Biscuiteers Ice-olation Challenge: Lesson two - Line icing

Biscuiteers Ice-olation Challenge: Lesson two - Line icing - Biscuiteers

Last week we challenged you to create your best biscuit dough, and this week we're showing you how to perfect your line icing skills. We love line icing here at Biscuiteers HQ because it's so versatile - it's where all of our biscuit designs begin, and the possibilities are endless! Be sure to follow us on social media, @biscuiteersltd, where we’ll be sharing lots more #IceolationChallenge content. You’ll even be able to challenge our Head Icer to create the biscuit of your dreams, or pose your tricky questions to our icing agony aunts! Just follow the recipe and our best tips and tricks below. We've also included some project ideas to put your new found skills to use.

ingredients

  • - 150ml cold water
  • - 900g royal icing mix

serves:6

difficulty:easy

20 mins

– Combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl, starting with the liquids first.

– Add the dry ingredients and whisk or beat for about 5 minutes if using an electric beater or whisk, or for longer if using a wooden spoon. Whisk slowly to start with to avoid clouds of icing sugar covering you and your kitchen!

– Continue whisking until the ingredients form a thick, smooth paste that is bright white in colour and has the consistency of toothpaste.

– If you are not using it immediately, cover the surface of the icing with cling-film to stop it drying out and refrigerate.

– If you're using food colouring, you can divide the icing and add your chosen colours. Then fill your piping bag and you’re ready to begin!

Now you have the basic recipe, let’s get a little more technical…

Your line icing should be the texture of toothpaste. If it seems a bit stiff add a little water.

When you first start, or if you are icing with children, either choose a larger plain nozzle (no.3) or cut a larger hole in the end of the disposable piping bag.

When cutting a hole in the piping bag, we recommend cutting a small hole first and then cutting away any extra piping bag so you can get the right sized nozzle!

When icing a shape, it's best to start close to the biscuit first, creating a small blob of icing - this is your anchor point. From here you can guide the icing around your shape, before you anchor again at the end of your line.

If you are making an outline to fill with flooding icing you need to make sure that you join up your trail to form an unbroken wall around the shape you need. If there are any gaps the flood icing will flow through.

Some icing project ideas (using your new line icing skills!)

Create your own jolly gingers!
Here at Biscuiteers, we love bringing lots of different characters to life in the form of our jolly gingers! The best place to start is with the basic features. Find some baking parchment, draw your arms and legs, and practice icing over them so you can perfect the shape.

Start with your nozzle touching the biscuit and create a small blob of icing to anchor yourself, then lift up the piping bag and draw out the line of icing in the shape you want and then anchor back down again with another small blob of icing. This may all seem daunting at first but after some practice you will soon get the hang of it.

Once you've got your basic features - arms, legs and smiley face you can start to add in more details. This is the fun part - is your jolly ginger an astronaut? A ballet dancer? You could even try creating your friends and family! Or why not try and ice Fleur - just watch our tutorial below! Personalise with writing!
Why not have a go at personalising your biscuits with your name? The best way to start is either printing out some lettering you'd like to copy, or simply writing out the letters you are going to use in your best handwriting! Then cover with baking parchment or tracing paper, and use as a guide to practice over so you can perfect the technique. When you feel confident, it's time to ice onto your biscuit. If you're writing a long message on your biscuit, we recommend starting in the middle so you can fit everything in.

We hope you’ve enjoyed icing along with us here at Biscuiteers and learning our best line icing tips. Share your photos with us using #Iceolationchallenge so we can see your icing skills!