Royal Icing

I wanted to do a quick post on royal icing before I commence with the Christmas baking! I love royal iced cakes but if your just starting out it may be easier to cover your cake with sugarpaste. Either way, both look and taste delightful!

I made this cake and iced it at my baking class, it has 4 layers of icing! I finished it off with some piping around the edges. Always make sure your cake is covered in marizpan before starting to cover it in royal icing!

To make royal icing you need:
2 egg whites
1ml lemon juice
500g icing sugar, sieved
5ml of glycerine

Make sure you have an extremely clean bowl. Place the egg whites and lemon juice into the bowl and use a clean wooden spoon to stir the egg whites and break them up so that they mix with the lemon juice. Add some of the icing sugar and use the wooden spoon to mix together. Keep adding more icing sugar and stiring until you get the consistency you want. I usually beat it until it looks smooth and glossy. Then stir in the glycerine. This helps to keep the icing soft once the cake has been cut. Always allow the icing to rest before using it, usually for about an hour and always make sure it is covered in a damp cloth when not using otherwise it will become dry. When you are ready to use it, give it another stir as this will help to dispearse any air bubbles that may have formed!

I will do another post after Christmas about the different consistencies and other points about royal icing such as piping, flavouring and colouring it. I hope this helps you cover your christmas cake! Let the Christmas baking begin...

Sugar flowers

I made these sugarcraft flowers to decorate my cupcakes and practice my piping bag skills. They are so easy to make but you will need a piping bag with a star nozzle (sizes 12, 8 and 5 should all work well). When creating any patterns with an icing bag you need to make sure that your icing is thick enough so that it will hold its shape when piped. Bear in mind though that if it's too thick it won't squeeze through the tube properly.

To make royal icing you need:

2 egg whites

1ml (1/4 teaspoon) lemon juice

500g icing sugar, sieved

5ml (1 teaspoon) glycerine

First measure out the lemon juice and add it into a bowl with the egg whites. Sift some of the icing sugar into the bowl and mix using a wooden spoon. Stir in more icing sugar until it is of a thick consistency and then beat well. Keep adding more icing sugar until the mixture is thick and will create a sharp peak when you lift the wooden spoon out of the bowl. Then simply add any colouring you wish and spoon it into your piping bag and away you go!