!Royal icing and frosting are different preparations, although they are often confused. Frosting is made with powdered sugar and a liquid (water, milk, lemon juice), it remains soft and is perfect for covering cakes or cookies. Royal icing, on the other hand, is made with powdered sugar and egg white, dries hard and crunchy, and is used for precise decorations.

Frosting and icing are two terms used to indicate two sugar-based preparations used to cover sweets in pastry.
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They are the same product, the only difference is that the word icing comes from English ‘icing’ which is a literal translation, while the word frosting is entirely Italian.

The frosting or royal icing(Royal Icing) is a smooth and homogeneous mixture used in pastry to decorate cakes, cookies, Easter eggs and is made with powdered sugar and egg white (if we talk about royal icing), or with powdered sugar and boiling water (if we talk about water icing).

The use of royal icing dates back to the Renaissance however, it was Antonin Carême at the end of the 1700s who first designed monumental cakes with special decorations in royal icing.

Royal icing is mainly used, as I said above, in the creation of regal sumptuous cakes like those of Queen Victoria’s wedding and the more recent ones of Prince William and Kate of England.

Queen Victoria’s cake made by Buckingham Palace’s court pastry chef John Mauditt, had a circumference of 3 meters and was decorated with flowers and leaves and at the top had the Goddess Britannia blessing the couple.

Even in Italy, the use of frosting or royal icing is very ancient and there are many techniques used for the decoration that adapt to the creaminess of the consistency from the cream and among these we have:
1) laying or dragging method used to obtain precise lines of the same size;
2) dropping or raised method where the piping bag is positioned vertically at a height of about 1 cm from the surface of the cake to be decorated to obtain a thin and homogeneous thread;
3) brushed or dashed method where, as for the laying method, you stay with the piping tip detached from the cake and proceed with short, continuous, and regular dashes.

With the recipe for royal icing (one part egg white plus 5 parts powdered sugar) you can have fun even with your children creating small homemade delicacies that you can color with dyes and create with cookie cutters, small subjects suitable for the event to celebrate or the season of the year (autumn with leaves, winter with snowflakes, etc.).

Remember that frosting is sensitive to humidity, that after decorating the cookies it will become hard and dry, and that cookies decorated with frosting or royal icing last for 4/5 days.

Simple Frosting should be used immediately because it tends to dry out on the surface and lose its smooth consistency. Once poured on cakes or cookies, it can be stored at room temperature (covering the cake with a glass dome or plastic wrap) for 2-3 days. It does not keep well ‘loose’ in a bowl: if it must be saved, cover it with food wrap and keep it in the fridge, but it usually hardens and is no longer workable.

Royal Icing keeps longer because it contains egg white. It should be kept in a tightly closed container or covered with food wrap in the fridge for up to 2-3 days. Before using it again, mix it well, because it can separate. Once applied to cookies or decorations, it hardens and remains stable for weeks (perfect for gingerbread houses or decorated cookies).

I have opened a recipe channel open to everyone and free on WhatsApp with no notifications and no sound, which you can subscribe to by clicking on the link here https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaHbGIn9cDDig7Cw2x0F and every day you will be able to read a sweet and a savory recipe!

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ROYAL ICING OR FROSTING?
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