I borrowed a book from the library "Contemporary WEdding Cakes" by Nadene Hurst and Julie Springall. It has some gorgeous cakes in it and some interesting techniques that I can't wait to try. One of them is how they suggest you ice your cake. They tell you to first cover your cake with marzipan cut to size (cut out strip for the sides and a circle for the top) so you have sharp edges and then cover with 3 layers of royal icing, with progressively thinner icing, letting each dry for 8 hours in between. Wow. It sounds like alot of work, but I have never seen such smooth topped cakes. Has anyone ever done something like this? A royal icing frosted cakes seems like it wold be easier to decorate, and the dull finish would appeal to me more than the glossy buttercream. Any opinions?
In the UK, this is how a traditional wedding cake is decorated. I thought I read somewhere on here that some people add glycerine to the RI so that it isn't as hard. I'll see if I can find that post.
I think I would stick to BC covered with fondant though. We just aren't used to cakes covered with RI around here.
Yeah, the book I have was printed in the UK, guess my library imported it. It does suggest adding glycerin to the royal icing to make it cut easier. It also has a recipe for royal icing in the book which calls for albumen powder...which it then called egg white powder. I assume this is the same as meringue powder, even though I understand meringue powder has cream of tartar added. Can anyone confirm this for me?
Sounds like a good alternative for those that don't like fondant.
It is spread on like buttercream, but in a few layers. The nice thing about it is you can let it harden and then use a knife or even sand the edges or rough areas so it is perfectly smooth. Here is a link that explains a method to do this. http://www.pastrywiz.com/wedding/wedding16.htm
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