Mary Berry's royal icing

Mary Berry's royal icingMary Berry's royal icing
Prepare
less than 30 mins
Cook
no cooking required
Serve
Makes enough for a 20cm/8in cake

Mary Berry, gives you the lowdown on making the perfect royal icing. Homemade royal icing sets softer than readymade or premixed icing sugar and is much nicer to eat.

If you haven't made royal icing before it's surprisingly easy but still worth watching the recipe video before you start as there's some tips and visual references that will be useful.

By Mary Berry

From Saturday Kitchen

Shopping list

Ingredients

Recipe tips
How-to videos

Method

  1. Sieve the icing sugar.

  2. Using an electric whisk or freestanding mixer, whisk the egg whites in a large bowl until they become frothy.

  3. Add the icing sugar to the egg whites, a spoonful at a time, mixing well between each addition.

  4. Add the lemon juice and glycerine and stir.

  5. Beat the icing until it is very stiff and white and stands up in peaks.

  6. Spread over the top and sides of the cake and rough up the icing with a spatula so that it forms peaks. (If you want a smooth icing you may need to thin the icing down a little with more egg white and use to ice the sides and top of the cake using a palette knife.)

  7. Transfer to a cake tin and seal up until ready for use.

Recipe tips

If you have a freestanding mixer, dust it off to use in this recipe. It's convenient to use it with the whisk attachment as you can keep the motor running as you add the icing sugar.

Glycerine is what prevents the icing from setting overly hard. You can find it in little bottles in the baking aisle of most large supermarkets (normally with the food colours and flavourings).

If you have any concerns about raw egg whites, you can buy pasteurised eggs whites in cartons from most supermarkets. Each egg white weighs about 35g/1¼oz, so you will need about 105g/3½ oz in total, plus a little extra to thin the icing, if needed.

If you want to store the cake for an extended period, it's essential the cake is completely covered in icing right down to the board or plate. This will make it pretty much air tight and prevent the cake drying out.