[Sca-cooks] Sugar Icing recipes part 2

[johnna holloway]

Here is the second selection  with
the references.

Johnnae llyn Lewis  Johnna Holloway

17th Century Manuscript Recipes
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Recipes from Fettiplace are omitted.
Recipes from Martha Washington's Booke of Cookery are omitted.
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Rebecca Price began her manuscript of recipes in 1681.
It was published as The Compleat Cook, Or the Secrets
of a Seventeenth-Century Housewife in 1974. It was
edited by Madeleine Masson.

She includes this specific icing recipe:

"To Make Iceing for A Cake; my Lady Sheldon
Take a pounde of lofe suger beaten, and sifted; then put to it
as much gum-dragon that hath been steeped in rose water,
or oring-flower water, as the quantity of a nuttmeg; mix with
your gum the white of an egg, and 5 or six spoonfulls of
rose, or oring-flower-water, so straine it altogether into
your suger, and put it into a morter and beat it extreamely
for an howre or more if you see occation. for the longer
you beat it the whiter it will be, and if you will you may
add a little muske, or ambergreece; when your cake is baked
poure it one the top and spread it all over it, and also the
sides, you may spread it with a knife, then set it in the
oven againe and let it stand a little till it harden,
but not couller: be sure don't put to much water to make it
than three spoonfulls of ye waters is soficient."
[page 199][ editor's note: gum dragon = tragacanth;
ambergreece=ambergris.]
This as complete a recipe as that given by Digbie. It's use
of the gum dragon makes for a recipe that somewhat resembles
the sugarpaste recipes that were used for marchpanes in the 16th
centuries and even more akin to the modern cakes draped in gum
paste coverings. Note the warning not to let it couller or color
(turn yellow or scorch) in the oven.
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The scholar, John Evelyn (1620-1706), is well known
for his Acetaria A Discourse of Sallets published in 1699.
His volume of receipts was unpublished until 1997 when
Prospect Books published the culinary sections as John
Evelyn, Cook. It was edited by Christopher Driver.
Evelyn often simply wrote "Ice it as you do any Other"
as in the recipe for "a very light Cake". [#207 page 126]
He did, however, elaborate as in the following specific recipe:

"206. To ice the cake.
Take a p[ound] of Double refined sugar sifted the whites of 3 Eggs
beat with a spoonfull or more of Rose water mix in the sugar by
degrees continue beating till it is very white and the Cake baked
then draw the Cake to the ovens mouth and spread it equally let
it stand to harden a litle while and so draw it[.]" [page 126]

Those using Evelyn should note that Evelyn uses a term "icings"
as in "274. To make white oatmeall pudings or icings." Here
the term means a sort of sausage from the word "ising".
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18th Century Material Omitted.
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Notes:
Double layers of icing were apparently the invention of
Mrs. Elizabeth Raffald who in the 1769 The Experienced English
House-Keeper included a recipe for a Bride's cake that
included an almond icing that is set to harden topped
by a layer of sugar icing.
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I will mention that Barbara Wheaton credits the Patissier
Francois of 1654 as one of the earliest sources for both
 "the egg-and-sugar-foam-based batters
from which sweet cakes developed" and "a simple royal icing."
[Savoring the French Past, 1983. pp.177.]
I will not attempt to go into any French-English connections
at this point, except to note that the work was published in
English in 1656 as The Perfect Cook with the author being given
as Mon. Marnette. {And as I do not have a copy I can't at this
time quote what that work has to offer regarding either cakes or
icing.}
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These recipes that call for a simple mixture of rosewater and
sugar might be what we now refer to as "glazed" where
an item is lightly iced. Note that most of the cakes and items
being iced are not cooled before icing. Almost all modern
recipes instruct one to cool the cake prior to icing.
Most of these early recipes call for the items to be
then placed back into an oven to dry.
(Modern terminology : Glazed as in glazed doughnuts)

Sugar would have been obtained in cones of varying weights
and quality. There were two English sugar refineries in
the 1550's; by 1650, there were at least 50 in just
London. Powdered or confectioners' sugar would not have been
used. Any reference to powdered sugar is to granulated
sugar that is pounded fine and sifted. Elizabeth David notes
that it was the latter decades of the 19th century before
caster and icing or confectioners' became common.

I do not as yet have a firm date for the common use of what
we now refer to as buttercream frostings. Robert May, for one,
did use butter in his recipes, although we can't really state
that this was a true buttercream.


I will not attempt to go into the history of English cakes, except
to note that most cakes prior to 1600 were the rich
yeast (more akin to modern sweet) dough variety to which
spices, currants, candied fruits, and nuts might be added. Large
cakes and even some of the small cakes were generally treated as
breads would be and use yeast, good ale yest, ale barm, or hartshorn
for leavening. Recipes using eggs beaten for as long as two or three
hours begin to appear primarily in the 17th century, although
Wilson quotes a date of 1596 for Thomas Dawson's Biscuit Bread
that rises from the use of eggs beaten for two hours.

References:
Charsley, Simon R. Wedding Cakes and Cultural History. 1992.
{Use Charsely with caution. He confuses Price's The Compleat
Cook with that of the 1655 The Compleat Cook by W.M.}
David, Elizabeth. English Bread and Yeast Cookery. 1977, 1980.
Henisch, Bridget Ann. Cakes and Characters. An English Christmas
Tradition. 1984.
Wilson, C. Anne. Food and Drink in Britain. 1974; 1991.
Fleming, Elise. (Dame Alys Katharine) Confectioners Newsletter.
Vol.3, No.1. February, 1994. "Powdered Sugar" which includes
notes from Karen Hess regarding powdered sugar and its various
meanings when the term is found in recipes prior to 1800.
history and use.
Oxford English Dictionary, 2d edition. Online restricted edition.

This is the work of Johnnae llyn Lewis//Johnna H. Holloway
4 November 2001. Please credit the author when using her comments.