt sugar in the basin.
Pour off the excess water and thicken the mixture with confectioners' sugar.
Spread the icing on the cake.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Dark brown sugar
- Provides the sweetness, deep colour and molasses-like caramel flavour of the icing.
- Confectioners' sugar
- Sweetens the icing and thickens it into a spreadable consistency.
The step that matters
Burning the sugar until black. Sugar moves from caramel to bitter and acrid within a short time. Stopping at deep brown gives a rich flavour, while going too far makes the icing taste burnt.
“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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