Our birthday cake was required to be cut in pieces and sent hither and thither, a piece or two to Basswood City and some more to Lakeport, and it would have been extremely annoying had the frosting all broke away on the first attempt to cut it, and yet that is just what the common raw icing will always do if made with white of eggs alone. But if you dissolve a little gelatine in hot water in a cup, have it like thick mucilage, then use it and one or two whites of eggs mixed in to beat up the sugar with; the frosting will stay on the cake and cut as easy as a piece of cheese. For a rule, take:

2 tablespoons dissolved gelatine.

2 whites of eggs.

2 cups sugar.

Put all in a bowl and stir with a wooden paddle. To making icing or frosting easily it is best to have it as thick as dough at first, it soon turns thin as the sugar dissolves, when it becomes too thick with long stirring it can be reduced with warm water by the teaspoonful, or with white of egg.

A few drops of acetic acid, or lemon juice, or cream tartar added to icing whitens and stiffins it. Add lemon or vanilla extract to flavor.