Cake design ideas: how to make the royal icing

One of the easiest ways to decorate your confectionery products is by using royal icing, a glaze based on egg whites and sugar, with a look similar to ice.

You can easily find it in a supermarket, but it’s possible (and fun!) to make it at home: you only need fresh pasteurized egg whites, powdered sugar, lemon juice and cream of tartar (which gives it more consistency). Here’s how to make it at home:

• 0.7 oz egg whites
• 4 oz powdered sugar
• ½ teaspoon lemon juice
• ½ teaspoon cream of tartar

First, prepare the egg whites the day before, leaving them in the fridge in a bowl covered by a plastic wrap. The day after, sift the sugar with the cream of tartar. Then add them to the egg whites, whipping until the mixture becomes dense enough. Finally, add the lemon juice (you can add vanilla extract as an alternative, which gives the mixture a sweet and refreshing taste).

If you want a more liquid icing, avoid adding the cream of tartar. Let the mixture rest for 20 minutes before using it on your dessert. There are several types of royal icing, depending on its use: people often prefer the thicker one to create small designs or to write words, but you can also use a more liquid type to cover the surface of cakes and cupcakes.

The real cake designer touch is in the coloring and application of the royal icing. To color the icing, you just need food coloring that you can buy at the supermarket or in a specialized store. The ideal tool to apply royal icing is the piping bag: cake designers usually choose very small spouts, especially for tiny decorations on cookies. You can use royal icing on many different kinds of desserts.

Here are some ideas:

• Cake icing: you can use a liquid icing to completely cover a cake. If you want to use it for creative decorations, choose a thicker icing. This glaze is very popular with wedding cakes.
• Cupcakes: instead of using the classic butter icing, you can use royal icing to create designs, words and much more on your cupcakes. You need to use a very small spout for this kind of small desserts.
• Cookies and biscuits: royal icing is perfect for any decoration on cookies and biscuits. Thanks to this icing, even the plainest cookie can become an original dessert to offer to your guests.

Do not forget that royal icing cannot be stored in the fridge: you can keep it in a vacuum-sealed container for a week at most. You need to whip it again if used after more than one day. Decorations dry naturally in the air: that is how you’ll obtain the wonderful shiny effect typical of royal icing.