What is royal icing and other cupcake info

Food & Drink, Events and Entertainment
21
Hello all,

I have searched the other threads but can't quite find the answer to my question.

I have just made my first ever Christmas cake and i would like to ice it with marzipan and icing. While i have seen marzipan in Coop, i am unsure if i can get ready to roll icing here as well. If i can't i guess the only solution is to make it myself. However the problem is, i'm confused as to which kind of icing i need - fondant or royal icing? I'm looking for the same icing that you find on traditional English Christmas cakes or traditional wedding cakes.

Any advice greatly welcome!

K

22
Hi Kimba

Traditional Christmas cakes are covered with royal icing, which you make from mixing icing sugar, lemon juice and egg whites. (Recipe here: http://www.joyofbaking.com/RoyalIcing.html ). If you're mixing it up by hand, it's ready at the point you can no longer move your wrist without actual pain! The sort of ready roll fondant icing you can buy in blocks is much easier to deal with and gives a nice flat decorating surface, but it tastes urgghhh-gy - royal icing is delicious.

Marzipan the cake first by warming apricot jam and painting it over the cake (remove any lumps in the jam), then sticking the rolled out marzipan to it. Do this at least 24-48 hours in advance to allow drying time. Then mix up the icing and generally smear over - I normally go for a deliberately spiky effect to resemble snow, as it's beyond my capabilities to get it smooth. The icing is best done a day or two before Christmas, as after about a week or so it starts to go quite hard on the outside - personally, I quite like it crunchy so I don't mind this, but otherwise you can add glycerine to help keep it soft.

kodokan

23
Kokodan,

Thanks so much for this. Enormously helpful, particularly as this is the first time i have ever made a traditional Christmas cake!

I am curious however, the icing that i have seen for Christmas cakes is able to be rolled, sort of like pastry. The icing that you describe is more spreadable. I was hoping to be able to make the type of icing that i could roll out in a sheet and then lay it over the cake to get a perfectly smooth finish. Do you know if this is possible to do with home made icing?

K

24
Ready-to-roll icing - from me at www.back-art.ch !

Dried eggwhite / albumen powder * to make your own royal icing, if you prefer not to use fresh eggwhites, or royal icing mix too.

Have fun, and feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

* in stock again next week, 8th December.

25
Sure, it's perfectly possible to make fondant icing (the rolled one); recipe here: http://www.perfect-wedding-day.com/f...-recipe-2.html . Not sure where you'd track down the ingredients, though - it mentions corn syrup; being English, I've never quite worked out what this is...

As Christmas is all about the tradition, I've always just done royal icing in a spiky 'snowdrift' pattern, decorated with a miniature fir tree, tiny plastic Santa, etc, because that's what my mum always did! My cake will look a bit like this, but with less trees and no writing:

kodokan

26
Crumbs, this is great! I've had a look at your site and this could be what i'm looking for. Thank you.

K

27
Just thought - have you actually made the cake itself yet? Normally, this is done a couple of months in advance and then it's fed alcohol in the weeks leading up to Christmas. This year, I'm following this recipe - my fruit has been deliciously soaking for several weeks now:

***********************************

(From BBC's Good Food mag)

280g sultanas

280g raisins

280g currants

175g glace cherries

175g mixed citrus peel

150ml brandy or rum

2tbsp sherry (optional)

2tbsp orange juice (optional)

225g self raising flour

85g ground almonds

1 headed tsp mixed spice

1tsp ground nutmeg

1tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cloves

225g unsalted butter at room temperature

225g dark muscovado sugar

6 eggs

zest and juice of 1 large unwaxed lemon

For the Decoration

2tbsp apricot jam

225g marzipan

250g white ready-to-roll icing

silver balls and ribbon to decorate

1. Put the dried fruit and peel in a bowl and pour over the brandy or rum and sherry. Mix well and store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place for at least a month. Stir the fruits every few weeks. If they look dry add more booze or a splash of orange juice

2. Start making the cake once the fruits are plum. Heat oven to 150C/fan 130C/gas 2. Butter a 20cm round cake tin - about 7.5 cm deep - and line the base and sides with greaseproof paper. To protect the cake from burning, tie a double layer of greaseproof paper around the outside of the tin.

3. Blitz the soaked fruit mizture in three batches in a food processor, blitzing the final batch only lightly to keep some bite and texture to the fruit. Mix the flour, almonds and spices in a large bowl and stir in the fruits. Don't worry if it's hard to mix.

4. Cream together the butter and sugar with an electric hand whisk until light and fluffy, then beat in the eggs, one by one. Stir into the fruit mixture bit by bit, along with the lemon zest and juice.

5. Tip the mixture into the tin and bake for 1 1/2 hours. Reduce the heat to 140C/120C fan/gas 1 and bake for 3-3 1/2 hours (4h in a gas oven). Take care it doesn't overcook. Insert a skewer deep into the cake, if it comes out clean, it's cooked. Cool slightly, remove from tin, and cool on a wire rack.

6. Store in a double layer of greaseproof paper, wrapped in foil until ready to ice. You can store the cake for up to 3 months. Make sure you 'feed' the cake by making skewer holes and pouring in brandy or rum every few weeks. Wrap up the cake tightly after every 'feed'.

*********************

If you've left it until the last minute, (ie, any time from now...), then this is a good emergency recipe that can be made pretty much anytime up until the actual day: http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/?p=152

kodokan

28
Thanks also Kodokan. I like the recipe in the link, but like you, wouldn't know where you find corn syrup.

I'm considering the ready-to-roll icing, despite the fact that i feel as though i'm cheating a bit. Having said that, my boyfriend has just informed me that he doesn't really like the marzipan and icing anyway (news to me!), so i'm also considering covering the top of the cake with glazed fruits or nuts. I still have a few weeks to decide.

I have to say, the idea for your Xmas cake sounds wonderful! What a treat! Good luck with your baking )

K

29
Yes Kodokan, i made my cake a few days ago. I used a Delia recipe. I am feeding it brandy every week or so in the lead up to Christmas, just as you suggest. It's my first ever Christmas cake, so i'm so excited!

Have you baked yours yet?

30
You can substitute corn syrup with glucose syrup, which you can make yourself out of glucose and boiled water (= Traubenzucker, 250g à CHF 2.50 in health food shops). Recipe is in an earlier post on this thread or on my blog.

If you need glycerine, you can get this in chemists (Apotheke, Drogerie). Costs just CHF 6.00 for a bottle of about 125ml, and you only need a couple of drops.

Home-made roll-out icing does take time, though, and doesn't match up to the industrially prepared icing, which is a lot smoother and more pliable to work with. Home-made also dries out quicker. I personally prefer to spend the time on making decorations as the white sugarpaste we have is just too good to improve upon (Swiss product) - sorry for the blatant advertising, but I really do stand behind this product.

Decorating the cake with nuts and cherries is a wonderful idea too. Carol Deacon had a recipe for one in an older book "No time easy cakes". Basically, spread apricot jam over the cake, stick the nuts into place, starting from the outer rim of the cake towards the middle. When all are firmly in place, brush all the nuts again with apricot jam to give a wonderful shine. This looks really good on small cupcakes in golden foil liners, too. Add some pure gold stardust for extravagance.

31
Again Crumbs, thanks! I'm still fairly new to Switzerland, so i was completely daunted about where i would find all the ingredients. So thanks.

Thanks also for tips on ready made vs home made icing. I don't mind the blatant advertising at all - if a product is good, it's good!

I will look for the recipe by Carol Deacon for decorating cakes with nuts and cherries. I am now starting to look for inspiration on how to do this given my boyfriend's recent confession that he never really liked marzipan and icing (certainly never stopped him ever eating it!!). And with all the other sweets at Christmas, it might be nice to have a cake that isn't overly sweet as well.

Phew! I feel so much more confident now about doing something special with my cake. I was feeling quite worried about ruining all my baking efforts by completely messing up the icing/decorating.

Thanks again!

K

32
Hi guys,

I found this post while searching for royal icing info, and I thought I'd add my question to it instead of starting a new thread.

A couple of days ago, I made some cupcakes which I dunked in royal icing (made with egg whites). I then put the cupcakes in the freezer after they had cooled. Today, I took two out to eat, and while munching on one hours later, I wondered if it was a bad idea to leave the cupcakes out the whole day to thaw (because of the egg whites)?

I don't think it'll be a problem this time, as the eggs were absolutely fresh (bought minutes before I made the cupcakes), but does the sugar in royal icing "preserve" the egg whites or should I rather let them thaw in the fridge the next time around?

Thanks.