Floral glacé or water icing

• icing sugar, sifted
• lemon juice, strained
• a drop of food colouring – optional
• a

Mix 6 parts sugar and 1 part lemon juice to the required texture, add the colouring – if using it – and the floral essence. I have experimented making the icing with, for example, rosewater instead of lemon juice, and omitting the rose essence, but it makes for too sweet an icing.