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!
📖 Recipe
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.
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