Making lace icing with your own hands is not very difficult. However, the process requires special creative imagination from the cook. After all, if you don’t know how to draw, then you’re unlikely to be able to get beautiful and graceful figures. Although some housewives resort to one trick. They make patterns using various templates.
Today we will tell you how to make lace icing with your own hands. In addition, you will be presented with a master class on drawing various patterns. Using the tips described below, you can decorate absolutely any desserts.
general information
Before I tell you how to make lace icing with your own hands, I should tell you what it is.
Icing is a sugar-protein drawing mass, which is intended for the production of three-dimensional patterns that decorate confectionery products. Initially, this base turns out white. But if there is a special need, then it can be made colored by adding various food colors.
Cooking features
Do-it-yourself icing for lace is quick and easy. After following all the recipe requirements, you should have a fairly thick and plastic mass. As a rule, it is made by rubbing sifted powdered sugar with fresh egg white. Also, some kind of acidifying agent must be added to these ingredients (for example, fresh lemon juice, cream tartar, dry citric acid, etc.). This is necessary to make the protein mass more plastic and pliable.
How to make icing plastic?
As mentioned above, icing for a cake or others should be as elastic as possible. Sometimes this effect is difficult to achieve by adding only one acidifier to the base. In this case, experienced cooks require the use of additional or a small amount of glycerin. However, the last ingredient can make the protein mass so sticky that you will have trouble peeling it off the plastic backing. That is why this component is recommended to be used when subsequent detachment of the icing is not expected. As a rule, this happens when the protein mass is deposited directly onto the surface of the dessert.
Other ways to create
Do-it-yourself icing can be done not only using protein. After all, there are other ingredients to create such a drawing mass. For example, a very popular way to prepare a confectionery base is to use albumin. One kilogram of this substance replaces about 316 egg whites. In addition, there are other ingredients that are most often used not at home, but in industrial production.
master class on preparing protein mass
When they see the final results, many people have doubts as to whether they can make such a decoration with their own hands. To this I would like to say one thing: if you don’t try, you won’t know.
In general, it should be noted that icing for cakes, as well as other confectionery products, is not as difficult to do as it seems from the very beginning. The main thing is to strictly comply with all prescription requirements. Otherwise, the protein mass will not reach the consistency that is essential for preparing various laces and patterns.
So, icing, the photo of which is presented in this article, requires the use of the following products:
- fresh chicken egg white - 1 pc.;
- sifted sugar powder - approximately 250 g;
- fresh lemon juice or dry citric acid - about ½ dessert spoon;
- strong glucose solution - dessert spoon (use as desired).
Product preparation process
Before making icing at home, you should prepare all the ingredients. First you need to carefully separate it from the yolk. In this case, the second component falling into the first is unacceptable. Otherwise, the decoration will not work.
Having freed the white from the yolk, place it in a deep bowl and lightly beat with a fork. The goal of this procedure is not to make a lush and persistent foam, but to disrupt the viscous structure of the component, transforming it into a liquid mass. Excess air bubbles in the icing mixture are not welcome.
As for the powder, it should be made using a coffee grinder or purchased in a ready-made form at the store. If you were unable to buy this product, we recommend simply sifting the granulated sugar through a very fine sieve. As you know, a sweet bulk ingredient always contains a certain amount of powder.
The process of preparing elastic mass
So, it's time to tell you about how icing is done. A recipe and a master class on how to prepare this delicacy will definitely help you decorate cakes and other confectionery products.
After the egg white is slightly beaten with a fork, gradually add powdered sugar. In this case, the ingredients must be regularly ground until a homogeneous mass is obtained.
After a few minutes of intensive stirring (about halfway through cooking), dry citric acid must be added to the sweet egg white. If you decide to use fresh lemon juice, then it is better to pour it in at the very end, along with strong lemon juice. By the way, at the end you should add the desired food coloring (optional) to the resulting homogeneous mass.
Thus, by adding powdered sugar to the egg white portionwise and rubbing everything vigorously, you should get a stable, homogeneous viscous and plastic mass. At this point, the preparation of the icing is considered complete.
Types of rice protein mass
We talked about how to make liquid drawing paste. But sometimes cooks also need flexible icing. How to cook it? This requires using more powdered sugar. In other words, it must be added until the protein mass stops sticking to the palms. As a result, you should have icing mastic. It is good for covering figured cakes or pastries. To do this, the resulting mass must be lightly dusted with powdered sugar, and then rolled into the desired shapes using a rolling pin. By the way, you can also add to mastic, as well as to liquid icing, giving it one or another shade.
What is it used for?
As you can see, icing for lace (the protein mass recipe was discussed above) does not require the use of many expensive and rare products. It is made from quite affordable and simple ingredients that are available to every housewife.
So why is such a mass needed at all? As a rule, it is used to prepare unusual patterns intended for cakes. Although chefs often use sweet rice mixture to create their own dessert. In this case, various figures and patterns are made from icing. If you decide to please your loved ones with an original sweet, we suggest creating a Christmas tree, various animals, snowflakes, etc.
Jewelry shapes
Those cooks who do not know how to draw patterns beautifully use stencils for icing. These can be children's books with large flowers, animals, butterflies, snowflakes. In this case, you will get flat decorations that can be easily stuck into the surface of the cake or pastry.
If you need to make a three-dimensional pattern, we suggest using a book spread. Using this method, fluttering butterflies and other laces are often formed.
There is another original technique, thanks to which you can independently make complex designs from icing. For example, houses, carriages, strollers, cars, etc. To do this, you need to make stencils of individual parts of the object in advance, apply the protein mass to them using a cornet (through film) and leave at room temperature for 2 days. After this time, the icing will completely harden. In the future, all the parts of the three-dimensional structure should be connected to each other using thick sugar syrup.
Decorating protein patterns
Now you know how to use icing stencils. But if it’s not enough for you to just make beautiful three-dimensional or flat patterns, then we suggest additionally decorating them with the help of confectionery beads, sprinkles and other things. However, it is recommended to do this immediately after the protein mass is applied to the stencil. After all, after hardening, the icing becomes hard, and nothing can be glued to it. At least if you don’t use a component such as thick sugar syrup.
Procedure for working with drawing protein mass
If you do not know how to draw patterns using icing yourself, we recommend using ready-made templates. Or you can simply use children's coloring books. So, let's look in more detail at how to work with the drawing protein mass.
1. Apply plastic film to the selected paper template or place it in a regular transparent document bag. The main advantage of such a bag is that the protein mass comes away from it very well. If you doubt this, then for better sticking of the formed products, lubricate the plastic film with a small layer of olive oil.
2. Freshly prepared rice protein mass is placed in a special cornet, onto which a suitable attachment is previously placed. If you don’t have such a pastry bag, then a regular plastic bag will do, in which you need to cut off the corner.
3. Squeeze out the icing onto the stencil, or more precisely, onto the plastic film laid out on it, slowly and evenly. If you have artistic skills, you can do without templates, drawing with protein mass, only armed with your imagination. It should be noted that icing is often deposited directly onto the surface of the finished confectionery product. At the same time, you should know that under no circumstances should the drawing mass be applied to cream, biscuit or other wet surfaces.
4. After the icing has been deposited, it should be left to dry at room temperature. This may take you about 1-3 days, depending on the size of the pattern and the humidity of the room.
5. Dried decorations and parts are carefully removed from the backing and then used for their intended purpose. It should be noted that it is better to carry out this action on the edge of a flat surface, starting from the corner of the plastic film, which is carefully pulled down.
Due to the fact that such decorations are very fragile, they should be prepared in quantity. If the products break during removal from the backing, they can be used as a separate dessert and simply served with tea.
Now you know how to easily and quickly make icing mixture at home. To make sure that you have prepared the sweet base correctly, you should look at its consistency. Classic icing should not flow on inclined surfaces. If the mass is somewhat liquid, the formed products should first be dried until thickened in a horizontal position. And only then place it on a curved surface.
If you need to get openwork spherical products, then the protein mass must be applied to inflated balloons (air balloons) greased with olive oil. After the cream has dried, they are pierced, and then the shells are removed from the resulting decorations.
Storage method
Decorations and figurines made from icing can be stored for quite a long time if they are placed in boxes and kept at room temperature. At the same time, the room humidity should not be too high.
It should also be noted that patterns made from protein mass should under no circumstances be stored in the refrigerator. After all, after being exposed to cold air, they liquefy quite quickly. That is why pre-formed decorations are placed on cakes and pastries only before serving to the festive table.
Today it is very difficult to find a person who does not like sweet desserts, such as cakes. There are a large number of such recipes in cooking; they can be decorated with various patterns, inscriptions or icing. Probably not everyone knows what it is. Let's try to figure this out. So, translated from English, this term means “ice pattern.” And this is not surprising, since products made from it are similar to ice (in color and consistency). Icing, the recipe for which we will definitely learn today, makes it possible to create extraordinary decorations not only for desserts, but also for various dishes. Properly made, it has a matte finish and enormous strength. So, let's try to understand this issue in more detail.
What is "icing"?
Icing is a plastic thick mass of sugar and proteins used to create confectionery decorations that have volume. Usually this mass is white, but with the help of food coloring it can be given any shade. Icing, the recipe for which will be given below, is made by rubbing powdered sugar with fresh egg white. Lemon juice or acid, glucose syrup, glycerin, etc. are added to this mixture.
Working with icing
To work with flexible mass, pre-prepared templates are required, for example, drawings on paper or ready-made contours. Place cling film on such a drawing or place it in a file. In this case, it is not recommended to use parchment or tracing paper, since the icing sticks very strongly to them and then does not come off. So, the film is lubricated with a layer of olive oil (this is important!). Fresh protein mass is placed in a pastry envelope or syringe. At the same time, it should not be liquid so that it does not spread along the contours of the picture. A thick mixture, on the contrary, will be difficult to squeeze out of the envelope. However, in this case, you can sculpt from it in the same way as plasticine.
All elements of the drawing should not be thick. If you want to get multi-colored icing, the recipe for which is very simple, add food coloring to the mixture. You can also apply the mixture to the finished cooled confectionery product, for example, cookies or gingerbread, chocolate glaze. Do not apply it to biscuits or other non-dry surfaces. Only finished icing decorations are placed on them before serving. So, the film with a pattern is dried for about three days. Then the jewelry is carefully removed.
Openwork icing decorations
In this case, a mass of protein and sugar, that is, icing, the recipe for which is attached, is placed on small balloons; they must first be inflated and lubricated with oil. After the pattern has dried, the ball is simply deflated and removed from the product. This must be done carefully, as the resulting products are very fragile. It is recommended to make them with a small margin. A broken part can be glued using egg white mixed with powdered sugar. Store such jewelry at room temperature in a box. Let's take a closer look at the homemade icing recipe.
Icing heart
Ingredients: twenty grams of egg white, one hundred and fifty grams of powdered sugar, fifteen drops of lemon juice, red food coloring, vegetable oil, file and heart template.
Preparing icing
The whites are gently mixed, but not beaten. Add powder gradually, without ceasing to stir, add lemon juice with red food coloring dissolved in it. Mix everything thoroughly until the color becomes uniform. The mass is transferred to a pastry envelope or bag with a nozzle and left for a while, covering the hole with a wet napkin so that it does not dry out.
Preparing the template
After we have looked at the recipe for icing for decorating cakes, we need to make a template. To do this, cut out a heart of the required size from cardboard. Using plasticine, they give it shape and volume. To do this, plasticine is placed on top of cardboard. Next, the template is placed in a file and pressed tightly so that all the air comes out. Under the cardboard, the file is assembled into a knot so that it lies flat and tight on the plasticine. The file is lubricated with vegetable oil.
Pattern Formation
Then a thick line is drawn along the contour, and then any pattern is made at your discretion. These can be intertwined lines, squares, ovals, etc. The finished icing is left to dry for one night. Then they begin to carefully remove it so as not to break or crush it. Having made two such hearts, they are glued together, the same icing is used for this, and the decorations are set back to dry.
Icing lace in fifteen minutes
Ingredients: one protein, two hundred grams of powdered sugar, half a spoon of citric acid. Equipment: olive oil, scraper, silicone mat with patterns, sponge.
Preparation
The icing recipe for lace is no different from the one we discussed above. To do this, the egg white is mixed (but not beaten) with sugar and citric acid. Stir until a thick mass is obtained.
Making lace
The egg mass is distributed over the entire surface of the mat, removing excess. Then everything is placed in a preheated oven and baked for three or five minutes, depending on the type of oven. After time, the finished lace is carefully removed and patterns are made from it as desired. You can decorate the cake with it by attaching it to the sides. You can make all sorts of figures - it all depends on the imagination of the cook.
As you can see, this cake icing recipe is very fast. The lace is ready in fifteen minutes, so you can save time for preparing other holiday dishes.
Beautiful figures from icing
Ingredients: one egg, two hundred grams of powdered sugar, one teaspoon of citric acid.
Making icing (recipe): master class
Beat the egg whites with a fork until a light foam appears. Then add powdered sugar in portions, rubbing the mixture until smooth, and then add citric acid, continuing to stir. You should get a homogeneous, stable protein mass with a thick consistency. Add food coloring if desired. The icing is ready! As it turned out, everything is quite simple. It must be transferred to a pastry bag.
Jewelry making
Balls of the required size are inflated and lubricated with vegetable oil using a brush; olive oil is best in this case. They begin to apply the ornament on top. Once the patterns are applied, the ball is hung to dry. It should hang like this for about a day.
After time has passed, the ball is pierced with a needle and removed from the sugar figure. These sweet balls, which are prepared, can be used to decorate cakes or Christmas compositions.
Lastly...
Thus, it is not difficult to make flexible icing, the recipe for which we already know. Using sugar mass you can create not only lace and balls, but also candlesticks, butterflies, snowflakes and more. This requires only stencils, which can easily be found in children's coloring books. Working with stencils is quite simple, you just need to apply ready-made icing on them and then dry it. Large parts can be glued together using the same icing.
Royal icing is the most popular decoration for various confectionery products. With its help, real masterpieces are created. Patterns that seem to be woven from thin lace look delicious on cakes, gingerbread cookies, pastries and cookies. Decorating confectionery products with icing is an interesting activity. This requires only a pastry bag, blanks with drawings, a plastic bag, olive oil, egg mass, as well as the desire and imagination of the cook. Undoubtedly, every cook will be able to create his own masterpiece that everyone will like.
Traditionally, homemade cakes are decorated with cream, nuts, and grated chocolate. But truly inspired chefs go further and strive to perfect not only the taste, but also the appearance of their baked goods. One of the most delightful ways is to create your own lace on the cake. Any baked goods with this design turns into a masterpiece!
At first glance, making lace on a cake at home is a difficult task. But those who have already mastered this art assure that everything is much simpler than it seems. “Cozy Kitchen” offers several recipes for craftswomen who want to learn how to make royal icing for cakes. It will give your baked goods a regal look!
Icing turns baking into a true masterpiece. 
Icing can be applied using a stencil or by hand.
Is the icing for cookies the same as for cake lace?
Traditional icing, which is made from egg whites and powdered sugar, takes a long time to dry and is not flexible. In order to prepare durable and flexible lace for the cake, a slightly different recipe is used.
The easiest way is to purchase a ready-made mixture of Merletti or SugarVeil. But their price is significant, and training on such raw materials is a sure way to discourage a novice master. However, experienced home confectioners who know how to read the ingredients on the label and in the certificate were able to create their own recipe and told how to make lace on a cake at home. And even if the names of the ingredients don’t mean anything to you, you can buy them, mix them, and get great results!
Ready-made mixtures are the simplest option for making lace on a cake. 
Unlike classic icing, cake lace has plasticity - it can be bent and draped. 
Lace on a cake can turn into three-dimensional shapes. Homemade lace cake recipes
Option 1, with regular egg white:
First of all, you need to prepare a “strategic mixture”:
- 35 gr. - xanthan gum (you can buy it in stores that sell soap-making products);
- 30 gr. — starch (ideally corn);
- 104 gr. - this ingredient has a very wide range in the food industry; it can be purchased online or in specialized sports nutrition and molecular gastronomy stores).
Having measured out the required amount of components, you need to mix them well. The resulting powder will be enough for about 100-110 uses. As practice has shown, it is stored perfectly, not requiring special conditions other than the absence of moisture.
Once you remove the cake lace from the silicone mat, you can use it as a whole or cut out individual pieces. Now, when you need to make lace on the cake with your own hands, you need to mix:
- 1.5 gr. "strategic mixture" of maltodextrin, xanthan gum and starch,
- 33 gr. egg white (When separating, be careful not to let the yolk leak! Even the slightest drop will ruin everything!),
- 2 gr. glucose (a coffee spoon without a slide),
- 42 gr. sugar (sand will also work, but it is best to use sifted powder).
After mixing everything thoroughly, leave the mixture to “distance” for 10-15 minutes. Then heat in a water bath until the dry ingredients are completely dissolved. To bring the mixture to homogeneity, beat for 2-3 minutes.
Now feel free to spread the prepared icing mat with the resulting protein mass (don’t forget to coat it with olive oil first).
By adding dry food coloring to the mixture, you can get colored lace on the cake. You can dry homemade cake lace outdoors. But it’s faster and more reliable in the oven. To do this, preheat the oven to 130-150 o C and place the filled mat in it for 10-15 minutes. Remove cake lace from the mat only after complete cooling!
Option 2, with dry protein:
If you are thinking about how to make lace on a cake exactly like industrial manufacturers, use albumin - dried egg white. Once you have purchased it, connect:
- 4.2 gr. “strategic mixture” (maltodextrin + starch + xanthan gum),
- 125 gr. sifted powdered sugar,
- 14 gr. albumin.
Of the resulting 143.2 g. of this mixture, in order to make lace on a cake once, you will need only 30 grams. Rest should not be stored for a long time so that the workpiece does not cake and lose its properties. So:
- 30 gr. We dilute the icing mixture in 18 grams of very hot (but not boiling) water. Mix thoroughly, beat, spread on a mat and dry.
The art of creating cake lace at home is accessible to everyone. Lace for a cake made with your own hands in this way is no different in quality from that made from a store-bought mixture, but is much more affordable. But this is important both for those who are just learning how to decorate their baked goods, and for those who have already achieved true mastery in this art.
By creating lace on a cake with your own hands, you will delight others not only with the taste, but also with the design of your baked goods. 
A cake decorated with lace and voluminous icing figures will become the “star” of the festive table. There are many more ways to make lace on a cake. The recipes that “Cozy Kitchen” offered you today are the simplest. Stock up on the necessary ingredients, try, create and surprise others with your confectionery masterpieces!
Today it is very difficult to find a person who does not like sweet desserts, such as cakes. There are a large number of such recipes in cooking; they can be decorated with various patterns, inscriptions or icing. Probably not everyone knows what it is. Let's try to figure this out. So, translated from English, this term means “ice pattern.” And this is not surprising, since products made from it are similar to ice (in color and consistency). Icing, the recipe for which we will definitely learn today, makes it possible to create extraordinary decorations not only for desserts, but also for various dishes. Properly made, it has a matte finish and enormous strength. So, let's try to understand this issue in more detail.
What is "icing"?
Icing is a plastic thick mass of sugar and proteins used to create confectionery decorations that have volume. Usually this mass is white, but with the help of food coloring it can be given any shade. Icing, the recipe for which will be given below, is made by rubbing powdered sugar with fresh egg white. Lemon juice or acid, glucose syrup, glycerin, etc. are added to this mixture.
Working with icing
To work with flexible mass, pre-prepared templates are required, for example, drawings on paper or ready-made contours. Place cling film on such a drawing or place it in a file. In this case, it is not recommended to use parchment or tracing paper, since the icing sticks very strongly to them and then does not come off. So, the film is lubricated with a layer of olive oil (this is important!). Fresh protein mass is placed in a pastry envelope or syringe. At the same time, it should not be liquid so that it does not spread along the contours of the picture. A thick mixture, on the contrary, will be difficult to squeeze out of the envelope. However, in this case, you can sculpt from it in the same way as plasticine.
All elements of the drawing should not be thick. If you want to get multi-colored icing, the recipe for which is very simple, add food coloring to the mixture. You can also apply the mixture to the finished cooled confectionery product, for example, cookies or gingerbread, chocolate glaze. Do not apply it to biscuits or other non-dry surfaces. Only finished icing decorations are placed on them before serving. So, the film with a pattern is dried for about three days. Then the jewelry is carefully removed.
Openwork icing decorations
In this case, a mass of protein and sugar, that is, icing, the recipe for which is attached, is placed on small balloons; they must first be inflated and lubricated with oil. After the pattern has dried, the ball is simply deflated and removed from the product. This must be done carefully, as the resulting products are very fragile. It is recommended to make them with a small margin. A broken part can be glued using egg white mixed with powdered sugar. Store such jewelry at room temperature in a box. Let's take a closer look at the homemade icing recipe.
Icing heart
Ingredients: twenty grams of egg white, one hundred and fifty grams of powdered sugar, fifteen drops of lemon juice, red food coloring, vegetable oil, file and heart template.
Preparing icing
The whites are gently mixed, but not beaten. Add powder gradually, without ceasing to stir, add lemon juice with red food coloring dissolved in it. Mix everything thoroughly until the color becomes uniform. The mass is transferred to a pastry envelope or bag with a nozzle and left for a while, covering the hole with a wet napkin so that it does not dry out.
Preparing the template
After we have looked at the recipe for icing for decorating cakes, we need to make a template. To do this, cut out a heart of the required size from cardboard. Using plasticine, they give it shape and volume. To do this, plasticine is placed on top of cardboard. Next, the template is placed in a file and pressed tightly so that all the air comes out. Under the cardboard, the file is assembled into a knot so that it lies flat and tight on the plasticine. The file is lubricated with vegetable oil.
Pattern Formation
Then a thick line is drawn along the contour, and then any pattern is made at your discretion. These can be intertwined lines, squares, ovals, etc. The finished icing is left to dry for one night. Then they begin to carefully remove it so as not to break or crush it. Having made two such hearts, they are glued together, the same icing is used for this, and the decorations are set back to dry.
Icing lace in fifteen minutes
Ingredients: one protein, two hundred grams of powdered sugar, half a spoon of citric acid. Equipment: olive oil, scraper, silicone mat with patterns, sponge.
Preparation
The icing recipe for lace is no different from the one we discussed above. To do this, the egg white is mixed (but not beaten) with sugar and citric acid. Stir until a thick mass is obtained.
Making lace
The egg mass is distributed over the entire surface of the mat, removing excess. Then everything is placed in a preheated oven and baked for three or five minutes, depending on the type of oven. After time, the finished lace is carefully removed and patterns are made from it as desired. You can decorate the cake with it by attaching it to the sides. You can make all sorts of figures - it all depends on the imagination of the cook.
As you can see, this cake icing recipe is very fast. The lace is ready in fifteen minutes, so you can save time for preparing other holiday dishes.
Beautiful figures from icing
Ingredients: one egg, two hundred grams of powdered sugar, one teaspoon of citric acid.
Making icing (recipe): master class
Beat the egg whites with a fork until a light foam appears. Then add powdered sugar in portions, rubbing the mixture until smooth, and then add citric acid, continuing to stir. You should get a homogeneous, stable protein mass with a thick consistency. Add food coloring if desired. The icing is ready! As it turned out, everything is quite simple. It must be transferred to a pastry bag.
Jewelry making
Balls of the required size are inflated and lubricated with vegetable oil using a brush; olive oil is best in this case. They begin to apply the ornament on top. Once the patterns are applied, the ball is hung to dry. It should hang like this for about a day.
After time has passed, the ball is pierced with a needle and removed from the sugar figure. These sweet balls, which are prepared, can be used to decorate cakes or Christmas compositions.
Lastly...
Thus, it is not difficult to make flexible icing, the recipe for which we already know. Using sugar mass you can create not only lace and balls, but also candlesticks, butterflies, snowflakes and more. This requires only stencils, which can easily be found in children's coloring books. Working with stencils is quite simple, you just need to apply ready-made icing on them and then dry it. Large parts can be glued together using the same icing.
Royal icing is the most popular decoration for various confectionery products. With its help, real masterpieces are created. Patterns that seem to be woven from thin lace look delicious on cakes, gingerbread cookies, pastries and cookies. Decorating confectionery products with icing is an interesting activity. This requires only a pastry bag, blanks with drawings, a plastic bag, olive oil, egg mass, as well as the desire and imagination of the cook. Undoubtedly, every cook will be able to create his own masterpiece that everyone will like.
