so i got a recipe from a book for royal icing that includes :

3/4 cup egg white
4 cups sifted confec. sugar
and a teaspoon of fresh squeezed lemon juice.

my question is this...first off, it has a strange smell. It doesnt have the nice aroma that buttercream has. Im not sure if this is normal because this is my first time making royal icing. My second question is what is the lemon juice for? In fact, I believe I can actually taste the lemon in it. It doesnt exactly have the best taste, at least not compared to cream cheese or buttercream icing. Am I doing something wrong?

As you have probably notice by now....Royal icing gets hard. Most royal icing decorations will not be eaten.

Hi, you won't get a nice aroma like bc, but you should get a little smell of lemon, if you have used it. But I dont know what is the reason to add lemon juice.

I have not use that recipe, but usually use the one from Wilton. It has the meringue powder, sugar and water in it. It isnt really meant to be eaten like buttercream. Mine tastes like sugar with a weird aftertaste, not too horribly bad but not good either!

cool. so how to i store it? fridge? just an airtight container with no refrigeration? and how long can i keep it? [/center]

the making of royal icing is by the 1:6 that is 1 cup egg white and 6 cup icing sugar the old the egg white is the good it is lemon juice or vinegar is added when u want ot make runouts as it makes the ice hard
where as if u r only gona coat and pipe the cake with royal icing then add few drops of glycerine instead of lemon juice as it keeps the royal icing soft and the cake can be cut easily plus its easily digestable
It can be stored in a container with the lid but put the damp cloth on the royal icing and there is no use for putting it in the fridge. When u wil use it again it mite b a but hard so beat it and if required add a bit of eggwhite so as to achieve the consistency u desire