Vintage Cake Icing Recipes 1889 - 1929
From hopscotch 14 years ago
- 15 minutes to make
- Serves 1
My sister loves old recipes, and through the years, I would accidentally stumble upon them. So sharing some of my find's, and I left the footnotes as I found them, because both the recipe and the person are both fascinating and interesting.
Ingredients
- 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. shopping list
- Seven Minute icing Recipe shopping list
- 1 egg white, 3/4 cups white sugar, 1 tablespoon corn syrup, 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar, 3 tablespoons water, 1/2 teaspoon 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 1 minute longer; spread immediately. shopping list
- Easy vanilla icing Recipe shopping list
- 3 tablespoons butter, 1-1/2 cups icing sugar, 1-1/2 tablespoons milk, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla; beat. [Add enough confectioner's sugar to make of right consistency to spread.] shopping list
- vanilla butter Cream icing Recipe shopping list
- 1/4 cup butter, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 2 teaspoons vanilla, 3 cups icing sugar, 1/4 cup milk. Combine all ingredients and mix. shopping list
- butterscotch icing Recipe shopping list
- In a saucepan combine 3 tablespoons butter, 3 tablespoons milk, 1/2 cup dark brown sugar. Heat till dissolved, beat in 1-2/3 cups icing sugar and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla; beat till creamy. shopping list
- icing Recipes shopping list
- 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. L. Gillette, a celebrated 19th-century cookbook author, published by The Saalfield Publishing Company, New York, in 1913. shopping list
- cake frosting Tips shopping list
- 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 one egg, one 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 one that will dry much sooner than the old way. shopping list
- 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, the second after the first has become dry, or nearly so. If the icing gets too dry or stiff before the last coat is needed, it can be thinned sufficiently with a little water, enough to make it work smoothly. shopping list
- A little lemon juice, or half a teaspoonful of tartaric acid, added to the frosting while being beaten, makes it white and more frothy. shopping list
- The flavors mostly used are lemon, vanilla, almond, rose, chocolate, and orange. shopping list
- If you wish to ornament with figures or flowers, make up rather more icing, keep about one-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 [food coloring], 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. shopping list
- Set the cake in a cool oven with the door open to dry, or in a draught in an open window. shopping list
- almond frosting (marzipan icing Recipe) shopping list
- The whites of three eggs, beaten up with three cups of fine, white sugar. Blanch a pound of sweet almonds, pound them in a mortar with a little sugar, until a fine paste, then add the whites of eggs, sugar and vanilla extract. Pound a few minutes to thoroughly mix. Cover the cake with a very thick coating of this, set in a cool oven to dry, afterwards cover with a plain icing. shopping list
- chocolate frosting shopping list
- The whites of four eggs, three cups of powdered sugar and nearly a cup of grated chocolate. Beat the whites a very little, they must not become white, stir in the chocolate, then put in the sugar gradually, beating to mix it well. shopping list
- Plain chocolate icing shopping list
- 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 one of water; mix all well together, and add one 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 one of the cakes; put a second one on top, alternating the mixture and cakes; then cover top and sides, and set in a warm oven to harden. shopping list
- All who have tried recipe after recipe, vainly hoping to find one 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. shopping list
- Tutti Frutti icing shopping list
- Mix with boiled icing one ounce each of chopped citron, candied cherries, seedless raisins, candied pineapple, and blanched almonds. shopping list
- sugar icing shopping list
- To one pound of extra-refined sugar add one ounce of fine white starch; pound 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 one 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. shopping list
- 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. shopping list
- For ornamenting the cake, the icing may be tinged any color preferred. For pink, use a few drops of cochineal [food coloring]; 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. shopping list
- 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. shopping list
How to make it
- Boiled Frosting Recipe
- 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.
- 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.
- Frosting Recipe, Without Eggs
- 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.
- 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.
- Gelatin Frosting
- 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.
- Golden Frosting
- 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
- Icing Recipes
- 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.
- Boiled Icing Recipe
- 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.
- Almond Icing (Marzipan Icing Recipe)
- 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.
- 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.
- Plain White Icing Recipe
- 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.
- Pink Icing
- 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.
- Yellow Icing
- 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.
- Chocolate Icing
- 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.
- Chocolate Icing Recipe, Without Eggs
- 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.
- Chocolate Icing, Unboiled
- 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.
- 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.
- Lemon Peel Flavoring For Use With Cake Icing Recipes
- 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.
- Unboiled Icing
- 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.
- Chocolate Icing Recipe
- Prepare the above unboiled icing, add as much grated chocolate as you desire and flavor with vanilla.
- Yellow or Golden Icing
- 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.
- Coconut Icing
- Mix coconut with the unboiled icing. If you desire to spread it between the cakes, scatter more coconut over and between the layers.
- Nut Icing
- 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.
- Maple Sugar Icing
- 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.
- Caramel Icing Recipe
- 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.
The Rating
Reviewed by 3 people-
That is so great! Thank you for posting this!!
bostyn
in San Diego loved it
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Awsome post fantastict recipes and luv it thanks for sharing your mamas recipes {and the time you took to post them. momo
momo_55grandma
in Mountianview loved it
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