Royal icing is a hard white icing, made from softly beaten egg whites, icing sugar (powdered sugar), and sometimes lemon or lime juice. It is used to decorate Christmas cakes, wedding cakes, gingerbread houses, cookies, and many other cakes and biscuits. It is used either as a smooth covering or in sharp peaks. Glycerine is often added to prevent the icing from setting too hard. When placing icing on cakes, marzipan is usually used under the royal icing in order to prevent discoloration of the icing.
Usual proportions are 2 egg whites to 1 teaspoon of lemon juice, 1 teaspoon of glycerine, and around 1 pound of sugar depending on the application.
As well as coating cakes and biscuits, royal icing is used to make decorations such as flowers and figures for putting on the cake. The royal icing is piped into shapes which are allowed to harden on a non-stick surface. These can then be arranged to create edible decorative effects on a variety of sweet foods. The glycerine must be omitted for this purpose. Royal icing is often used to create snow scenes but is also used as an edible adhesive – particularly for gingerbread houses.[1]
Royal icing is traditionally prepared with raw egg whites, which have a very small chance of transmitting salmonella poisoning.[2]Meringue powder or ready-to-use, pasteurized, refrigerated egg whites (wet eggs) can be used with similar results.
Historyedit
The Oxford English Dictionary gives the first mention of royal icing as Borella's Court and Country Confectioner (1770). The term was well-established by the early 19th century, although William Jarrin (1827) still felt the need to explain that the term was used by confectioners (so presumably it was not yet in common use among mere cooks or amateurs).[3] It developed at some stage in the early 18th century, replacing earlier styles of icing which generally involved making a meringue-like concoction that was then dried out in the mouth of an oven.[4]Elizabeth Raffald (1769) is generally credited with the addition of a layer of marzipan between it and the cake beneath.[5] Piping with royal icing came along a little later, in the 1840s, driven by German culinary innovators. Prior to that, decoration was usually of moulded pastillage or sugarpaste.
There is a myth that it was named royal after it gained widespread publicity when images of Victoria and Albert's bride cake (wedding cake) were circulated, but this is untrue, not least because the real boost came when images of their eldest daughter's wedding cake were published in papers such as The Illustrated London News (not founded until 1842), by which time the name had been in use for over 80 years.[6]
^"Different types of icing". Confection Perfection.
^. American Egg Board. 2007-01-18. Archived from the original on 2009-03-31. Retrieved 2007-05-02.
^Jarrin, William (1827). The Italian Confectioner.
^Davidson, Alan (2014). The Oxford Companion to Food. Oxford University Press. ISBN9780199677337.
^The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets. Oxford University Press. 2015-04-01. ISBN9780199313617.
^Humble, Nicola (2010-05-15). Cake: A Global History. Reaktion Books. ISBN9781861896483.
April 11, 2024
royal, icing, hard, white, icing, made, from, softly, beaten, whites, icing, sugar, powdered, sugar, sometimes, lemon, lime, juice, used, decorate, christmas, cakes, wedding, cakes, gingerbread, houses, cookies, many, other, cakes, biscuits, used, either, smoo. Royal icing is a hard white icing made from softly beaten egg whites icing sugar powdered sugar and sometimes lemon or lime juice It is used to decorate Christmas cakes wedding cakes gingerbread houses cookies and many other cakes and biscuits It is used either as a smooth covering or in sharp peaks Glycerine is often added to prevent the icing from setting too hard When placing icing on cakes marzipan is usually used under the royal icing in order to prevent discoloration of the icing Royal icingLemon shortbread cookies with lemon royal icingTypeIcingMain ingredientsEgg whites powdered sugar sometimes lemon or lime juiceCookbook Royal Icing Media Royal icingUsual proportions are 2 egg whites to 1 teaspoon of lemon juice 1 teaspoon of glycerine and around 1 pound of sugar depending on the application As well as coating cakes and biscuits royal icing is used to make decorations such as flowers and figures for putting on the cake The royal icing is piped into shapes which are allowed to harden on a non stick surface These can then be arranged to create edible decorative effects on a variety of sweet foods The glycerine must be omitted for this purpose Royal icing is often used to create snow scenes but is also used as an edible adhesive particularly for gingerbread houses 1 Contents 1 Health risk 2 History 3 Gallery 4 See also 5 ReferencesHealth risk editRoyal icing is traditionally prepared with raw egg whites which have a very small chance of transmitting salmonella poisoning 2 Meringue powder or ready to use pasteurized refrigerated egg whites wet eggs can be used with similar results History editThe Oxford English Dictionary gives the first mention of royal icing as Borella s Court and Country Confectioner 1770 The term was well established by the early 19th century although William Jarrin 1827 still felt the need to explain that the term was used by confectioners so presumably it was not yet in common use among mere cooks or amateurs 3 It developed at some stage in the early 18th century replacing earlier styles of icing which generally involved making a meringue like concoction that was then dried out in the mouth of an oven 4 Elizabeth Raffald 1769 is generally credited with the addition of a layer of marzipan between it and the cake beneath 5 Piping with royal icing came along a little later in the 1840s driven by German culinary innovators Prior to that decoration was usually of moulded pastillage or sugarpaste There is a myth that it was named royal after it gained widespread publicity when images of Victoria and Albert s bride cake wedding cake were circulated but this is untrue not least because the real boost came when images of their eldest daughter s wedding cake were published in papers such as The Illustrated London News not founded until 1842 by which time the name had been in use for over 80 years 6 Gallery edit nbsp Black and white royal icing cookies nbsp Making royal icing nbsp Decorating gingerbread with royal icing nbsp Blue royal icing cookies nbsp Kransekage decorated with royal icingSee also editDough Egg white Fondant icing Ganache Icing food References edit Different types of icing Confection Perfection Egg Safety American Egg Board 2007 01 18 Archived from the original on 2009 03 31 Retrieved 2007 05 02 Jarrin William 1827 The Italian Confectioner Davidson Alan 2014 The Oxford Companion to Food Oxford University Press ISBN 9780199677337 The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets Oxford University Press 2015 04 01 ISBN 9780199313617 Humble Nicola 2010 05 15 Cake A Global History Reaktion Books ISBN 9781861896483 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Royal icing amp oldid 1196394879, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
