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Hi Bold Bakers!
Royal icing is a really easy frosting used for decorating cakes and cookies. You know when you see those beautifully decorated cookies or gingerbread houses at Christmas? That is royal icing doing its job.
Just like a really great builder has lots of tools in his tool box, every Bold Baker needs to know how to make all kinds of frostings, fillings, and garnishes. My method for making How to Make Royal Icing is a must-have in your decorating arsenal. Besides my royal icing being super easy to make, it’s a flexible recipe that can be altered to fit either cookies OR cakes. The recipe in this article will teach you How to Make Royal Icing used mainly for cookies — but if you want to make some for decorating cakes, stay tuned, because that’s coming on Sunday with my new Bold Baking Basics video!
What is Royal Icing and What is it Used for?
This type of icing is used for different things, so it can be made either runny or stiff for its different uses. In Ireland, we use it a lot around the holidays to cover our traditional Irish Christmas Cake.
The icing itself is made of the same ingredients no matter what the use. Made of only egg whites, powdered sugar, and lemon juice, there’s a reason this icing is a baker’s best friend. When it comes to cookie decorating, it has slightly less sugar than when used for cakes. For cookies, it’s traditionally a thinner texture — which is perfect for evenly covering larger cookies. You can even add coloring to get the vibe you want.
How to Decorate Cookies with Royal Icing
My recipe below gives you the perfect consistency for a thinner royal icing great for decorating cookies as it can be used to get very specific, creating line-based designs or even writing.
Another way to use this thinner type of royal icing is for filling in larger areas or covering a cookie with an even shiny layer of icing. This is called “flooding” cookies. The runny icing will spread out evenly on your cookie making the finished product look like they came from a bakery. To test if you have the right consistency you should be able to pipe a line between two fingertips and it should not break.
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How Long Does It Take To Dry?
The reason royal icing is used to decorate cookies like my Gingerbread Men and Best Ever Sugar Cookies is because the icing actually drys to a smooth and shiny finish. This makes for a super professional look, like you get from bakeries. While the icing hardens, it will begin to form a skin and harden in about an hour and will be fully dry after 4-6. Don’t be too tempted by your creations if the cookies have just been iced!
Why Won’t My Royal Icing Harden?
If your royal icing is not properly firming up it may be because of the moisture in the air where you live. If this is something you run into, you can add more sugar to the icing 1/2 cup at a time until it’s a bit stiffer. After stiffening the icing a bit, you can use it as normal and it will dry.
How to Heat Treat Egg Whites
If you’re weary of using raw egg whites, you can heat treat the eggs before beating them. To do this, you simply mildly cook the eggs over a bain marie on low heat for 2-3 minutes, just until the egg whites have become warm but are not cooking. This extra step is NOT necessary but is a great method to know. Plus, with my addition of lemon juice, the acidity will take care of any lingering bacteria anyway!
How to Store Royal Icing
Once your royal icing is made, cover it with cling wrap directly on the surface of the icing to stop it from getting hard and drying out. It will keep happily for a few weeks at room temperature.
Piping tips/tricks?
I like to think my recipe is pretty foolproof, and not just in the making! The icing itself is perfect for thin drizzling, writing, drawing, and “flooding” cookies. I myself am not a pro at decorating, and it’s the recipe here that does the work making me look like a pro.
For cakes the best way to use royal icing is with a small or large offset spatula depending on the surface are of the cake. This will create and even look. If I want to create fun texture, I use the offset to swirl and streak away. Find out how to make my Easy Royal Icing For Christmas Cake Decorating this Sunday Dec 9!
Also, don’t miss my Gingerbread Log Cabin recipe for a great way to use your freshly made royal icing!
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