Icing for Cakes (Mrs. D. Cloete's Recipe)

Ingredients

• 1 lb Icing Sugar
• 3 Egg whites

Instructions

1. Whisk the egg whites to a stiff froth.
2. Gradually sift in the icing sugar.
3. Beat the mixture well until the sugar is smooth.
4. With a broad knife, lay the icing equally over the cake in one layer.
5. Allow the layer to get firm in a cool oven.
6. Apply the next layer and repeat the firming process.
7. Colour the icing with cochineal, currant juice, or spinach juice as desired.
8. For sponge cake, flavour the icing with orange or vanilla extract.
9. Dry the icing in a cool oven before serving.
10. For ornamental icing, apply a base layer of white sugar icing first.
11. Mix cochineal with some icing to create a red icing.
12. Make a cornucopia of paper with a small hole at the bottom and fill with the red icing.
13. Press the icing out through the hole to create patterns or dots, or use ornamental squeezers from the ironmonger.
14. For orange-flavoured sponge cake, layer marmalade over the cake before applying orange-flavoured icing.