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Royal Icing with Consistency Adjustments
Royal icing is hands-down my favorite icing for cookie decorating. The egg whites in royal icing make it faster drying than confectioner’s icing, where the liquid content is usually milk or cream, and better for fine detail work, as it’s less prone to spreading. Use this thick formulation as edible glue for adhering sugar dragées and fondant appliqué to cookie tops, or for piecing together large gingerbread structures. For outlining, topcoating, marbling, and other cookie decorating techniques, just thin with water until the desired consistency is reached. See Consistency Adjustments, right.
Yield: About 4 1/2 cups, enough to topcoat 4 to 5 dozen (3-inch) cookies
Prep Talk: Tinted icing is best used the day it’s mixed. (The color will dry more uniformly, without bleeding or blotching, this way.) Otherwise, the icing can be made 1 to 2 days ahead and stored in the fridge. Bring the icing to room temperature when ready to use and stir vigorously to restore its original consistency. Once applied to cookies, the icing should remain at room temperature so it sets into a crunchy candy-like coating. Important: Unless you’re using the icing, always cover the surface flush with plastic wrap to prevent a crust from forming.
Ingredients:
- 2 pounds powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 5 large egg whites (or about 11 tablespoons pasteurized whites*)
- Flavoring, to taste
- Liqua-gel food coloring of your choice, to desired shade
* To guard against food-borne illness associated with raw eggs, it’s best to use pasteurized whites (or hydrated meringue powder) when serving the very young or old, or those with compromised immune systems. Pasteurized whites are found in cartons in the refrigerated section of most grocery stores.
Method:
1 | Mix the powdered sugar and cream of tartar together in the bowl of an electric mixer. Stir in the egg whites by hand to moisten the sugar. Fit the electric mixer with a whip attachment and beat the mixture on low speed to evenly distribute the egg whites. Turn the mixer to medium-high speed and continue to beat about 2 minutes, until the icing is silky and very white. (The icing will lighten and thicken as you beat it.)
2 | Beat in flavoring and/or coloring, as desired. Mix well before using.
Consistency Adjustments: The following consistency adjustments are approximate guidelines for a single batch of un-tinted Royal Icing. The addition of food coloring or flavoring, beating time, and normal variations in egg size can all affect the end-consistency of your icing. If after making these adjustments, you think your icing is too thin or too thick for your application, don’t worry. The icing consistency can be adjusted at any stage of the decorating process simply by adding powdered sugar to thicken, or water to thin.
For outlining: Add 1 to 2 tablespoons water. For crisp, well-defined outlines, start with 1 tablespoon water. If the icing is too thick to easily pipe through a small (1/8-inch) hole in a parchment pastry cone, gradually add more water. When piped, the icing should hold a thin line with no - or minimal – spreading.
For topcoating: To avoid icing run-off on cookies under 2 inches, start by adding 2 to 3 tablespoons water. Gradually increase to 3 to 5 tablespoons, as needed, to improve spread-ability on larger cookies.
For marbling: A topcoating consistency, or slightly thicker, usually works best, as long as all of the icings you’re using still marble fluidly without the appearance of “tracks.” The smoothest, sharpest marbling effect is also achieved when all icings are as close to the same consistency as possible. (Note: The prettiest marbling patterns, in my humble opinion, require 3 or more icing colors.)
For stenciling: Generally, 3 to 4 tablespoons water works best, though the exact quantity will vary with egg size and the other factors noted above. The icing must be thin enough to easily spread into the stencil openings without leaving peaks or tracks when the spatula is lifted. At the same time, it must be sufficiently thick to keep from creeping under the stencil into areas where it is not wanted. It is better to err on the thicker side, especially with very fine and closely spaced stencil openings.
For beadwork: About 4 tablespoons water works best, though, again, exact quantities will vary. At the proper consistency, a smooth, well-rounded dot should form when the icing is piped through a small (1/8-inch) opening in a parchment pastry cone. If the icing forms a peak, it is too thick. Conversely, if it spreads a great deal, it is too loose.
Related Recipes and Projects:
(Coming soon)
Outlining Technique Tips.
Topcoating Technique Tips.
Marbling Technique Tips.
Stenciling Technique Tips.
Beadwork Technique Tips.
Wafer Papering Technique Tips.