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Vegan Recipes

Eggless Royal Icing

Vegan Royal Icing Recipe | Wallflowergirl.co.ukA simple royal icing recipe made without egg whites. Instead, using the water from a can of chickpeas (yes! trust me, this works).

Use this icing for covering fruit cakes, wedding cakes, gingerbread houses, writing icing etc etc. 

Vegan Royal Icing Recipe | Wallflowergirl.co.uk

Eggless Royal Icing

Eggless Royal Icing

Prep Time: 8 minutes
Total Time: 8 minutes

This vegan royal icing uses water from a can of chickpeas in place of eggs... You'd never know the difference!

Ingredients

  • 9 tbsp chickpea brine, the water drained from a can of chickpeas
  • 500 g / 4 cups icing sugar, sifted*
  • 2 tsp vegetable glycerine, optional

Instructions

  1. Whisk the chickpea water with an electric mixer until foamy and then add 400g of the sugar to the mixture and continue to mix on high speed until the mixture is thick and glossy.
  2. Stir in the glycerine and rest of the sugar, mixing until soft peaks are formed.
  3. To make the icing thicker, add more sugar and to thin it out, add more chickpea water.
  4. The mixture should keep for a couple of days, covered at room temperature.

Notes

*To make this sugar-free, use equal amounts of powdered xylitol

© Aimee

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Vegan Royal Icing Recipe | Wallflowergirl.co.uk

Eggless Royal Icing (vegan)

Reader Interactions

Comments

All commentsReviewsQuestions

  1. Zee says

    Hi, i want to try making royal icing with aquafaba, how long will it take to dry for me to add another layer? and how do i store the cookies while it is drying ? i want it to stay fresh and hard.
    Reply

  2. Barbara says

    This worked amazing for graham cracker gingerbread houses! I used meringue powder in the past, but we were having a friend over with a severe peanut allergy and the meringue powder is processed in a facility with peanuts, so that was out. I ended up using a whole 2 pounds (a little over 900g) of powdered sugar to get the thick consistency I needed. Royal icing is used in many ways (super thin to super thick), so I was expecting that I would need extra powdered sugar to get my desired consistency. Once dry, you couldn't taste the chickpea flavor. Thank you so much!!
    Reply

  5. Kam says

    Excellent recipe! Well done for this. I had a few failures before this, can honestly say it has increased my confidence working with royal icing.
    Reply

  6. dani says

    hi ! first, incredible and simple recipe. i was so intimidated by the thought and this is so simple — i’ve made it 4 times this week and at this point have been able to just make it by understanding the process. my only question, do you know if this is storable? i always end up with batches bigger than i need and i feel bad wasting. no worries if not, you’ve already been such a help !
    Reply

    • katie says

      I made a batch of this at christmas, made way too much and have had it stored in the fridge since then with no issues! it's in a glass bowl with cling film over it, ensuring the cling film is touching the top of the icing all the way around. just needs a whip each time I use it as it can separate in the fridge, but otherwise works exactly the same as it did the first time I made it!
      Reply

  7. Ruby O'Brien says

    Hi. I made the icing for my Christmas cake leaving out the glycerine and it turned out great but a week or so after Christmas the icing is turning yellow ‍♀️ I want to use this recipe for a wedding cake later this year did I do something wrong . It still tastes good.
    Reply

    • Allie says

      Hi. I have to do an intricate pattern on a wedding cake and it must be gold. The cake will be covered in fondant. Should I keep the glycerine and will it harden sufficiently for painting in gold? If it can be painted, can I keep it overnight in the refrigerator overnight once painted?
      Reply

    • Mike says

      I read that this happens (the Royal icing turning Yellow). Apparently you can stop that from happening by putting a layer of marzipan under the icing
      Reply

  8. David G Young says

    Thank you very much for this recipe. Not only did it work perfectly as icing for a traditional British Christmas cake, it kept for absolutely ages afterwards. This is definitely the recipe I'll be using from now on. Many thanks.
    Reply

  9. JW says

    I made three batches of this over the last week for Christmas cookies and gingerbread houses. It turned out AMAZING! I didn't use the glycerine but I did add a tsp of cream of tartar when I beat the liquid. I was so surprised how it looked exactly like meringue. It was great to work with and held together our houses excellently. Thanks!
    Reply

  10. Annabel says

    Hi there, I dont have an electriv mixer or glycerine. Will it be ok if I just mix by hand with a whisk? And add food colouring? Thank you!
    Reply

  11. Carla Nelson-Boyce says

    Thank you for this! I just made it for a bunch of kids making graham cracker gingerbread houses and it worked perfectly, even for the littlest ones! I did add more icing sugar as suggested to make it extra thick. Also...so excited to find all the uses for Aquafaba. Merry Christmas :)
    Reply

  12. Josie Smith says

    Hi - I just gave this a try and substituted one spoon of brine for one of freshly squeezed lemon juice. It tastes delicious, much to the chagrin of my waistline :) I added extra icing sugar to thicken but did not want a peaked finish so I did not whisk it until it peaked and poured it over the Christmas cake. It has a lovely smooth finish which works with my decorations. Thank you for this recipe :)
    Reply

    • Aimee says

      Hi Beverley. I've not tested how long it lasts exactly but I would think a couple of weeks would be ok. Just make sure to wrap it really well and keep in an air-tight container.
      Reply

  14. Mrs Miggins says

    Many Thanks for sharing, I've now tried it twice without clycerine and it really is fabulous ☺
    Reply

  15. Angela says

    Hi, I am really keen to try this recipe as I have an egg allergy. Do piped decorations set hard and how long do the last? Store decorations the same as egg white RI? Thanks
    Reply

  16. Cipriana muhdi says

    Sorry I went through all the comments but I just wanted to ask myself. So the glycerin should not mess with how the recipe hardens correct? And it says to add sugar for thicker and more chickpea water to thin it, so if both are used both thick and thin to edge and fill the cookie should both thick and thin mixtures dry the same?
    Reply

  17. Barbara says

    My icing is still soft after a week .. I have scraped the top down to a thin covering and covered with more sugar on top to absorb. I don't know what went wrong .. I foklowed the instructions but doubled the quantities Used about 1.4 kg icing sugar in total. Better luck next year I guess ....
    Reply

  18. Sue says

    First time I’ve ever used aquafaba. I used this recipe to decorate gingerbread cookies and they turned out wonderful. The icing created such a nice smooth beautiful appearance and they dry hard so I could gently stack my cookies without any damage. Thank you! This will be my only icing recipe and now I’m excited to try aquafaba in other recipes.
    Reply

  19. Aisha says

    Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! I️ can finally make pretty iced sugar cookies for my daughter who has an egg allergy. She is going to be so excited to see the cookies I️ made for her.
    Reply

  20. Dirk Thomas says

    Made this 3 times to make sure it was awesome. It is. I haven't used glycerin yet but will try today just to see what it does. I've also had success with canned kidney bean water and boiling chickpeas and using that water. Comes out super white to the point where my beet powder turned pink so I made flowers instead. It also takes flavouring well. I've done sweet almond, vanilla and maple! So good! Thanks for this extremely easy recipe
    Reply

  21. Mother Lucy says

    I found I needed much more icing sugar to get something stiff enough to do a formal iced cake (e.g. wedding): 800g instead of 500g. I didn't use any glycerine because I didn't want it shiny, just an old-fahioned matt royal icing. My old egg white recipe also gave the tip to leave the icing to stand for 12-24hrs if you make it with an electric whisk to allow the bubbles to escape and not spoil smooth surfaces or delicate pipings. I didn't have time for this but I think it would have been a good idea. I also added a drop if vanilla essence at the stirring in stage. Final result was great, but could probably have been even stiffer, so I guess you could double the original icing sugar amount!
    Reply

  22. Nina shah says

    Hello Aimee Laurel mentioned soaking chickpeas overnight & using that water...Do you need to boil the chickpeas & then use that water OR uncooked soaked water will do ? I do not think canned chickpeas are available in India
    Reply

    • sarah hines says

      NEVER use raw bean water. Soaking beans not only decreases cooking time and allows "bad" beams to float to surface, it also removes a naturally occuring substance, lectins, from the beans. Some types of beans contain so many lectins that if you were to eat them raw it could actually kill you. This is coming from a woman who has eaten more raw cookie dough with eggs in it then I would like to admit. Mini aquafaba directions include boiling down the bean water until it is the desired concentration. In this case, the bean water would no longer be toxic because it was cooked. But the concentration acquired from cooking the beans in the water will tend to be much higher than from Simply soaking them. There are actually well documented cases of raw Foodies becoming very ill and even dying from eating raw and sprouted legumes of certain varieties.
      Reply

    • hi says

      You need to let it sit overnight, and ALSO boil it afterward. here is a link to the recipe: https://www.forksoverknives.com/recipes/homemade-aquafaba/#gs.e4jErjs
      Reply

  23. Penny says

    Followed the recipe, including glycerine, but the icing won't set. I thought it was a bit wet so I added loads more icing sugar for the last cake, but it's not much better, still soft and wet. Could it be the glycerin? My cakes are covered in wet icing and I don't know what to do!
    Reply

    • Aimee says

      Hi Penny, I'm so sorry to hear this. The glycerin is to help make it shiny and smooth but shouldn't effect the drying at all. The only things I can think of that might have gone wrong is either the room being too warm (heat can prevent the cakes from drying - maybe trying refrigerating?) or if somehow an oil-based product got into the icing. Did you use colourings? The icing should not have been wet though so I think it might be a case of adding more icing sugar or using less aquafaba. It's also possible the mixture has been too well mixed. Did you notice the texture change from thick to thinner as you were mixing? I would try popping it in the freezer for a few minutes and then leave in the fridge to set for a while, if your kitchen is quite warm. Sorry I can't be more help and I really hope you can make it work. Good luck!
      Reply

  24. Melissa says

    Thanks so much for this egg free royal icing recipe! I'm so happy with the results! It's so glossy and set perfectly hard on my trail batch of cookies. Look forward to fixing my gingerbread house together ! merry Christmas!
    Reply

    • Aimee says

      Hi Melissa, that makes me so happy to hear! I wish I got round to making a Gingerbread house too... it's always so much fun. Enjoy and have a great christmas :-)
      Reply

  25. Pipli says

    I tried it but it was not white neither stiff .... It was of outline consistency... couldn't make any rose out of it.. where did I go wrong...and what is the role of glycerin here?
    Reply

  26. Penny says

    Hi, can you clarify please: when you say "brine" do you actually mean brine, as in a solution of salts water,,or do you mean the liquid from a tin of chick peas? It is possible to buy chick peas in brine (salt water) but I don't know where it is stocked locally. My husband prefers these and is always on the lookout. I can, however, buy chick peas in water. Is it water or brine that I use? Thanks
    Reply

    • Aimee says

      No just regular tins of chickpeas that you would find on a supermarket shelf. The liquid from those tins. Some people call it a brine because it does have preservatives, including salt. But it shouldn't be overly salty like a jar of olives, for example. Hope that helps clarify!
      Reply

  27. Peter says

    I had problems with this because the liquid in the can of chickpeas obviously wasn't thick enough, so 9 tablespoons couldn't make it thick enough unless I used about three or maybe four times the sugar, or maybe it wouldn't have been strong enough to bnind it even then. If it's repacing eggwhite I imagine it needs to resemble eggwhite, so next time I'll boil it down to thicken.
    Reply

    • Aimee says

      Hi Peter, the liquid from the can of chickpeas doesn't have to be super thick. It doesn't need to resemble egg white to work :-) I've never had to boil it down first, personally but you can try that if you want.
      Reply

  28. Priya says

    Hi Aimee, Thanks for sharing such wonderful creations. My question is same as Khyla. I wanted to use this recipe for decorating cookies. I stay in a hot and humid climate. Does it harden well and for how long can you store it? and how should you store it? What would be a substitute of glycerine? Also, not related to this post, but have you tried vegan macarons? I dearly miss them! Thanks in advance.
    Reply

  29. Paayel says

    Hello Ammie Can i make the brine at home? By soaking the chickpeas at night and using the liquid next morning. Will it give same results. Cos buying a can every time to make icing does not make sense. Thanks!
    Reply

    • Aimee says

      Hi Paayel, someone posted about this in the Aquafaba facebook group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/372343816286624/permalink/381094045411601/ I haven't tried it myself but apparently it works just as well as canned. Good luck :-)
      Reply

  30. Khyla says

    I'm looking for a substitute royal icing recipe to decorate cookies. Do you know how well this holds up? With cookies decorated with standard royal icing, they can stay at room temp in an airtight container for up to 4 weeks. I wonder how long these would last? Or would the icing soften back up?
    Reply

    • Meagan says

      We made cookies using this icing and it stayed hard and perfect for over a week. Unfortunately, the cookies were all eaten in that time so i can't say for how long exactly they would be good. We just kept ours in a cardboard to go box.
      Reply

  31. Laura says

    I just made a frosting. Wow. Sadly, I think I over beat it, because it was really nice and fluffy but I beat in more sugar and it started losing volume. It became runny. So I think a tip might be once it reaches the fluffy point, stop. I guess that means you need to get the sugar in up front.
    Reply

    • Vivian says

      Thanks for your sharing. Can I skip the vegeyable glycerin if I do not have it? Any substitution? I need to make cookies with vegan icing harden enough to stay for long hours display at a event... Fortunate I found your sharing. Appreciate if I could have your thought s on this quest ion too.... Thanks you very much!
      Reply

  32. Laura says

    I am not sure what kind of sugar you are using - confectioners (powdered) or a finely ground granulated sugar?
    Reply

  34. Molly says

    So, I know nothing about icing. Can I use this to as frosting on a cake? Or would it be too hard. Thank you!
    Reply

    • Aimee says

      Hi Molly, yes you can use this to frost cakes! It will give you that finish you see on wedding cakes or christmas cakes, which is a smooth, hard finish.
      Reply

  35. Caity says

    Hi there! Quick question; does this icing harden fully like real royal icing (like on cookies and for gingerbread houses) or is it more of a seven minute frosting used for cakes only? (As in it doesn't harden and its frosting) thank you!
    Reply

    • Aimee says

      Hi Caity, I have used it to make iced gems: http://wallflowerkitchen.com/vegan-iced-gems/ which hardened completely after about 30min - 1 hour. It would be ideal for gingerbread houses, I reckon!
      Reply

  37. Marla Rose says

    Beautiful! Please check out the Facebook group where this method was originally explored and all kinds of applications are being discovered every day! https://www.facebook.com/groups/372343816286624/
    Reply

  38. Jessica says

    Wow thank you so much for sharing this recipe, I have been wondering about vegan royal icing! I've yet to play around with chickpea brine but it seems you can make so many wonderful things using it, such as your amazing looking iced gems! x
    Reply

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