Questions On Royal Icing
Decorating By ecstaticjellybean Updated 14 Apr 2010 , 3:14am by ecstaticjellybean
hi there
I've been doing cakes for friends birthdays for a while but i mostly use buttercream because i can NOT get the hang of royal icing!
My problem is not the icing tearing, but i always seem to have a large extra fold of icing.(either to one side on a round cake or at the corners on a square cake) If i try and cut it off that means i'm left with a kind of lumpy 'seam' up the side.
Am i doing something wrong or do i need some kind of special tools for this?
I notice that most people on this site are using fondant icing, is this homemade? because i don't think i've ever seen it in the shops here (scotland)
Thanks in advance for any advice!
Umm are you talking about royal icing or fondant?
Royal icing is a pipe-able icing that dries rock hard.
Fondant is the icing that you roll out and lay over a cake. To help keep from getting that extra amount of fondant on one side of the cake I smooth from the top down, not from one side around. Just work the fondant smooth around the top inch of the cake, then move down another inch and so on until you are at the bottom. You will want to lift your fodant out away from the cake as you smooth as well, that will help from getting the clumps of fondant that don't want to smooth out.
Hi Fondant is just Icing you can get ready to roll icing in ASDA or Tesco any supermarket you can also get Dr Oetkers ready rolled icing in any of the aforementioned supermarkets. If you want coloured icing you can get it at Hobbycraft at Glasgow Fort if you live near Glasgow. You can also get other decorating supplies there. I think the difficulty here is in the translation as things in the USA have different names. If you are unsure do what I do (google it) I hope this has been a help
thanks for all the helpful comments, can't beleive i got so many answers so quickly!
Although there is royal icing that can be piped, there is also the rolled kind, which is used a lot for wedding cakes etc in the UK. I've been doing a bit of research on fondant icing, and actually think it might be a little easier to use.
Thanks Texas Sugar for advice on technique, I have been kind of smoothing the icing round the side of the cake rather than down, if you know what i mean, that must have been my problem.
I've found a recipe for homemade fondant icing which i am going to have a go at. My husband is on standby to eat all experiments!
I kind of live in a rural area,Geomc, but i will definitely check out hobby craft next time i'm in glasgow, often wondered where to go for more specialist baking stuff, thanks!
In the meantime i have ordered some colourpastes off ebay, has anybody got any experience with them? Been using liquid colours which, as you can imagine, leaves the icing pretty sticky!
Hiya ecstaticjellybean!!! as said, you can buy 'fondant' Or ready to roll icing, in most supermarkets now! you know, ive never heard of rolled royal icing, i live in the uk and have never come across it. Are you sure you arent confusing it with fondant, because its the same thing as 'ready to roll icing'
I lovee ebay, its great for getting things, use it to your advantage! i have dozens of paste colours, they are brilliant . . Never use liquid colours in your rolled icing because like you said, it will go sticky and awful! the paste colours are concentrated so you only need a little bit on the end of a cocktail stick, the more colour you add to your paste, the stronger the colour you will get, You can mix colours to make new colours, you can add it to vodka and make paint to paint your cake, you can do alsorts with them!
Fondnat is also called sugar paste, it's available in all suppermarkets.
You can also buy a pourable fondant, or royal icing in the home baking section - but rolled royal icing, I don't think exists!
In my experience, hobbycraft is a bit more expensive than specialist cake shops. I don't know where there are any near you, but google is your friend. There's a couple in edinburgh if that's nearer? However, things tend to b cheaper online.
xx
thanks for all the helpful comments, can't beleive i got so many answers so quickly!
Although there is royal icing that can be piped, there is also the rolled kind, which is used a lot for wedding cakes etc in the UK. I've been doing a bit of research on fondant icing, and actually think it might be a little easier to use.
What is the recipe you have been using for the rolled kind? I'm wondering if it isn't marzipan (made with almost paste) or fondant/sugar paste.
I've never in 10 years heard of a rolled royal icing, and I have been around websites like that that have many uk bakers on it. Could be something I've missed, so now I'm curious.
I think the OP is meaning fondant or as it is commonly known here in the UK sugarpaste/ ready to roll icing.
For colouring plain white use gel colours, they cost a few pence more but last a lot longer and don't make the fondant sticky.
There is no such thing as rollable royal icing. 
Found Fondant icing in the supermarket!! applied a buttercream crumb layer and used fondant to cover a ice-hockey shirt shaped cake last night using my new colours and it was a great success! think i overworked it at one point, it kept cracking, but i was kneading in the paste on an icing sugared surface. I switched to cornflour and then it seemed to be fine.
Kept lifting the icing out from the cake while smoothing it down as advised and ended up with a really nice finish.
Soo excited now to start another cake, been asked to do a horse one next week, much more confident now after my success last night. Not sure now what icing i have been buying, as the general idea opinion is that royal icing doesn't roll out!
typically whatever it is is no longer in the supermarket so it looks like it will remain a mystery!
Thanks for all the comments, very interesting in the mixing colours with vodka idea, just have to watch out for the fumes lol!
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