Royal Icing: magic creations.

Looking at this marvellous cake, we would never think that it’s made with ice at face value, and we wouldn’t know what to say about why it’s called royal. The truth is that, although we probably don't know the reasons, they are somewhat obvious; so, I'm just going to clarify them below.

Well, to begin with “Royal icing” is a pure white icing made from confectioner sugar and egg white, which dries to a smooth, hard and matte finish. According to the book “The Joy of Cooking”, its primary value is decoration as it’s not as flavour as other icings.


The origin of this kind of cake is very simple; firstly, this gets its name “Royal” from having been traditional icing for fruitcake, which was the wedding cake of choice among English royalty, and then, among English population too. In fact, the very wedding cake of Prince William and Kate Middleton was confectioned with this technique; it was covered with cream and white icing and decorated with up to 900 delicate sugar-paste flowers.


On the other hand, the meaning of icing here it’s not to make ice, although in some sense it’s to freeze. It refers more accurately to decorate semi-solid food by applying it a creamy glaze that hardens, and all this is made through a process that allows creating amazing shapes. This technique has the advantage of sealing in freshness so that the cake can be made days in advance and it continues being tasty upon serving, but this cannot be stored for long; it should be used as soon as possible.

The problem with these wonderful shapes is that it may have health risks. They were traditionally prepared with fresh egg whites despite of the risk of salmonella that using raw egg whites presents, so that nowadays many people substitute them by meringue powder. Alternatively, ready-to-use pasteurized and refrigerated egg whites are sold in most grocery stores to provide some safety to the use of this ingredient.

Another instance of how spectacular and accurate this technique is, may be appreciated through Gingerbread Houses. They are made with thin gingerbread walls that are held together by means of icing. The houses are decorated with candies and this glaze, and tend to resemble the witch’s house found in Hansel and Gretel’s fairy tale. The World’s largest Gingerbread House was made in November 2006; Roger Pelcher built this gingerbread house inside the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. The final result stood 67 feet tall and took up 1.496 square feet.


We have to thank all these people who find so lovely techniques and share them with the rest, allowing everyone to enjoy these fun and creative ways of cooking, and making happy anyone just for the sake of looking at the result.



I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I did!!