Royal Icing is great for icing fruit cakes, cookies and more. Royal Icing can set hard or soft depending on how you make it, we've given you a recipe below on how to make it using Meri White - Meri White is a white, powdered, egg substitute which you can buy online here.
Royal Icing Recipe:
10g Meri-white
100ml Water
500g Icing Sugar
Sieve your icing sugar, any lumps in your sugar could clog your piping nozzle so don't skip this step!
In a bowl with a beater, first add water followed by Meri-white, mix for a few minutes just to combine and then scrape down the bowl.
Carefully add the icing sugar a little at a time, when all the sugar has been absorbed, scrape down again then beat on a medium to high speed for about 5 minutes to incorporate plenty of air. If you don’t incorporate enough air the icing will be too stiff and be difficult to pipe.
This will make a firm but fluffy icing which is easy to pipe directly onto your cookie or cake.
You can adjust your royal icing for piping, coating or flooding;
How To Adjust Your Royal Icing:
Thinning
1 Teaspoon of Meri-white
1 Tablespoon of Water
In a small bowl mix together the water and meri-whites with a spoon just to combine.
Add to thick Royal Icing in order to make it thinner, this is done by adding very small quantities at a time to achieve a smooth mixture which only just holds its shape.
Thickening
To thicken your Royal Icing simply add more sifted icing sugar. This should be done in small quantities and mixed well.
Tips for using royal icing
Leftover Royal Icing can be kept in an airtight container in a cool place for up to a week.
If you need to colour your Royal Icing it’s best to use paste or gel colours rather than liquid or dust colours as these can alter the consistency of the icing.