Thanks marigene: I use royal icing for my gingerbread house and icing some xmas cookies. The recipe I am looking for is for a cake, not too sweet, and will harden, I think in the fridge initially, but should hold the firmness when putting it out to serve.

Check below & scroll down the page. Starting with the boiled icing, there are a couple that fit your description.

Here is a link that might be useful: Frosting

ginger: thanks, what a great site.

Hope it helps!

Don't know exactly what you mean by a "hard" frosting. Royal Icing is REALLY hard (like hard candy)!! Perhaps you mean an icing that crusts over as it stands? I have made this kind myself to ice a "Lord Baltimore Cake". The cookbooks and the net are full of icing/frosting recipes. Look for one that uses egg whites and cream of tartar in the ingredients, like Seven "Minute Frosting" or "White Mountain Frosting".

Do you mean more of a "crust" on the frosting? It won't be hard like royal, but if you add Meringue Powder (wilton) to a buttercream frosting, made with either Crisco, or butter, it will form a light crust on the buttercream.

Yes, I do mean a firm icing or a crust. I should have used that term in my heading, as hard white icing is definetly Royal Icing. Adding merigue powder to the buttercream might do the trick. I will also try a seven minute icing. Thanks

I sometimes ice Christmas cookies with boiled white icing. (My grandma and my mom always did that and flavored the icing with anise.) Been a while since I used it for cake icing, but I'm pretty sure the very top would be hard and crusty, with a softer and chewier layer underneath. I spread it thin on cookies and it's chewy the first day or two and then it hardens.

Here is the basic Wilton recipe, to this add 3 Tbls of Meringue powder (add with the Powdered sugar) and it will make a crusting frosting.

Buttercream Icing
Ingredients:
1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
1/2 cup butter or margarine*
1 teaspoon Clear Vanilla
4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar (approx. 1 lb.)
2 tablespoons milk**
Cream butter and shortening with electric mixer. Add vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Keep icing covered with a damp cloth until ready to use. For best results, keep icing bowl in refrigerator when not in use. Refrigerated in an airtight container, this icing can be stored 2 weeks. Rewhip before using.

YIELD: 3 cups

Here is a recipe for an icing that I make that forms a crusty outer layer. It came from Helen Corbitt's Cookbook, who gained popularity while at Neiman Marcus.

Colonnade Icing

4 1/2 c. sugar
1 c. wter
6 T. white Karo
6 egg whites, beaten stiff
1/3 c. powdered sugar

Mix sugar, water and Karo. Cook to soft ball state, 238 degree onyour candy thermometer. Add this mixture slowly to egg whites, what have been beaten still but not dry, beating thoroughly until the icing is like cream. Add 1/3 c. powdered sugar. "This is a soft-on-the-inside, crusty-on-the-outside icing that never fails. Leftovers may be refrigerated, then heated in warm water to lukewarm and used as needed."

Helen Corbitt's Cookbook

I hope this helps.

Brenda

Thanks to all for the recipes and tips. The recipes sound just like what I am looking for. We are now smack in the middle of our kitchen reno, no stove, no oven, no sink. We are living in the basement with a microwave. I am printing off these recipes and will hopefully try them out at my moms house soon. Thanks again.