I really love every and all types of frosting or icing. And royal icing is (quite literally) king!
I mean…nowhere near my mother, who requests 2 cans of lemon frosting on her bday cake every year…
But, icing/frosting is so so critical to taking a baked good to the next level! And in this case, we’re talking the sugar cookie icing above all others…
ROYAL ICING!
Now, you might be asking “Vic, WTF is royal icing?”
Well, you’ve totally had it before…it’s that kinda crunchy icing that is used to draw cute things on sugar cookies.
Now you’re thinking “Ohhhh ok! But, why is it called ‘royal icing’?”
Well, I’m SOOOO glad you asked because I just looked it up and low and behold the term was coined after using the icing to decorate a cake for none other than…
QUEEN VICTORIA!
That’s right people…it’s meant to be. Plus, I’m hella regal.
And the good news is that the recipe is incredibly simple!
Now the recipe below could probably ice about 72 cookies, so feel free to cut down the portion if you’re only doing a small batch.
All that goes into this recipe are egg whites, vanilla extract, and powdered sugar. So simple!
First, take 3 egg whites and 1 tsp of vanilla and beat until frothy.
Add in 4 cups of powdered sugar, incorporating 1 cup at a time until smooth. Then, crank up the speed and beat the icing for another 5 minutes or so until it thickens a bit and is totally glossy.
Now you can either add your food coloring (or leave it white if that’s what you need) and drop it into a pastry bag.
Or I ordered some super sweet squeeze bottles on Amazon which are totally worth checking out.
OK, so at it’s current thickness, you’ll want to use the icing to leave an outline of your drawing.
Vic Trick: Then, once your outlines are done, add THE SMALLEST SPLASH OF WATER to your squeeze bottle or pastry bag and stir it up. This should make the icing thin enough to flood the rest of the cookies.
Flooding is just what it sounds like, having the icing be thin enough to pool into your outlines and fill in the blanks.
The worst thing you can do is add too much water! It’s hard to fix the icing once that happens, but you can try by adding a little more powdered sugar.
You see that I started with the red with these cookies, because I knew I wanted to add white sprinkles to only the white portions. So play around with it and have fun!
Cannot wait to see all your creations! Make sure you tag @vics_tricks_to on Instagram if you decorate your own!
Vic’s Tricks To…Royal Icing
Ingredients
- 3 egg whites
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Take 3 egg whites and 1 tsp of vanilla and beat until frothy.
- Add in 4 cups of powdered sugar, incorporating 1 cup at a time until smooth. Then, crank up the speed and beat the icing for another 5 minutes or so until it thickens a bit and is totally glossy.
- Now you can either add your food coloring (or leave it white if that’s what you need) and drop it into a pastry bag.
- At it’s current thickness, you’ll want to use the icing to leave an outline of your drawing.
- Then, once your outlines are done, add THE SMALLEST SPLASH OF WATER to your squeeze bottle or pastry bag and stir it up. This should make the icing thin enough to flood the rest of the cookies.
- Play around, have fun, and enjoy!
Happy Eating!
