Skip to main content
Dessert

Simple Creamy Frosting

A simple frosting made by boiling sugar with water and cooling, then beating into a spreadable consistency.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Simple Creamy Frosting

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup

  1. In a saucepan, combine 2 cups of sugar with enough water to dissolve it.

  2. Boil the mixture until it barely holds together when a drop is placed in cold water.

Cool and finish

  1. Remove from heat and set the saucepan in a pan of cold water until the syrup cools.

  2. Beat the cooled syrup with a fork until it reaches a spreadable consistency.

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.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Sugar
Forms the syrup that sets into a smooth, spreadable frosting as it cools and is beaten.

The step that matters

Cooling before beating. Beating the syrup while it is still hot can produce large sugar crystals, making the frosting grainy instead of creamy. Letting it cool first keeps the crystals small.

“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.

You might also like

White CakeWhite Cake431 recipesPound CakePound Cake373 recipesOrange Bundt CakeOrange Bundt Cake349 recipesSpice CakeSpice Cake344 recipes