Peggy Porschen Academy. Part 5: Royal Icing
Next at the Peggy Porschen Cake Academy we get to work with Royal Icing, adding delicate detail to our Marie Antoinette Cupcakes.
Missed previous posts? Read Part 4 here.
The Marie Antoinette cupcakes are finished off with intricate piping detail with drapes around the 
edges and leaves. This detail is done using Royal Icing, as it sets hard.
How to make Royal Icing:
Royal icing can be made using 25g of merri white powder, 165 ml of water and 1kg of icing sugar. Mix the merri white with the water, according to the instructions on the merri white package. Let it rest in the fridge overnight and then pour ¾ of the merri white mixture into a bowl of icing sugar, and a squeeze of lemon juice on top. Mix with an electric mixer on lowest speed using a paddle attachment and after two minutes scrape the side of the bowl. Continue mixing for a further five minutes or until the icing forms stiff peaks. Or, you can do it the easy way and buy royal icing sugar and simply mix with water!
Royal icing is versatile as it can be used in different consistencies for different uses.
Stiff peak is what is required for piping sugar flowers and decorations
Soft peak is used for outlines, dots and borders – especially useful for cookie decorations
Flood icing is used for filling the centres of cookies and run-outs.
So, we needed stiff peak icing and we needed to make it the same colour as our flowers. So once again we used the sugarflair grape violet spectral paste and added it a bit at a time to get the right colour.
1. Once achieved we fill a small icing bag with the icing and snip a small section off the edge of the bag.
2. We put one cake on to a cake pedestal and mark eight small dots around the cake at equal measures.
3. We add one small flower on each dot and one large flower on top, using the royal icing as glue.
4. Then we create drapes from one flower to the next letting the icing flow out of the bag gently, smoothly and consistently. It requires a steady hand and concentration as shown by Peggy:
5. Once this is repeated on all the cakes, we then use green royal icing to pipe the leaf detail. This is done by simply cutting a small upside down ‘V’ in the bag.
Tip: Hold the bag in your writing hand, squeezing gently from the top, and use the index finger on your other hand to guide the bag in the right direction.
Once all the cakes were completed we used more royal icing to stick them to a cake board ready for our journeys home. I was pleased to say my cupcakes did make it home all in one piece and I can only hope the same could be said for the ladies who were travelling back to Tenerife and Italy.
However, unfortunately, my six pieces of heaven from the Peggy Porschen Parlour didn’t look the same as they did when I left,; instead of six cupcakes I was left with one mess that had a bit of bannoffee cupcake here, salted caramel there, champagne somewhere else….still, at least it saved me the tough decision of which one I was going to eat first…. I had all of them at the same time!
Peggy runs various workshops through the year and I would definitely recommend attending one. It’s a fantastic day and you’re sure to pick up some great tips, advice and new skills. Peggy is a lovely lady and does an exceptional job both in and out of the academy, so I for one will definitely be keeping an eye out on other courses that take my fancy.
To find out more about the courses at the academy visit the Peggy Porschen website or call 0207 730 1316
To buy the cases, colours and decorations needed to make Marie Antoinette cupcakes at home visit the Cupcake Supplies shop.
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I am so impressed! I feel completely hamfisted as a cake/cookie decorator; this is a terrific guide. How long did each cupcake take to decorate?
Each cake does take quite a bit of time, but I think that shows in the results. I was at the academy from around 10.30 to 4pm and this time allowed us to make, bake and decorate the cakes. I think, like anything, you get quicker and better with practice. I’m sure it takes Peggy Porschen a fraction of the time it took me to make one…but because of the detail, the different elements involved and the hand-made nature of it, it takes a lot longer than a cupcake with a swirl of buttercream. Hope you try to make one though!