Recipe #7 What's so royal about this Royal Icing

Royal Icing is a very versatile icing, which can be used for various deserts. It’s a hard white icing which is made using egg whites, sugar and lemon juice.

So why is Royal icing called ‘Royal’?

The title 'royal' was given to royal icing after being used on Queen Victoria's wedding cake in 1840. Francatelli, the Queen's famous French chef, published a book in l864 in which he describes how to ice a wedding cake with a mixture of egg whites, sugar and lemon juice beaten together. He wrote 'use this icing to mask the entire surface of the cake with a coating about a quarter of an inch thick'.

But, long before the above date this type of icing was in use. A cook wrote in 1789, that she spread it over cakes with the aid of a board or a large feather! And then placed it in front of 'a great fire' to dry.

So we can see royal icing has been popular for many years. The simple ingredients, egg white and icing sugar create a dazzling icing, making it the perfect choice for wedding cakes, decoration on cookies and acts as glue for fondant

Makes: 500 grams

Ingredients

2 medium egg whites

500 grams sifted icing sugar

4 tsp of lemon juice (You can use lemon extract too)

Method

-Put the egg whites in a dry bowl; lightly beat it with an electric beater until foamy

-Sift in half the icing sugar with the lemon juice. Beat of a very slow speed with an electric beater for 10 mins or until smooth

- Gradually sift in the remaining icing sugar and beat again until smooth and glossy white

-Keep the royal icing covered with a damp cloth until you are ready to use it, or store in the refrigerator in an airtight container. So when you are ready to use it, use an electric beater to smoothen the texture of the royal icing

-Pipe it on cookies and after 2 hours it will dry and the texture will harden

-You can add 1 tsp of glycerine in the mixture before beating in the sugar to have a softer royal icing

Happy Baking!!