Royal Icing Recipe

This is a double recipe:

2 pounds powdered sugar
6 egg whites at room temperature
1 tsp. cream of tartar
2 tsp. vanilla

Blend at high speed 7-10 minutes.

This generally makes enough icing to do one building.

If you want to add color, use a professional-quality food-coloring (such as Wilton's). The food colorings you buy at the grocery store generally do not make strong enough colors.

The key to keeping this icing usable is to make sure it has no contact with the air. Katherine keeps each color (she restricted the number of colors to four) in a zip-lock bag. To use it, she cuts off the corner of the bag ("just a tiny hole") and squeezes out the icing. It takes roughly half an hour to harden.


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