Vegan Royal Icing Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is a vegan substitute for meringue powder? ›

Meringue powder can get expensive, and it's made with eggs, which we don't want. Use either xanthan gum or arrowroot powder instead of meringue powder to make royal icing without eggs. You only need a half teaspoon of either of these for the recipe, so one container will last you a very long time!

To make this Easy Vegan Vanilla Frosting, you'll need just a few ingredients. Softened vegan butter, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and a little non-dairy milk. The great thing about this recipe is that it can easily be used for different things.

Icing sugar is also called “10x”, “powdered” or “confectioner's” sugar. It's a very finely ground sugar mixed with about 3% corn starch by weight. Royal icing is made by mixing icing sugar with egg white. Generally a 3:4 ratio of egg whites to cups of icing sugar (3 egg whites to 4 cups icing sugar).

Pasteurized Egg Whites: Provide the necessary structure and help the icing dry to a smooth, hard finish. If you'd like to avoid using raw eggs, feel free to use meringue powder, which is sold in the baking aisle of most large supermarkets or craft stores.

Using salt and acid (cream of tartar) balances the sugary sweetness. Silver rum adds a subtle flavor, without darkening the icing like vanilla. Creaming helps minimize the grit of powdered sugar.

YUMGO White is a plant-based substitute for egg white, in powder format. It can replace egg whites in sweet and savory recipes.

Cream of tartar is a stabilizer and is sometimes used in making meringue to keep the eggs from collapsing. Some meringue powder already has cream of tartar in it to help in stabilizing meringue. So you can't use cream of tartar as a substitute for meringue powder, but it can be used to stabilize meringue recipes.

If you're not adding enough sugar, your buttercream won't be stable enough to hold its shape for long. If you're adding a little plant-based milk to thin the buttercream when frosting a cake, you might be adding too much of it, again, making it too unstable.

Vegan buttercream frosting ingredients

I recommend Miyoko's vegan butter for the best all around vegan butter. for a nut-free vegan butter option.

What icing sugar is suitable for vegans? ›

This is because some manufacturers of icing sugar add dried egg whites to the mix. As a result, some brands that sell icing sugar are vegetarian but not vegan, so it's best to check the label to be sure. For a vegan-friendly icing sugar, Tate and Lyle Icing sugar is suitable for vegans to use, so get baking!

Cookie icing can be used in the same way that royal icing can; however, it doesn't dry as hard as royal icing does. It's great for flooding cookies or piping designs into wet icing. To thin the consistency of cookie icing, just pop it in the microwave for about 20 seconds.

There are three main types of royal icing: stiff consistency, piping consistency, and flood consistency. They are used for different decorating techniques, although sometimes you can use different consistencies to achieve the same result.

There are several methods that can be used to make royal icing, however no matter which method is used. The foundational ingredients remain the same - egg whites, icing sugar (also known as confectioner's or powdered sugar) lemon juice or cream of tartar.

Cornstarch in the ice cream base becomes gelled as it absorbs the milk and cream. Those gelled molecules create the thickened "custard" that gets churned. This is why cornstarch is the perfect egg substitute for ice cream. The cornstarch gives any extra water in the ingredients some starch molecules to grab onto.

Add 1/4 cup of pureed silken tofu per egg. For cakes: Aquafaba (you can use the water from canned chickpeas) is a good substitute for egg whites. Use 2 tbs per egg white; whip it with a hand mixer until it reaches a foamy consistency.

About 2 teaspoons of meringue powder mixed with 2 tablespoons of water can be substituted for one egg white. It's also worth noting that as useful as meringue powder can be, it's not always a perfect alternative to eggs. There are some cooked recipes that simply taste better using real egg whites.