If you’re anything like me, you’ve looked at hundreds of royal icing recipes online and still feel confused about how to make it. I am not a big fan of recipes that call for ingredients that you won’t use in anything else and steps that over-complicate something that should be relatively easy to do. And so, I gravitate towards the traditional method of making royal icing with egg whites, cream of tartar and powdered sugar. That’s it. Super simple.
Royal Icing
Course: icing, DessertCuisine: American, traditionalDifficulty: EasyServings
4
cupsPrep time
10
minutesCooking timeminutes
Ingredients
3 egg whites at room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
optional: gel food colouring
Directions
- Clean and dry the bowl and whisk attachment of your stand mixer. I like to wipe mine down with lemon juice right before using to be absolutely sure there is no fat or dirt remaining from previous uses. This is important because it could keep your eggs from whipping effectively.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine egg whites and cream of tartar and beat until nice and foamy.
- Add your powdered sugar and beat on low speed until combined. Scrape down the sides of your bowl and then beat on medium-high speed until stiff, shiny and white. This takes anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes.
- If you’re adding food colouring and only making one colour icing, you can add it to the bowl now and mix. Otherwise divide your icing into multiple bowls and add food colouring – mix by hand. Make sure to use gel food colouring as liquid can alter the texture of your icing.
- Depending on what you’re using your icing for, you may want to add water to thin it out at this point. Add as much or as little as is required to reach your desired consistency. Happy icing!
Notes
- Warning: this recipe contains raw eggs which could pose health risk
