Sallys Royal Icing for the Christmas Cake

Posted 2012-12-23 by Sally Writes ⇒ follow

You know that Christmas really is nearly here when it is time to put the icing on the cake.

Now, in years gone by, before I had children, I would spend hours, days even, making little icing ornaments for my Christmas cake. But with a large family and plenty to do at this time of the year, I discovered that there are easier ways to decorate the cake which actually can look just as good as the ones on which I spent many more hours.

In fact, nowadays it tends to be the ones that I desperately want to get right, that end up going wrong. At our wedding anniversary party eighteen months ago I made a beautiful job of the cake. Then I decided that one thing wasn't right, ended up fiddling with it, ruined it, salvaged it, but in the end was not very happy with it. If I had left the original, which was simple, it would have been absolutely fine.

So the trick is to keep it simple. Less is more, especially if like me this is just one of the things to do on a rather long list. This method is simple and effective and can produce some amazing results.

Royal Icing:

Preparation Time: 5 minutes to make the icing, then 20 minutes to ice the cake.
Cooking Time:0 minutes
Makes: 1 serving big enough to go ice a 10" round cake.

Ingredients:

900g/ 2lb icing sugar
3 egg whites
3 teaspoons lemon juice
A little water if needed

Method:

Sieve the icing sugar into a bowl

Add the egg whites and lemon juice

Mix together with a fork initially, until everything is mixed in.

Use an electric whisk to blend the icing together. The icing should be smooth and form stiff peaks. If it is too dry, add a little water. If it is too soft, add some more icing sugar. Your icing is now ready to go on the cake.

Icing the Cake:

Boil some water and place it into a sturdy jug.

Place half the icing onto the already marzipanned cake.

Dip the palette knife into the hot water, until the blade is warm.

Smooth the icing over the top of the cake with the palette knife.

Add more icing onto the cake, concentrating on the rim of the cake.

Smooth the extra icing over the side of the cake.

Using the palette knife, make sure that the whole cake is covered with icing. Dip the palette knife into the hot water when necessary to clear the icing and make the knife warm. This makes it much easier to work with the icing.

Smooth the top of the cake.

Wash and dry the palette knife.

Using the palette knife, touch the sides of the cake until it looks spiky all over. The effect is fabulous and is a very simple exercise. Alternatively, if you prefer, at this stage you can create a completely flat surface all over the cake.

Leave to set.for a short while.

Decorating the cake:

This is where you can be as creative as you like and use your own skills and imagination.

This year I simply took a piece of gold wired ribbon and made a bow, with long pieces of ribbon hanging from it. I carefully placed this on the cake and then added a couple of decorations.

Although it is nice to have decorations made from icing, simple reusable decorations work brilliantly. The actual cake is already underneath much icing, so nobody minds if they can't eat the decorations as well.

Store under a cake net until the icing is set. Keep covered until you are ready to eat the cake.

Save enough room to eat a piece on Christmas day.

Categories

#christmas_
#icing
#cake_decorating_

%recipeyum

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