I have made "boiled icing" which involved pouring the sugar syrup over the egg whites. My memory is that this icing stayed moist for quite a while. Conversely, "7 minute icing" was made by beating egg whites, water and sugar in the top of a double boiler for "seven minutes" (usually quite a bit less if using an electric mixer). The latter was less tricky and did not depend on having brought the sugar syrup to exactly the right temperature, but it did form a crackly shell quite quickly, and the interior of the frosting also soon became dry and sponge-like in appearance. The epitome of my cake-baking career was a birthday cake for my mother-in-law. Her favorite was a moist, yellow cake in three layers, filled with lemon custard and frosted with real boiled icing and lots of fluffy coconut. I put the cake on a wide glass platter and surrounded it with perfect blossoms cut from my Mrs. Sam McGonigle (peachy-gold in color) climber rose. Stunning! Carolyn, that cake sounds perfectly wonderful; what a lovely daughter-in-law you are! And I think you're right about the icing - you nailed it, they're somewhat different as they "age." Although, I recently made a classic 7-minute icing, and 10 days later it was STILL soft and creamy, not crusty at all... go figure. PJH

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