I’m not the biggest fan of icing that comes premade over the counter in the cake aisle. (Unless it’s Betty Crocker’s Rainchip. That’s the best frosting I’ve ever had!)

This royal icing recipe is the best on sugar cookies. My kids and I had a baking competition at home and used it with food coloring to decorate Christmas cookies. It was delicious. Click here for the Christmas sugar cookies recipe.

The best part? This icing recipe is super easy to make and takes little time. The ingredient checklist is short, so if this is your first time making one of the many homemade frosting recipes online, then this is a good one!

ROYAL ICING INGREDIENTS

• Whites from 4 eggs (or 3 ounces of egg whites)
• 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
• 4 cups confectioners’ sugar, AKA powdered sugar

All of these simple ingredients can be room temperature.

ROYAL ICING DIRECTIONS

1. Using a hand mixer or electric stand mixer, combine all of these ingredients in the order they’re listed in a medium bowl one by one. 
2. While you’re adding, mix them together on low speed to medium speed until it reaches your desired consistency.
3. Separate the icing into different bowls to add food coloring for different icing colors. (We kept the white, then created red, green, and yellow in three different bowls.)
4. Using a knife or pastry bag, decorate your dessert. A small amount of this icing goes a long way. Have fun with different decorating tools to create designs and get rid of air bubbles.
5. Enjoy!
6. What you don’t use, save in an airtight container or freezer bag to use later in different recipes, like birthday cakes or vanilla cupcakes.

5 THINGS TO DO WITH THIS ICING RECIPE

1. Add cocoa powder to the icing to give it a chocolate flavor.

2. Use it to stack a layer cake with different icing flavors (if you use cocoa powder).

3. Like salty desserts? Add a pinch of salt to the mixture.

4. Substitute cream cheese frosting in a chocolate cake for this vanilla icing.

5. Use a little bit of this icing on top of a carrot cake, red velvet cake, vanilla cake, pound cake, or cinnamon rolls.

YOUR FAVORITE ICING RECIPE

One of the most popular dessert toppings is homemade buttercream. Let me know if you want me to post a simple recipe for that or cream cheese frosting. While I was researching icing to post, those two came up a lot. 

Find me on Instagram at @ChristinaAllDay and let me know what the family favorite is in your house when it comes to fluffy frosting.