Royal icing is a hard white icing, made from egg white and icing sugar (mix or pure). A little addition of an acidic substance like lemon juice, citric acid or cream of tartar, the texture of the icing can be improved. I use white vinegar and am very happy with it. Royal icing can be used on products like Christmas cakes, wedding cakes, gingerbread houses and many other cakes and biscuits, either as a spreadable smooth coating or as piping decorations. Royal icing is also used to make decorations such as flowers and figurines for putting on the cake.
One way to use royal icing is by piping ornaments or decorations in certain shapes or forms on a plastic sheet. When the decorations are completely dry (overnight is recommended) they can be lifted and glued with soft royal icing onto a cake.
Additional added liquid like lemon juice, water or egg white will bring royal icing into a runny condition to coat products like cookies or dry baked pastries. Flooding work is commonly used with royal icing.
Ingredients
The weights in the recipe table below will yield the following 'weight per unit' and 'number of units'. If you would like to change the recipe to cater to a different 'weight per unit' and/or 'number of units',
you can use the Recipe Calculator Tool below the ingredients table.
Weight Per Unit: 735
Number of Units: 1
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WEIGHT
(grams)
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ALTERNATIVE METRIC
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INGREDIENT
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IMAGE
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CONDITION
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A
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600 |
21.1 ounces
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Icing Sugar Mixture
Icing sugar mixture, also known as confectioners' sugar or powdered sugar, is pulverised granulated sugar crushed together with a small amount (about three percent) of cornflour. This icing sugar is great to use when making icing for kids' birthday cakes or dusting sweet treats.
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B
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15 |
3 teaspoons
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Egg White Powder
Egg white powder is fully dehydrated egg white. It is made using spray drying in the same way that powdered milk is made. The major advantages of egg white powder over fresh egg white is the price, reduced weight per volume of whole egg equivalent, and the shelf life. Other advantages include smaller usage of storage space, and lack of need for refrigeration.
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C
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100 |
3.5 ounces
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Water
Cold
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D
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20 |
4 teaspoons
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Vinegar
Vinegar is a liquid consisting mainly of acetic acid (CH3COOH) and water. The acetic acid is produced by the fermentation of ethanol by acetic acid bacteria.[1] Vinegar is now mainly used as a cooking ingredient. Historically, as the most easily available mild acid, it had a great variety of industrial, medical and domestic uses, some of which (such as its use as a general household cleanser) are still promoted today.
The term "distilled vinegar" is something of a misnomer, because it is not produced by distillation but by fermentation of distilled alcohol. The fermentate is diluted to produce a colorless solution of 5% to 8% acetic acid in water, with a pH of about 2.4. This is variously known as distilled spirit, "virgin" vinegar, or white vinegar, and is used in cooking, baking, meat preservation, and pickling, as well as for medicinal, laboratory, and cleaning purposes.
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735
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Hi chef I would like to know if I could ice a cake with royal icing? God bless you!
If you want to do that , you have to coat the cake first with layer of fondant first than ice the cake with royal icing. thanks
Hi sir. Hope you have a nice day.. i want to ask that are there too muck difference between royal icing and sugar lace. To using the stencils; i must be use sugar lace or can i use the royal ice when i want too? And the other question if you answer ill be happy; when i use stencils for decoration can i just coloured the marks with gel colours? Or the royal ice is more usable for cake? Thank you so much..
Yes, you can use royal icing for stencils and gel colours are good to change colours of royal icing. Sugar lace is completely different paste, it is to fill for flat silicon mold with scrapers.
Chef, may I know what is the different of the royal icing , which the recipe with and without vinegar ? So far i use the recipe is without vinegar. Is that make the royal icing more strengthen in piping line? Thanks
No. It is not the reason. Vinegar make the egg white holds air better. If you like to do better string work add a bit of glucose and tylose. Just a bit.
Thanks chef. I use this recipe to do cookie icing. I found that the icing break and hv a hole when the icing dried. What cause it happen ? Or i overmix the icing?
Yes. Most probably . If you mix liquid to icing to make it more runy or keep it creamy . re mix the icing by hand or in the mixer slowly but at least a minute just before use.
hello MR. Serdar Yener
actually I need rolled fondant film because i’m try to found between the gallery I didn’t see
Hello Chef Serdar, thank you for all of your videos, Recipes, this website, all of your comments, etc. etc. Very happy to learn.
After watching and learning, I have not found where you mention what kind of Plastic Sheets (plastic you draw on, plastic shiny on one side mat finish on the other side, plastic for icing cones, plastic used for cutting out templates, plastic bags to keep fondant or pastillage in, and any plastic in general) that you use?
I can see the benefit rather than using baking paper. Please, would you tell us the different types of plastic you use for each of the applications? Is there a certain Brand Name, or thickness, or what name it is called, perhaps we can find on Amazon?
Thank you so much.
Hi Barbara Plastic sheet the one I draw on is White coated cellophane sheet you can get from craft shops or internet. I use mat side to draw with pencil or marking pen. For icing cone I use also cellophane sheet that comes varies of thicknesses I do not know the exact nr. Thin is good for small cones thicker is for larger cones. very useful material for many purpose lining on trays , spreading chocolate for perfect shine etc.I buy 70×50 cm sheets in large quantity 3 cents each . The bags I use to keep fondant inside call poly bags. For cutting templates I use semi tranparent file seperaters from stationary shop so I can see and copy shapes under need.
I’m from Greece.Thank you very much Chef for sharing your knowledge you are such a good ticher!
What consistency of Royal is required for the Eiffel Tower Cake? e.g. soft, medium or stiff peak?
Same recipe as in recipes section but do not whip too long . Too much air make the icing weak.For the Eiffel I mix by hand to the level just become heavy and creamy.
Greetings from Israel, Chef Yener!
I’ve been reading thru your pastillage recipe, questions asked and tips for handling. You mention that pastillage after sculpted and apparently dry, can become moldy when stored in a closed container because of the protein involved in its production. I wonder if the same might be true for royal icing since that, too, is made with a protein.
And another question, can royal icing firm consistency straight out of the mixer be stored in a closed plastic container in the refrigerator or would that compromise the consistency and the stability?
Thank you for your time. Looking forward to your response.
Francine
Hallo Francine Nice to get in touch with you again. I do not have formel food chemistry education. I will give may advise according to my experience. About Pastillage I usually add less than 1 g (202) in to my pastillage ( melting together in liquid) then I keep my pastillage in room temperature in plastic bags in container . I do not add any preservative in to my royal icing for even 2 weeks it doesn’t get moldy.I have even some coloured royal icings kept in jars for longer that. But I just do when I needed any way . Usally we don’t do royal icing for storing . If you keep in the fridge it is okay you can remix again but wait till become room temperature before remixing.
For how long can left over royal icing (made with egg white powder) be kept on the counter and still be usable if it is well covered? Or should the covered container of icing be kept in the fridge? Thanks so much for your help.
6 times sugar in egg white works like preservative . How long I don’t know . 1 week -10 days i don’t see any problem.
Hello Chef Serdar!
I finally got around to using this recipe for royal icing and thanks to your help it was really easy to do. I must say I was a bit nervous about the taste of the icing with the vinegar in the recipe, but it isn’t noticeable at all. Lots of experimenting and playing around to do now! One more question for you: Can a cake that has royal icing decorations on it be stored in the fridge or in the freezer if it is well wrapped with both plastic wrap and aluminum foil? Thanks for a great recipe. Looking forward to your reply.
No . No matter what, it will get moist at some stage
I meant how much corn flour to add to make it work as the icing mix.
Also, would the icing mix be the same as confectioners sugar????
5 percent . Thanks
Thank you for the clarification, Chef Yener. I had always thought that icing sugar was the same as confectioners sugar. So, of course, this leads to yet another question: If I have only icing sugar, how much corn flour do I need to add for each let’s say 100 grams of sugar to make it confectioners sugar?
Thank you again!
Hello again, and yet another question from me. I was about to start making my first batch of royal icing when I noticed that your recipe calls for “icing sugar mix”. I had been planning to use icing / confectioners sugar. Is that what you meant? If not, what is in this “mix” besides the icing sugar itself?
Thank you again for your quick responses.
confectioners sugar has no problem to use for royal icing.
Confectioners sugar= icing sugar + anti-caking agent
icing mix= icing sugar + corn flour
both has same purpose
Hi.
I have never made or used royal icing before. You say to be careful not to over mix. Can you suggest for how many minutes to whip on high speed with the paddle using a good stand mixer?
Also if I want to make sure that there are no remnants of grease on my clean mixing bowl, would you suggest wiping the bowl with a little lemon juice or vinegar? Thank you.
Hi Francine Mix everything by hand with spoon first that things are not flying around when you on the mixer. I can’t tell you exact time between 2-3 minute i would say. I have never looked at the watch when i mixing royal icing I rather look at the texture before relying on minutes. the mix will be nice and creamy because of the air mixed into the recipe. after sometimes (10minutes) the mixture will change its creaminess become little less creamy . My recommendation is to keep the paste in the mixer and time time give few turns while you using it. For the bowl just soap rinse and dry towel .
Thank you for replying so quickly! One more question about royal icing: At what stage would it be best to add colouring and /or flavouring and which kind would you recommend (gels? powders?) Thank you again.
I would only add colours by removing a portion in to other container as much as i need and keep the rest in mixer. Mixing colours by hand with spoon little at a time make more sense. gel is good , powder is not good unless desolve in little water first . Don’t forget colours will be slightly darker after royal icing dries.
Is this the consistency you use for piping work on the side of cakes? please
Royal icing with egg white powder or fresh egg white both can be used for piping on the side of cakes. I am using powder egg white for convenience. Thanks