Royal Icing With Egg Whites

Intricately decorated holiday cookies are just one of the many (delicious) ways to use our royal icing recipe—and you only need two staple ingredients: egg whites and confectioners’ sugar, which are mixed together to make a thick, sweet glaze. A stand mixer or electric hand mixer are a great tool for the task, especially if you’re making a big batch of royal icing. The beaters help incorporate the egg whites into the sugar, so you end up with a delightfully smooth glaze. 

This royal icing recipe is perfect for piping decorations onto cakes and cupcakes, making homemade sprinkles, or coating pretzel twists and dried fruit.

What Is Royal Icing?

Royal icing is a sweet, thick glaze that is used to decorate cookies, cakes, and everything in between. You can pipe it onto confections, drizzle it with a spoon, or dip cookies into the glossy glaze. It starts off soft and liquid (almost like Elmer's glue), but as it dries, it hardens to create a crisp shell.

It is made using confectioners' sugar, water, and either egg whites or meringue powder. You can also mix in flavors at the end. Think fresh lemon juice or extracts, like vanilla, almond, or peppermint. You can also tint royal icing with gel food coloring to create fun colors.

Royal Icing Made with Egg Whites:

The most traditional way to make royal icing is with raw egg whites. Egg whites will create the most smooth, glossy finish on whatever you use the royal icing to decorate with. Royal icing made with meringue powder will have a more matte finish.

Ways to Use Royal Icing:

• Decorate holiday cookies, from Easter bunnies to snowflakes. You can either dip cookies into royal icing or transfer the icing to a pastry bag and pipe on designs.
• Pipe fun decorations for cakes and cupcakes. You can use royal icing to make an otherwise simple cake or batch of cupcakes special. Pipe easy shapes like stars or hearts onto pieces of wax paper and let them dry before adorning the cake.
• Make homemade sprinkles. Place the royal icing in a pastry bag fitted with a very small round tip. Use firm, even pressure to pipe long strips of icing (in your favorite colors) onto parchment paper. Once dry, break the strands of icing into smaller bits and sprinkle generously over birthday cakes.
• Coat pretzels and dried fruit. Similar to candy-coated snacks, you can dip things like hard pretzels and raisins into royal icing while it's still wet. They are the perfect movie snack.
• Decorate gingerbread houses. Royal icing can be used to both decorate and build gingerbread houses. Add a bit more sugar to the icing you plan to use to hold the cookie pieces together—thick, stiff icing is ideal here.

Different Consistencies for Royal Icing:

You can adjust the consistency of royal icing, depending on how you plan to use it for your baking project. As a general rule, whisking more sugar will thicken royal icing, while adding water will thin it out.

1. Stiff: Stiff royal icing should hold peaks, similar to whipped cream. This consistency is perfect for building gingerbread houses.
2. Piping: This consistency should hold its shape when piped, rather than "melting." It is ideal for making designs on cakes or outlining cookies.
3. Flooding: Royal icing should be fairly wet, similar to the consistency of soap. You can use this royal icing to fill in outlined cookies.