227.—To Ornament a Bee-hive.
Before you begin to boil the sugar take as many borders out of your gum paste moulds as will go round the bottom; also take out leaves for the top; run a husk round the sides to represent the matting of the hive, lay your borders and leaves on a marble slab, with a cloth over them to keep them moist. You may also twist a length of gum paste like a wreath and make it into a large ring; this must be dried; then fix on the ornaments with a little hot sugar and set the ring upright on the top. You may then spin long lengths of sugar very fine on to a tin plate. Take the bees and fix them with hot sugar on the top and sides of the hive; break the lengths of sugar in short pieces and fix them in the holes made in the bees. You may also form three entrances into the hive with the gum paste husk.
XI. COLOURING SUGAR.
228.—To prepare Sugar for Colouring.
Take good loaf sugar, get it ground well, put it through a hair sieve; what remains in the hair sieve put into a fine wire sieve and sift it, and the sugar which comes through the wire sieve will be rough sugar proper for colouring.
229.—To colour Sugar.
Divide the sugar into as many parts as you intend to colour, put each into a sheet of paper, then prepare your colours. Take a round-bottomed pan and put it on a warm stove, pour in your lot of sugar, stir it about with a dry whisk until the sugar is warm, add the colour, stir it well with the whisk to make the sugar all of that colour, then stir it about till the sugar is nearly dry, when you may spread it about on the sheet of paper. You may proceed in this manner with all the colours. The first colour used should be yellow, and the next green, which may be coloured in the yellow pan and with the same whisk. You must then wash both, and colour red, and after that orange. When the sugar is cold, sift it to take out any coupled, then bottle it separately. It will be found to be a useful article to ornament rout biscuits, creams, &c.