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This royal icing recipe is made with egg white and sifted pure icing
sugar and is mainly used for making tube flowers, flood work, and
finishing off the sides of cakes with embroidery, lace work and
filigree.
Ingredients
2 egg white, at room temperature
¼ teaspoon lemon juice
4 cups (1lb) icing sugar (you may need extra icing sugar when mixing so these are approximate measures)
Method
Strain the egg white through a dry muslin cloth. This will break up the egg white. Beat lightly with the lemon juice.
Sift
the icing sugar through a very fine sieve (if you don't have a fine
sieve use a clean nylon stocking, a piece of organdy or similar
material).
The sieve that you use for every day straining is not
fine enough. It will not remove all the fine lumps and this will cause
problems when piping.
Gradually add the icing sugar
to the egg white mixture and mix to form a soft, creamy consistency
similar to unwhipped cream. Continue adding small quantities of icing
sugar until the desired consistency is reached. Mix well and gently
beating after each addition.
The icing should be smooth
glossy and light, almost like a cold meringue in texture but not
aerated. If you add the icing sugar too quickly the mixture will become
dull and thick, which will be difficult to handle.
Stir in the glycerin until well mixed.
The
correct consistency is reached when a sharp and smooth peak forms and
holds its shape when the spoon is lifted out of the mixture. If the
icing mixture is too soft, the peak will curl back. If you have used
too much icing sugar, the peak will break of bluntly.
If
you have made the mixture too stiff, dip a spatula with a small
quantity of the icing mixture on it into a beaten egg white and mix
this into the rest of the icing mixture. Repeat this process until the
correct consistency is reached. By doing this you should not end up
with an enormous bowl of mixed icing.
Royal icing will
be snow white if it has been mixed correctly. To make it even brighter,
dip the tip of the handle of a brush into blue coloring and mix this
trace into the icing. Make sure you mix it well, if not mixed well it
will be slightly cream in color.
Allow the icing to
settle before using it. Cover the surface with a piece of damp plastic
wrap and seal well, excluding all the air.
Stir the
icing thoroughly before using, this will disperse the air bubbles. Then
adjust the consistency if necessary by adding more sieved icing sugar.
Note Leave out the glycerine if you want to use it for run outs.
image by Marco Veringa
A royal icing recipe has been used to make the filigree
butterflees, delicate lace work around the outside of the cake and also
the piped lines under the lace work.
