Hi,

I’m new here! ^_^

Was wondering has anyone heard of foam icing/seafoam icing where they just beat egg white and sugar and use it to coat the cake? Am wondering would the icing liquidize after a few days? Would it be stiff enough to pipe?

Need help!

Thanks.

Josephine

Those are the components of Royal Icing (powdered sugar) which dries quite hard.  I guess it would depend upon the ratio what the texture is like, but it honestly doesn’t sound that appetizing to cover an entire cake.  Seems like it would pipe well if you just wanted to use it for accents here and there.  Have you tasted it before?

Since you used the words “foam” and “seafoam”, I wonder if the kind of frosting you’re referring to is actually a meringue, which is made with beaten egg whites and sugar.

Yes, if it is meringue, then it would be best to heat it in some way—like the first step of a Swiss or Italian buttercream—for stability.  Otherwise, it will bead out within a few hours.

This is one of the examples of the recipes I found online.

[Ingredients]
3/4 cups (160g) granulated sugar
2 large egg whites
2 teaspoons water
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla

[Preparation]
1. In the top of a double boiler (or bowl) that fits snugly in a saucepan, combine the sugar, egg whites, water and cream of tartar.  Fill saucepan half full of water, and bring just to a simmer.  Place egg white mixture over simmering water, and cook, beating constantly with a portable electric mixer on low speed, until the mixture reads 160°F (70°C) on an instant-read thermometer.  Remove from heat and beat at medium-high speed just until whites form soft peaks.  Add vanilla and beat just to incorporate.

2. Add optional flavorings like citrus zest, flavored extracts or syrups.  One drop of food coloring will create a light pastel-colored frosting.

I am thinking of making an sponge cake, with ice-cream sandwich in the middle. But I’m not really keen in coating it with whipped cream again as it might be too creamy and too… hmm… fattening? Hahaha..

So what do you guys think?

Josephine

Hi,

This recipe is very similar to the topping for devil dog cake on Gourmet.com
Here is the link
http://www.gourmet.com/recipes/2000s/2008/02/devil_dog_cake

The frosting is kind of like soft marshmallows. My kids loved it.

J

Thanks Jan!!

^____________^

LF

This reply may be a bit late in the game…However, this is traditionally called a Seven-Minute Frosting (basically, because it takes about 7 minutes to make when you start to whip it over the double boiler).

I like this frosting, but the traditional version tends to be overly sweet and quite sticky (i.e hard to work with).

Last year, Cook’s Illustrated published a remade version that not only is less intensely sweet but is more stable and holds up for 3-4 days (twice as long as the traditional version. The CI version is also much easier to make as you don’t have to whip it over a double boiler (which is very tiring to the arm), just heat to to 160 while stirring with a spatula and then whip on the stand mixer.

Here’s the recipe:

4 large egg whites
14 oz. sugar
½ c. water
2 TBS. lemon juice
2 TBS. light corn syrup

1. Combine all ingredients in the stainless steel bowl of an electric mixer. Place bowl over hot water bath with barely simmering water.

2. Stir constantly until the mixture reaches 160 degrees, 5-10 minutes.

3. Put the bowl on the mixer machine and whip with wire whip on medium speed until stiff peaks form and the mixture has cooled to room temperature, about 5 minutes.

This icing is just lovely on a lemon layer cake (which is my all time favorite cake, btw), and this recipe was published with CI’s remade version of old-fashioned lemon layer cake (excellent recipe, and the lemon curd recipe with it is the best I’ve ever used as a cake filling).

Roxanne

The lemon cake and icing on the Cooks’ Illustrated web site may only be available to paid subscribers to the site. But the same recipe is free if you visit the “sister” site of America’s Test Kitchen.

http://www.americastestkitchen.com/login.asp?did=4032&LoginForm=recipe&iSeason;=

You do have to register for that site to view the recipe there, but registration is free.

I’ve been wanting to try that recipe every since I saw it. Thanks for the review, Roxanne!