In a 1926 cookbook called, Mrs. Peterson’s Simplified Cooking, Mrs. Peterson writes that one of the most frequent questions she gets when conducting a cooking class is “What shall I do with egg yolks?”
Both a hundred years ago and now there are numerous recipes that call for egg white, and the cook ends up with leftover egg yolks. To assist readers, Mrs. Peterson provided a list of ways to use them.
Intrigued by the Yellow Jacket Frosting suggestion, I flipped to the cookbook’s index and found the recipe for Yellow Jacket Frosting. According to the recipe, it is a lemon-colored, cooked frosting made using egg yolks, marshmallows, sugar, and Karo.
That frosting must have been super sweet and good.
It’s interesting how the recipe for Yellow Jacket Frosting calls for three sweeteners (marshmallows, sugar, Karo).
Similar to Seven-Minute-Frosting except that is made with the whites. I burned up a cheap mixer once while making it. It fizzled out at five minutes! LOL
Yes, it does sound similar to Seven Minute Frosting, but with yolks instead of whites. I made an Orange Layer Cake with Boiled Frosting last spring. Fortunately I didn’t burn up my mixer making it.
I like orange cake. I make an icing using cream cheese that goes really well with the orange flavor.
mmm. . . Your cream cheese icing with lemon flavor sounds wonderful.
😋😋😋
LOL…The yellow jacket stood out to me also!!!
I did a quick look and could not find one that was not using buttercream and color. Can you share the one you found?
Here’s the recipe that was in Mrs. Peterson’s Simplified Cooking 1926 cookbook:
2 egg yolks
6 marshmallows
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons Karo
1/2 cup water
Beat egg yolks until thick and lemon-colored. Pour on gradually syrup made of sugar, Karo, and water, which has been cooked to 238 degrees or until it will spin a thread. Add marshmallows and beat stiff enough to pile.
A gold cake with yellow jacket frosting – the very best!
I love it. I can picture a beautiful Gold Layer Cake with Yellow Jacket Frosting. I bet it would be tasty and make a beautiful presentation. Yellow Jacket Frosting is not a recipe I would generally select to make for this blog, but I’m starting to warm to it, and with your suggestion of combining with a golden cake, it’s becoming a maybe.
Sent from my iPhoneHi! Great tips! What is the recipe for the yellow jacket frosting, please? Thank you very much! GloriaOn Jun 11, 2026,
Yellow Jacket Frosting
2 egg yolks
6 marshmallows
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons Karo
1/2 cup water
Beat egg yolks until thick and lemon-colored. Pour on gradually syrup made of sugar, Karo, and water, which has been cooked to 238 degrees or until it will spin a thread. Add marshmallows and beat stiff enough to pile.
Recipe was in Mrs. Peterson’s Simplified Cooking (1926).
Thanks!!!! Now the biggie…Would you make it again?
I’ve never made this recipe. I just copied it from the same cookbook that contained the list which included mention of Yellow Jacket Frosting. This post and all the comments about Yellow Jacket Frosting are starting to make me curious about what it is like, and maybe I’ll try making it some day. Not sure.
I hope Yellow Jacket frosting doesn’t sting!
🙂 I’ve never made this frosting, but if I did, I can picture family members having a lot of fun with the name.
Wow! That frosting must be very sweet!
It does sound super sweet!