Royal icing or frosting is a type of dessert icing which dries to a hard, glossy finish. It will be solid white when dry, unless it is coloured.
You can add some food colour for colourful icing.
This simple icing can be used for cakes, cookies, cupcakes, and a range of other baked goods.
In addition to being spread onto desserts, it can also be piped into fanciful shapes. Royal icing is extremely easy to make at home, and it is useful to know how to make this icing, because it is fast and extremely versatile.
Royal Frosting (Icing)
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Makes: 2 cups
Ingredients:
- 2 egg whites lightly beaten
- 2 – 2 1/2 cups of sieved icing sugar
- 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
- 2 vanillin ampules or 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 1 tablespoon glucose (optional) (I do not use it)
Directions:
- Sieve the sugar.
- Beat the egg whites with the lemon juice until frothy.
- Add sugar a tablespoon at a time and add the vanillin as well as the glucose, mixing each time. Continue adding sugar until a nice thick cream is formed.
For coloured icing, add colour to your sugar frosting with special food colours which you can find in supermarkets.
A drop or two is enough to colour your sugar frosting.
Risk-free icing
As raw eggs carry a small risk of salmonella, you can use pasteurized eggs, which are sold either fresh or in powder.
However, since both are very difficult to find in Greece and I do not want to take any risks, I have stopped making the royal icing with eggs.
Instead, I put the amount of sugar I need in a bowl and add some lemon juice and rose water or blossom water, until it reaches the consistency I like.
Eggless Royal Frosting (Icing)
This eggless royal icing is easy to make, it is easy to work with and sets quickly. The addition of vanilla, blossom water and lemon juice make it very tasty!
Ingredients
- 2 cups icing sugar
- 1 tbsp blossom water
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 vanillins
- Food colour (optional)
Instructions
- Sift the icing sugar and put it in a bowl.
- Add the blossom water and lemon juice.
- Mix with a spoon until you have a thick paste.
- Spread on top of a cake or put it in a piping bag (or a sandwich bag and make a very small hole with a toothpick) and pipe out the design you like.
Notes
The following amount is enough to cover one cake around 26 cm diametre.
2007 Christmas Cake
2008 Christmas Cake
2009 Christmas Cake
Kopiaste and Kali Orexi!
George
Friday 7th of December 2007
Every year, your Christmas Cake is even better than the last one you had made. The appearance is very nice and the royal icing is thick and has covered the whole cake very well. Well done!