This simple eggless royal icing recipe works just as well as the kind with egg whites. It’s even easier and much cheaper to make too! Use to decorate cookies and cakes.
A simple vegan 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.
How to make royal icing without egg whites
This vegan royal icing is even easier and cheaper than the kind with egg whites!
Ingredients
So if you haven’t already heard of aquafaba, it is simply just the liquid you find in a tin of chickpeas, or other tinned legume. Yep, that water that is normally discarded!
This viscous water is able to trap a lot of air which is the perfect for making meringues, mayonnaise and royal icing.
The only other ingredient needed is powdered sugar. Also known as confectioner’s sugar, this is just very very fine sugar that won’t weigh down the mixture.
An optional ingredient that I recommend is glycerine. This prevents your icing from drying out and setting too hard.
Instructions
Much like making a meringue, it starts with just the aquafaba (egg white substitute) and getting as much air into it as possible.
Then slowly adding in the sugar, until you get a thick icing.
Flavouring & Colouring
If adding colouring and flavouring, be careful about how much. Preferably use just a tiny amount of paste, where possible.
If you want to add vanilla – opt for vanilla paste or use just ½ tsp at a time, to check the consistency.
Use this royal icing with:
Vegan Shortbread / Sugar Cookies
Leave a comment if you loved this recipe, give a rating and tag #WallflowerKitchen on instagram so I can share your creation on my stories!
Vegan Royal Icing
This vegan royal icing uses water from a can of chickpeas in place of egg whites, like magic! This batch makes enough to cover a 20cm cake or ice up to 24 biscuits.
Ingredients
- 135 ml / 41⁄2 fl oz (generous 1⁄2 cup) aquafaba
- 500g/1lb 2oz (4 cups) icing (confectioner’s) sugar, plus extra if needed
- 1 tsp vegetable glycerine, optional
Instructions
1. Put the aquafaba in a large mixing bowl and whisk with an electric hand whisk or stand mixer until foamy. Sift in the icing sugar, a little at a time, and continue to mix for about 10 minutes, until the sugar is incorporated and the mixture is thick and glossy.
2. Add the glycerine and keep whisking until soft peaks are formed. It should now be a pipeable consistency. If you need to make it thicker, add more sugar.
3. Transfer to a piping bag and use immediately or store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 weeks. You will need to whip the mixture again to loosen it up, before using.
Tracey Barker says
Just made vegan icing for the first time. Excellent results on my Christmas cake it,s real easy to make and use Excellent
Marita says
This is my first time looking up vegan royal icing, stumbled over your recipe and thought I’d give it a shot for the Christmas cake decorations. My non-vegan family was impressed. They thought this version was better than the non-vegan one from last year :)
Thank you so much for the recipe!
Aimee says
That’s great to hear! Thanks Marita, glad it worked out well for you.
Sowmya says
Hi, I made this with ho.emade aquafaba amd omitted the glycerine. Worked well. I couldn’t get my aquafaba to foam, but nevertheless it tasted good and did harden.
I have lot of the icing left. How to store the this icing? And for how long?
Thanks
Aimee says
yes, you can freeze! I would put in ziplock bags and store for a couple of months, maybe. glad the recipe worked well, even without the glycerin :-)
Leslie says
Hello! Wondering if you can add Cream of Tartar in place glycerin to form peaks when foaming the chickpea water?
Aimee says
That is a very good question, Leslie. I’ve not tried it in this recipe but I was just researching some other royal icing recipe and some do use 1/4 tsp cream of tartar instead. I will test this out myself when I get a chance and make a note of it. But it looks like it does work ok!
Doreen says
Hello! Did you try the cream of tartar substitute? If so, how did it work out?
Maia says
I am wondering where you can buy Vegetable Glycerin. I found some at Whole Foods but it says it is for moisturizing though the only ingredient is the glycerin; is that ok? Thanks!
Aimee says
Ooh I don’t know, I would make absolutely sure it is food-safe. Plenty of people have tried this recipe without glycerin with good results so you could just try leaving it out. It depends on what you’re using the recipe for. If it is for piping on gingerbread etc. it should be perfectly fine without it but for icing a cake you might be better off sourcing the glycerin. Hope that helps!
Jackie says
I bought mine in Tesco supermarket in UK, it is for food use.
Barbara says
Hi! Made icing for biscuits for a dairy-egg allergic child and it was lovely. I actually don’t like that egg smell that usually royal icing gives off so I think I’m going to use this recipe forever. It did dry really quick compared to the ready made icing and took colours brilliantly. However, on the second day, although still tasted delicious, the icing had become opaque and not so bright looking. Is there something that can be done to make the colours stay bright? Something to maybe brush on the surface? Thanks!
Megan says
Try adding a little corn syrup I know that works for regular confectioners icing. I may try adding a little when I make this today.
Seema says
Yes even the white color is not as w white and bright as shown here in the picture and even the icing is not that fluffy
Next day it turns bit transperent too.
Jackie says
I made this icing last Christmas and it was perfect! The colour is so subtly off white you can barely tell..abd it tasted wonderful!
James Focker says
I made it for all the Fockers in my family and the Fockers loved it!!!
Tiffany says
Hello! I have used this recipe so many times, and I love it! One question, can I freeze the cookies with this icing once they’re decorated, please? I’d wrap and pop in an airtight container.
Aimee says
Sorry Tiffany, I’ve not tried freezing these before and not sure how well they would defrost. I imagine it would be just fine though!
Rania says
Hey! Thanks so much for the recipe! I have question, if i keep my iced sugar cookies in an airtight box,how long do you think they are edible for?
Thanks in advance
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.
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!!
Tawhai Duffy says
This recipe works great thanks for sharing!
Lynn says
Is it preferable to use the water from unsalted canned chick peas or is the regular salted peas ok?
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.
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 !
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!
Ali says
Aquafaba meringue makes excellent choc mousse. Just melt down some cooking chocolate, and stir it into the whipped aquafaba. You can add vanilla/choc chips/ nuts/even coffee. Put into little pots, store in the fridge and eat within 2 days.
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.
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?
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
Rowan says
That’s what the glycerine is for actually. So I’d recommend using it next time as it stops the icing from going yellow!
Gabrielle Naptali says
Hi, I want to use it on a wedding fruitcake over white marzipan. How long in advance can I ice it? How thick do I apply it & does it need to be kept in the fridge? It’s a 10″ stack of 3 X 9″ cakes in a cylinder. I’ve been asking all over & had no replies, but this blog seems to be what most people are recommending. Praying for answers! Thanks
Gabrielle Naptali says
I’ve not marzipan-ed it yet, & as my big fridge died they are currently in layers of foil in Tupperware cake boxes. Once it’s iced I don’t have a Tupperware tall enough.. need advice please. Thanks!
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.
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!
Aimee says
So pleased to hear that! Thanks for the comment, JW :)
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!
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 :)
Aimee says
Glad to hear it worked out well for you! I love making gingerbread houses :)
K walsh says
I put too much egg white on my Xmas cake to grip the royal icing. Will it be ok when cut. Is see it dribbling down all around the bottom on the plate
Aimee says
What do you mean by egg white? Do you mean the aquafaba or additional egg white? This recipe doesn’t require eggs and it should be thick and stiffen once applied to the cake. Was the icing very runny and what did you use the egg white for? I will try to help best I can.
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 :)
Aimee says
So glad you like it!
Beverley Hart says
Will the icing keep on my Xmas cake for a few weeks as we won’t eat the whole thing straight away?
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.
Mrs Miggins says
Many Thanks for sharing, I’ve now tried it twice without clycerine and it really is fabulous ☺
Mrs Miggins says
*Glycerine – spellcheck!
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
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?
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 ….
Isabel says
glycerine keeps icing soft.
anon says
not to be a cow but like………………….. icing sugar is expensive, why didn’t you do a small batch test to ensure you liked the results, first?
Dorota says
I didn’t know this until I looked it up either but icing sugar is just another name for powdered sugar/confectioners sugar.
Seema says
Icing sugar has corn flour added do it won’t becomes lumpy due to moisture
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.
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.
Aimee says
Aww, makes me so happy to hear that! Hope she enjoyed her cookies :-)
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
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!
Gaby Naptali says
Thanks this is really useful as I’m about to ice my daughter’s wedding cake. I will be using white marzipan under it. Can you tell me; how thick was your icing & how long it keeps in the fridge once iced? I’m putting pressed flowers, leaves & petals onto the surface & there’s a long journey to the venue & well be staying overnight in a hotel before the wedding. I’m thinking to have it iced to travel but to apply the petals etc in the morning.. so many considerations! Praying for a swift reply as testing this week &the wedding is in 2.5 weeks!
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
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.
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!
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!
Barbara says
I have exactly the same problem
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!
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 :-)
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?
Aimee says
It doesn’t become immediately stiff, you need to let it set. Not sure why it wouldn’t be white though. What sugar did you use?
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
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!
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.
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.
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.
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!
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 :-)
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?
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.
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.
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!
Laura says
I am not sure what kind of sugar you are using – confectioners (powdered) or a finely ground granulated sugar?
Liv says
Confectioners.
Renee Vance says
so when you say “icing sugar” you mean confectioners powdered sugar”
Easy Vegan Blog says
Wow! Really cool! Do you think that glicerine may be omitted or substituted with a more common ingredient?
Easy Vegan Blog says
Thank you :)
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!
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.
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!
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!
Bob Ross says
Looks great! This is a recipe from the Vegan Meringues – Hits and Misses group, right?
Aimee says
Yep :-) I posted it there last night!
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/
Aimee says
Hi Marla, thanks :-) I just posted this in the group last night!
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
Aimee says
It’s amazing stuff! Still so much to experiment with it too :-)