Royal ICING

Royal icing sets hard making it perfect for icing cookies, biscuits and for adding decorative touches to birthday cakes.

INGREDIENTS

Makes 1 batch frosting / Enough for 30 cookies

Frosting

• 120g pasteurised egg whites (aprox. 3 eggs)

• ½ tsp of cream of tartar

• 560g  (3 ½ cups) sifted icing (confectioners’) sugar, sifted

• 2 tbsp water to adjust consistency

• 1 tsp vanilla extract or flavouring of your choice

Method

Royal Icing

Place egg whites, cream of tartar, vanilla extract and icing sugar in large mixing bowl of a stand mixer. Using the whisk attachment, mix on low speed until mixture comes together. Continue mixing until mixture is smooth and uniform. You may need to scrape down the bowl to make sure everything gets mixed in properly.

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CONSISTENCIES

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There are several stages of royal icing consistency and each one serves a different purpose.

1. Stiff consistency

This consistency is what you get when you make this recipe. It’s great for piping stiff royal icing shapes like roses or shell borders. If you need to stiffen your royal icing just add more icing (confectioners’) sugar and mix until smooth.

2. 15 second Consistency

This is the consistency you would use for things like outlining your cookies before you ‘flood’ (fill) them with a thinner royal icing.

15-second icing consistency holds its own shape, but will soften slightly, so any peaks that pay show when piping will eventually smooth out on their own.

It’s called the 15 second consistency because if you run a knife through it, it will come back together and smooth out after about 15 seconds.

To thin it out to this consistency add 1 tbsp of water, test, and then add more if required.

3. Piping consistency

This one is thick enough to hold it’s shape so that you can write letters and messages with it on your cookies

4. Flooding consistency

This is the thinnest on, achieved by adding water and mixing to thin out, and is most commonly used for ‘flooding’ or ‘filling’ your cookies. It comes out super smooth. If it runs out over the barrier you’ve created with the 15 second consistency then its too runny. Add more icing sugar!

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NOTES

Pasteurised Egg Whites

Pasteurised eggs are gently heated in their shells, just enough to kill the bacteria but not enough to actually cook the egg, making them safe to use in any recipe that calls for uncooked or partially cooked eggs.

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TOOLS YOU'LL NEED

• Mixing bowls

• Measuring cups

• Measuring spoons

• Stand mixer

• Electric hand mixer (if you don't have a stand mixer)

• Paddle attachment

• Spatula

• Sieve