Want to have a go at icing biscuits?
Here's our method for making perfect royal icing to get you started ...
You will need:
15g dried egg white powder - we use Meri-white Powder which we buy online but you are just making a small quantity you can find egg white powder sachets in the bakery section of the supermarket
500g icing sugar
a jug of water
First place the egg white powder and icing sugar in a large mixing bowl - you don't need to sieve it.
Start adding water a little at a time. Beat the mixture using an electric hand whisk. We use the beaters rather than the balloon whisk attachment which will add air and bubbles - you definitely don't want those! Keep adding more water if needed until you get a thick paste. You’ll see the icing is quite stiff at the end of this video. You are now ready to make the two icing consistencies needed for biscuit icing.
We went onto colour some of this icing rose pink and we’ll share a video of 'HOW TO' do that soon ...
We use two consistencies to ice biscuits. Firstly, line icing - we use this to pipe an outline around the edge of the biscuits (HOW TO: video coming soon). Add a little more water to the icing paste and mix until you get a smooth, glossy paste. This line icing should be the consistency of toothpaste as you can see here.
Take a spoonful or two out of the bowl and place in an icing bag.
We also use a runnier consistency of icing called flood icing. Again just add more water to the remaining icing. Flood icing should be the consistency of runny honey and should pour and settle back in the mixing bowl in about 10 seconds. We use this runnier icing to flood the middle of the biscuits (HOW TO: video coming soon). The line icing outline will prevent the flood icing pouring over the edge of the biscuit.
Pour the flood icing into a squeezable bottle.
You are now ready to start icing biscuits with your line icing and flood icing .
Leftover icing can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge. It will store for a couple of days. Let it return to room temperature and give it a good stir before use. Alternatively if you are doing lots of icing just leave it in the mixing bowl covered with a damp cloth to avoid an annoying dry crust developing on the surface. You can just refill the squeezable bottle as you need it.
More 'HOW TO' videos packed full of useful icing hints and tips coming soon ...