3. How to make Royal Icing

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Offline GingerbreadExchange

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How to make Royal Icing
« on: September 15, 2014, 03:23:33 pm »
How to make my version of Royal Icing

6 Tablespoons Wilton Meringue Powder
2 pounds powder sugar (one bag)
3/4 cups warm water
2 teaspoon Vanilla or Almond flavoring (optional)

Because this frosting dries quickly, and very hard, this is the recommended frosting to use for gluing together the walls and roof sections. Keep all utensils completely grease-free.

This frosting is fast drying – keep bowl covered with a damp cloth. If icing is too thick when using fine tubes, add a few drops of water. For thicker icing, beat in a little extra confectioners sugar. Store leftover frosting, tightly covered, in the refrigerator for weeks. Rebeat before using again.

Important note - make sure your bowl, beater, and utensils are grease free, otherwise your Royal Icing will not mix properly.




























« Last Edit: January 21, 2020, 03:09:41 pm by GingerbreadExchange »
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Offline katepilki

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Re: How to make Royal Icing
« Reply #1 on: September 17, 2014, 07:13:11 pm »
Hello!  And thanks for providing this wonderful forum.  I have been an avid follower of Ultimate Gingerbread for a few years now and am enjoying discovering the new format.  Great job  :)

I am a self-taught (thank you Google and Teresa Layman!) gingerbreader and I have a question about royal icing - I have been using Antonia74's recipe for the last three years (it seems quite similar to the one you posted with regard to ingredients, but the technique is quite different).  In general I like it's taste and it is easy to work with, it is forgiving in small and large batches, but no matter what I do I can't seem to get microbubbles out of it.

These are the sort that when you do flood filling, no amount of pin-pricking will get rid of them, they are so tiny that their surface tension resists all popping.  When I look at professional sugar-cookies decorated with royal I don't see these bubbles, but I ALWAYS get them.  I also don't like these microbubbles because when used in a stiffer consistency for wall support or exterior siding they seem to affect the integrity of my icing and make it much more prone to a crumble rather than a crack sort of breakage.

Am I making it too dry? Too moist? Is the heat in Australian summer messing with my work (during Christmas gingerbread season my kitchen would be between 75 and 90F most of the time)?  Should I leave the air conditioning off or on?  It's is driving me nuts, nothing I seem to do will eradicate the microbubbles.  ::)

I have also tried working with the icing fresh, and tried resting it overnight or for a couple of days to let the bubble rise and pop of their own accord and then gently folding it again before use (this yielded a small improvement, but was still not wonderful).

Anyone got any suggestions??  Any help would be much appreciated.

Cheers,
Kate
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Offline Ginger Art

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Re: How to make Royal Icing
« Reply #2 on: September 17, 2014, 07:46:57 pm »
I'm not familiar with that recipe so I really cannot offer any useful advice about it, but bubbles generally occur when you stir too much or add too much water. I use the standard royal icing recipe and never have bubbles at all. Not with flood icing either. Sorry I'm not much help. Hope someone here can offer some great advice for you. ;D
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Offline GingerbreadExchange

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Re: How to make Royal Icing
« Reply #3 on: September 20, 2014, 11:46:41 am »
I agree GingerArt.  My belief is also that too much air is mixed into the Royal Icing if there are bubbles.  This is why I mix my RI on Low-Med setting on the mixer, to try and not incorporate too much air.

Here is link from Sweetopia regarding air bubbles in Royal Icing.  ;D  Hope this helps!

http://sweetopia.net/2010/02/how-to-prevent-air-bubbles-in-royal-icing/


Loreta
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Offline katepilki

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Re: How to make Royal Icing
« Reply #4 on: September 20, 2014, 08:16:36 pm »
thanks for your replies folks :)

I'll start by switching to the method posted here and see if I it solves my problem. 

cheers
KT
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