Has Anyone Covered A Cake In Royal Icing?

Decorating By FunnyCakes Updated 6 Dec 2005 , 6:34pm by Cake_Princess

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FunnyCakes Posted 2 Dec 2005 , 10:51pm
post #1 of 30

Has anyone covered a cake in Royal Icing?

I got a book on Ebay - and it illustrates many beautiful cakes - but some of them are covered in Royal Icing.

That seems weird. They must be hard little cakes. Who would want to eat a cake like that? And how would you even cut a cake like that? With a chainsaw?

If there is a trick to it, I hope someone here will share it. I think it would make a beautiful effect - but I'm afraid no one will want to eat a cake like that.

Any ideas?

29 replies
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cakeconfections Posted 2 Dec 2005 , 11:01pm
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I have never dont this but I am not totally sure that the royal will get rock hard on the cake. I think this because of the mositure and butter/oils in the cake. That tends to break royal icing down and will make it soft.

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HollyPJ Posted 2 Dec 2005 , 11:05pm
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I'm guessing it's a British cake decorating book. When I first started decorating, I would check out lots of books from the library and was confused by some of the recipes and such in some of them. I finally noticed that those ones were published in England. They just do things a little differently over there. Cake decorating seems to be very popular there, too.
For instance, a traditional wedding cake might be fruit cake covered in marzipan and iced in royal icing.

I've never tasted such a concoction, but I'm guessing it wouldn't appeal much to the American palate.

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BritBB Posted 2 Dec 2005 , 11:11pm
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Miss Baritone is the expert. However, I originate from England and grew up making cakes (usually fruit cakes), covering them in marzipan, then royal icing. It can get rock hard, but you need to add a little glycerine to keep it softish, but work quickly with it.

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aliciaL_77 Posted 2 Dec 2005 , 11:30pm
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I just did a cake with royal icing on it.. not the whole thing though.. it is the one in my pictures with the butterflies.. they are the royal.. all else is BC

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FunnyCakes Posted 3 Dec 2005 , 1:12am
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Oh yes, it is a British cake book. And the cake is covered in Marzipan and then Royal Icing is put on smoothly in three separate coatings, allowing it to dry between.

I wonder if the Marzipan would keep the Royal Icing slightly soft - as Becky mentioned, or perhaps the glycerin added, as BritBB says would make cutting it easier. I don't care too much for the taste of Marzipan - I wonder if fondant would suffice underneath?

I've never seen such beautiful cakes as in this book - but my guests want to eat their desserts - not use them for hockey pucks.

I hope Miss Baritone weighs in on this - I would love to hear her advice. I also wonder if they use meringue pwd - or real eggs for their royal icing.

Alicia - your cake with the butterflies is beautiful! So very pretty. Were the butterflies rock-hard when you cut the cake?

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aliciaL_77 Posted 3 Dec 2005 , 1:18am
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they were not too thick so they basically broke the pieces up as they cut them

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tanyap Posted 3 Dec 2005 , 1:21am
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FunnyCakes, you're hilarious! ...the comment about cutting the cake with a chainsaw!! I burst out laughing and my kids looked up at me like I'd gone cuckoo! icon_smile.gif

I'd like to get to the bottom of this too...when I went to England (London)2 years ago I went to a couple of different bakeries but I don't recall seeing any cakes covered with royal icing...but then again I wasn't really looking for it either , so now i'm curious!

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dodibug Posted 3 Dec 2005 , 1:28am
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I have the Well Decorated Cake by Toba Garrett and she says you can add a little glycerine to the icing after it has been beaten and the icing will dry on the outside but stay soft on the inside. She said in the Carribbean they use vanilla and rum to flavor the royal icing.

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MrsMissey Posted 3 Dec 2005 , 2:17am
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I have seen that in a few of my cake books but have never tried it.....it doesn't seem like it would tast that good!

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saas74 Posted 3 Dec 2005 , 2:45am
post #11 of 30

I took all of these books out of the library and half of them were published in the UK. They all talked about the fruitcake covered in marzipan and royal icing. I know I'm new at this but I thought I was nuts never hearing about this icon_eek.gif. It sounds odd to me but to each his own. amy

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MissBaritone Posted 3 Dec 2005 , 5:07pm
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Yes in Britain it's tracditional to use royal icing and some incredible effects can be achieved with it. We do use meringue powder to make it. For every 1Lb icing sugar add 1 teaspoon glycerine and mix in well. The other main tip I can give you is to make the final coating much thinner than the rest so it skims the cake and provides a glistening finish. If you want any advice please feel free to pm me.

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janethorp Posted 3 Dec 2005 , 5:12pm
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I read in one decorating book they used royal icing just for photographing sake. So it would not melt under the lights.
I just flavored some royal icing with lemon extract so much taster since it cuts out the over powering sugar taste.

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FunnyCakes Posted 3 Dec 2005 , 7:06pm
post #14 of 30

Thank you Miss Baritone for glycerin to sugar ratio, and also for the tip of thinning the final coating. I definetly want to try it.

I hope it will be soft enough to still eat.

The Brits are true artists with their cakes. I am astounded by the beauty of some of them.

I'll let everyone know how it goes.

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MissBaritone Posted 4 Dec 2005 , 8:38am
post #15 of 30

The other thing I should have added is I wouldn't use fondant underneath as you will end up with an extremly sweet icing. Fruitcake is very rich and dense. It is only served in small fingers (1"x1"). The marzipan helps cut through the richness so the icing doesn't taste so sweet. Make sure each layer of icing is dry before you attempt the next layer. If there are any jagged bits just lightly scrape with a sharp knife until they are smooth before doing the next coat and have fun

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VACakelady Posted 4 Dec 2005 , 8:45am
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This is funny and had to share!

Excerpt from a customer review of Toba Garrett's "The Well Decorated Cake" on amazon.com:

"My first venture into the world of cakes began with a castle cake that I just had to create for my son's first birthday. I found a frosting that was called Royal Icing, sounded impressive enough for MY son. Not bothering to read too much about the final product I made & covered his cake entirely out of this Royal Icing, nice & thick too. The party centered around the guests trying to chisel out enough chocolate cake to taste this divine creation."

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FunnyCakes Posted 4 Dec 2005 , 11:52am
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Thank you for the 'don't use fondant' tip, Miss Baritone. I'm going to pick up some almonds from Sam's today to blanch and make Marzipan.

I've heard one can leave the Almond extract out and get a milder flavor.


I LOVE the Royal Icing Castle story. Sounds just like something I would do.

icon_smile.gif

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Cake_Princess Posted 5 Dec 2005 , 12:02am
post #18 of 30
Quote:
Originally Posted by FunnyCakes

Has anyone covered a cake in Royal Icing?

I got a book on Ebay - and it illustrates many beautiful cakes - but some of them are covered in Royal Icing.

That seems weird. They must be hard little cakes. Who would want to eat a cake like that? And how would you even cut a cake like that? With a chainsaw?

If there is a trick to it, I hope someone here will share it. I think it would make a beautiful effect - but I'm afraid no one will want to eat a cake like that.

Any ideas?





There are some recipes that don't get as hard as you think they do LOL...
I grew up eating royal icing buttercream was an icing only used for practice. A true wedding cake had to be covered in marzipan and royal icing. Buttercream was frowned upon.

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Cake_Princess Posted 5 Dec 2005 , 12:12am
post #19 of 30
Quote:
Originally Posted by dodibug

I have the Well Decorated Cake by Toba Garrett and she says you can add a little glycerine to the icing after it has been beaten and the icing will dry on the outside but stay soft on the inside. She said in the Carribbean they use vanilla and rum to flavor the royal icing.






Did Toba Garrett mention which island? I am curious to find out. I Grew up in the Caribbean and this is the first time I have heard this. Black Cake is the type of cake that's usually covered with royal icing. It's basically a fruit cake with LOTS of rum. The fruits are minced and soaked for months (usually up to a year) in a jar of rum and brandy until it's time to make the cake. The royal icing is made with lime/lemon juice and that's the only flavor that's added to it. No vanilla or rum. There's so much rum in the cake that the icing picks up the taste of the rum.

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ThePastryDiva Posted 5 Dec 2005 , 12:14am
post #20 of 30
Quote:
Originally Posted by BritBB

Miss Baritone is the expert. However, I originate from England and grew up making cakes (usually fruit cakes), covering them in marzipan, then royal icing. It can get rock hard, but you need to add a little glycerine to keep it softish, but work quickly with it.




This is the trick, adding a little glycerine to the icing keeps it soft enough to spread and cut.

It will only crust up on the surface, but soft enough to cut and eat.

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Cake_Princess Posted 5 Dec 2005 , 6:06am
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I think Funnycakes got the information in a previous post.

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Liis Posted 5 Dec 2005 , 7:09am
post #22 of 30

Yep thats what many people do here they add glycerine to royal icing so it will not turn into stone. Works well like that.

Talking about eating christmascakes. (fruitcakes) I personally don't like them and many other people don't like them ( especially kids. mine call christmascake gone bad chocolate cake) but everybody will defenetly have one for christmas. I think it is more like a decoration thing not a cake. If you have people over You simply make a good cake to eat on the side.

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FunnyCakes Posted 5 Dec 2005 , 10:23am
post #23 of 30

everyone has been so informative and helpful. The glycerin trick seems to work so far - I'm only using it on practice biscuits since the cake's not yet made. But only the surface is crusting. This is a super secret!

It makes me wonder if SugarVeil isn't using something like glycerin in their icing to keep it flexible.

Thank you to all the cake experts, especially Miss Baritone who adds a wealth of knowledge helping all of us.

icon_smile.gif

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dodibug Posted 5 Dec 2005 , 2:48pm
post #24 of 30

Cake_Princess-I flipped back thru the book and the only thing I could find was an acknowledgement to her great-grandmother and grandmother who are from Edisto Island. Do you know where that is? She also mentions in the royal icing section about her friends and colleagues in the Carribean but doesn't say where. If I see anything else in there I'll let you know!

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ThePastryDiva Posted 5 Dec 2005 , 3:42pm
post #25 of 30

Cake Princess is right...the ONLY flavoring I've ever come across in ROYAL ICING was lemon...and I've been doing this since 1978!

Maybe it was just a "family" thing?

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Cake_Princess Posted 6 Dec 2005 , 2:49am
post #26 of 30
Quote:
Originally Posted by dodibug

Cake_Princess-I flipped back thru the book and the only thing I could find was an acknowledgement to her great-grandmother and grandmother who are from Edisto Island. Do you know where that is? She also mentions in the royal icing section about her friends and colleagues in the Carribean but doesn't say where. If I see anything else in there I'll let you know!





That's in south Carolina...

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Cake_Princess Posted 6 Dec 2005 , 3:09am
post #27 of 30
Quote:
Originally Posted by ThePastryDiva

Cake Princess is right...the ONLY flavoring I've ever come across in ROYAL ICING was lemon...and I've been doing this since 1978!

Maybe it was just a "family" thing?




I should have been clear about this when I typed it The 1st time. I guess I was being lazy. The lime or lemon juice is whipped in to the egg whites in much the same way as when making a meringue. An added benefit of using lemon or lime is the nice citrus flavor and taste it imparts to the royal icing.


Princess

P.S. Cream of Tartar Can is also used in some variations of royal icing. It's basically just another acid reacting with the egg whites. It can help to control the volume of the egg whites when whipped.

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SquirrellyCakes Posted 6 Dec 2005 , 5:18am
post #28 of 30

Dare I say it, but if folks are comparing store bought fruit cakes to a really good homemade fruitcakes, well there is no comparison.
I tend to prefer a dark English fruitcake made with molasses but I also like the light ones with lots of candied pecans on top.
Growing up in Canada, fruitcake was always a tradition, in fact the traditional wedding cake until the 1980's when it became very expensive to produce. My mother made my cake and it was delicious and fruitcakes are still popular here, when made right. I believe that this is part of the heritage the English brought to our country.
But, I have to say, totally, totally different cake, but Jamaican or any other Island fruitcake made with the rum soaked fruit and all, is my absolute favourite. I had no exposure to this cake until we lived in Toronto and the lady that drove my employer's shuttlebus took a liking to me. At Christmas, she presented me with a homemade fruitcake. Honest to God, when I unwrapped it my eyes water from the amount of rum that was used to keep it moist. It was amazing. We went to several "Islander's" weddings and the wedding cake was my favourite part of the meal. What I found very interesting was that the "Islander" cakes were served in far larger pieces than the fruitcake I grew up on was. Haha, also, it was like having a good stiff drink or two.
So all fruitcakes are not created equal and if folks don't like the ones they have tried, they might need to find a good recipe and make one from scratch.
Hugs Squirrelly Cakes

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FunnyCakes Posted 6 Dec 2005 , 10:32am
post #29 of 30

Good fruitcake info, squirrelycakes. I have to wonder if a lot of rum was used to help preserve the cakes. I have done some research and found that traditional wedding cakes were often fruitcakes, maybe for that same reason.

I also read that the beautiful creations of fruitcake and royal icing were carved, shaped and decorated for royal weddings and later parts of the wedding cake were broken over the brides head.

That reminded me of the symbolism of the cave man smaking the gal with a stick and dragging her back to his cave.

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Cake_Princess Posted 6 Dec 2005 , 6:34pm
post #30 of 30
Quote:
Originally Posted by SquirrellyCakes

Dare I say it, but if folks are comparing store bought fruit cakes to a really good homemade fruitcakes, well there is no comparison.
I tend to prefer a dark English fruitcake made with molasses but I also like the light ones with lots of candied pecans on top.
Growing up in Canada, fruitcake was always a tradition, in fact the traditional wedding cake until the 1980's when it became very expensive to produce. My mother made my cake and it was delicious and fruitcakes are still popular here, when made right. I believe that this is part of the heritage the English brought to our country.
But, I have to say, totally, totally different cake, but Jamaican or any other Island fruitcake made with the rum soaked fruit and all, is my absolute favourite. I had no exposure to this cake until we lived in Toronto and the lady that drove my employer's shuttlebus took a liking to me. At Christmas, she presented me with a homemade fruitcake. Honest to God, when I unwrapped it my eyes water from the amount of rum that was used to keep it moist. It was amazing. We went to several "Islander's" weddings and the wedding cake was my favourite part of the meal. What I found very interesting was that the "Islander" cakes were served in far larger pieces than the fruitcake I grew up on was. Haha, also, it was like having a good stiff drink or two.
So all fruitcakes are not created equal and if folks don't like the ones they have tried, they might need to find a good recipe and make one from scratch.
Hugs Squirrelly Cakes





Tis true Ma, they are all fruit cakes BUT not all fruit cakes are equal.... LOL... Like I said, the fruit cake we make back home all the fruits are minced so there are no hunks of fruit to be seen. It's all one texture. Then it's soaked in Mount Gay or Cockspur rum, brandy and even port wine (helps give it that nice dark colour).


LOL and yes, it's like having A good stiff drink. The rum is added to the fruit to soak. Rum is added to the cake batter. Rum is added after it comes out the oven. And more rum is added up until the cake is gone. LOL... That's a traditional Black cake for you.

About the serving size. It would be an insult to give a person a skimpy piece of cake.... or any type of food for that matter. I think it goes back to the old time days when people did not have much. But if you had a guest they got the biggest and the best portion of food.

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