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If you’re building a gingerbread house this year, royal icing is the glue that holds the whole thing together. This simple icing goes from a bowl of powdered sugar to a sturdy, fast-drying “cement” that keeps walls standing and roofs in place, with just a few minutes of mixing.
Royal icing is made with powdered sugar, water, and either meringue powder or egg whites, depending on what you have on hand or your comfort level with raw eggs. It dries rock hard, which is exactly what you want for a gingerbread house that needs to actually stay together. When the icing is done, you can view my master gingerbread house recipe with 2 free templates here. You can also make a haunted gingerbread house for Halloween!
Table of Contents
What is Royal Icing?
Royal icing is a hard-drying icing made from powdered sugar, water, and either meringue powder or egg whites. It’s the traditional choice for building and decorating gingerbread houses because it dries rock hard, holding walls, roofs, and candy decorations firmly in place.
Key Takeaways
- Don’t be nervous if you are new to royal icing. It is easy to make and work with and really forgiving.
- Royal icing can be dyed, but I leave it white because it looks pretty and doubles as snow! Don’t worry about using too much icing or “messing” up because it will just look like a snowdrift or icicles.
- This recipe provides two methods for making royal icing, using meringue powder or egg whites, giving you flexibility based on your preferences and ingredients.
- Whether you’re assembling a gingerbread house or decorating cookies, this recipe’s adaptable consistency makes it ideal for a variety of festive baking projects.
Ingredient Notes
- Powdered Sugar – Also called confectioner’s sugar; this is the base of the icing.
- Meringue Powder – Pasteurized powdered egg whites.
- Egg Whites – An alternative to meringue powder if you’d rather use fresh eggs.
- Water – Adjust the amount gradually to control the icing’s thickness.
See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities
How to Make Royal Icing
Royal Icing with Meringue Powder:
Step 1. Mix powdered sugar and meringue powder in a bowl with 10 tablespoons of water.
Step 2. If making with egg whites, mix egg whites and powdered sugar in a bowl with 5 tablespoons of water.
Step 3. Beat with a mixer until well incorporated and shiny, adjusting water for desired consistency.
Step 4. Keep the icing covered with a wet towel or plastic wrap to prevent hardening when not in use.
Pro Tips for the Best Royal Icing for Gingerbread Houses
- You can have no leftover grease in your bowls, on your spoons, or in your icing bags. I keep separate icing bags just for royal icing because buttercream is so hard to clean off the plastic.
- Make sure there is no trace of egg yolk if you are using egg whites in your icing. That little bit of fat, either from the yolk or leftover on your bowls, will ruin the batch of icing and keep it from setting up properly.
- You can use raw egg whites or pasteurized egg whites depending on what you are comfortable with.
- The icing should be thick enough to hold its shape but still manageable to stir with a spoon. If the icing is too thick, add water gradually; if too thin, add more powdered sugar.
- When you are ready to put your house together, put about 2 cups of your royal icing in a piping bag or a good quality freezer zipper-topped plastic bag. Use a frosting tip that is about ½ inch wide, or cut about ½ inch off the tip of one corner of your baggie. If the hole is too small, it’s really hard to get the icing to come out. I use this bigger tip for assembling the house and move to a smaller tip when I’m ready to add decorations and candy.
- When not in use, cover the icing with a wet dish towel or press plastic wrap directly onto its surface to prevent it from hardening.
Variations and Substitutions
- Meringue Powder vs. Egg Whites – Use whichever you have on hand or feel more comfortable using; both work equally well.
- Decorating Cookies – This same recipe doubles as a sturdy icing for decorated sugar cookies or gingerbread cookies.
- Tinting the Icing – While it’s traditionally left white, it can be tinted with food coloring for details.
Frequently Asked Questions
Royal icing will be best if used within 3 days of it being made. Make sure to store in an airtight container, or it will dry out and harden and be unusable. I have storage tips and tricks in the recipe.
Royal icing will take 20-30 minutes to begin to harden, but it won’t be fully dry for a couple of hours.
Buttercream icing is buttery and delicious, but it won’t hold a gingerbread house together. Royal icing is king for gingerbread house construction. However, you can use buttercream frosting for embellishments if you wish, though I never do because who wants to make two recipes of icing when one works just fine?
It’s not recommended. The fat in milk can prevent the icing from hardening.
This recipe makes about 4 cups, enough for one small to medium house. For multiple houses, consider doubling the batch rather than making several individual batches.
What to Pair with Royal Icing
How to Make a Gingerbread House (with 2 FREE Templates!)
Best Candy for Gingerbread Houses
The Perfect Icing for Gingerbread Cookies
Haunted Halloween Gingerbread House
Storage Tips
Royal icing is best used within 3 days of making it. Store it in an airtight container to prevent it from drying out and hardening before you’re ready to use it. It does not need to be reheated, but it does need to be stored away from air exposure in between uses.
More Frosting Recipes to Consider
Simple Gingerbread Recipes
The Perfect Icing for Gingerbread Cookies
Cut Out Cookies
Sugar Cookie Icing Recipe for Perfect Holiday Decorating
Frosting Recipes
Caramel Cake Frosting
Frosting Recipes
Peanut Butter Frosting
Royal icing might seem intimidating at first if you’ve never made it before, but it’s genuinely simple once you get the hang of it. Whether you’re building a gingerbread house for the first time or the tenth time, this icing will hold it all together beautifully.
Did you make this recipe? Leave a ⭐️ review and share it on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest!
Royal Icing for Gingerbread Houses
Ingredients
For the royal icing using meringue powder:
- 8 cups powdered sugar, confectioner's sugar (2 pound)
- 6 tablespoons meringue powder
- 10-15 tablespoons water, roughly 3/4 to 1 cup
For the royal icing using egg whites:
- 8 cups powdered sugar, confectioner's sugar (2 pound)
- 3 egg whites
- 5-10 tablespoons water, roughly 1/2 to 3/4 cup
Instructions
To make royal icing with meringue powder:
- Add your powdered sugar and meringue powder to a large mixing bowl. Add 10 tablespoons of water to the bowl.
- Use a stand mixer or a hand mixer to beat until well incorporated. If the icing is very crumbly, add more water, 1 tablespoon at a time until it creates a thick but smooth icing. I normally end up adding 4 more tablespoons of water and sometimes the full 5, it'll depend on how you measured your powdered sugar though.
- Beat until the icing is shiny, about 6-8 minutes with a stand mixer and 8-10 minutes with with a hand mixture.
- The icing should be thick but not so thick you can't stir it with a spoon. Adjust the constancy as needed.
- When you aren't working with your royal icing place a clean wet dish towel over the top of the icing so that it doesn't start to harden. You can also press a piece of plastic wrap against the top of the icing.
To make royal icing with egg whites:
- Add your egg whites and powdered sugar to a large mixing bowl. Add 5 tablespoons of water to the bowl.
- Use a stand mixer or a hand mixer to beat until well incorporated. If the icing is very crumbly, add more water, 1 tablespoon at a time until it creates a thick but smooth icing. I normally end up adding 4 more tablespoons of water and sometimes the full 5, it'll depend on how you measured your powdered sugar though.
- Beat until the icing is shiny, about 6-8 minutes with a stand mixer and 8-10 minutes with with a hand mixture.
- The icing should be thick but not so thick you can't stir it with a spoon. Adjust the constancy as needed.
- When you aren't working with your royal icing place a clean wet dish towel over the top of the icing so that it doesn't start to harden. You can also press a piece of plastic wrap against the top of the icing.
Notes
- You can have NO LEFTOVER GREASE in your bowls, on your spoons, or in your icing bags. I keep separate icing bags just for royal icing because buttercream is so hard to clean off the plastic. You can also have NO TRACE OF EGG YOLK if you are using egg whites in your icing. That little bit of fat, either from the yolk or leftover on your bowls will ruin the batch of icing and keep it from setting up properly. You’ll only make this mistake once!
- The goal for the icing is for it to be thick but not so thick that you can’t get it to pipe out of your bag. If it’s too thick you can’t work with it, and if it’s too thin it doesn’t work either. I go for an icing that I can stir relatively easy with a metal teaspoon but the spoon will also stand up in the icing in the bowl.
- When you are ready to put your house together, put about 2 cups of your royal icing in a piping bag or a good quality freezer zipper-topped plastic bag. Use a frosting tip that is about ½ inch wide circle or cut about ½ inch off the tip of one corner of your baggie. If the hole is too small it’s really hard to get the icing to come out. I do this bigger tip for assembling the house and move to a smaller tip when I’m ready to add decorations and candy.
- You can use raw egg whites or pasteurized eggs whites depending on what you are comfortable with.
- Get my gingerbread house recipe here (with 2 free house templates you can just print out!)
- Need candy ideas for decorating your house? Here’s the best candies for gingerbread houses.
This is a good recipe
I think you forgot to include cream of tartar in the royal icing with egg white recipe. That may be why it doesn’t hold up.
I’m not really sure what I did wrong but the icing didn’t get nearly as tight as I wanted it to.
You just added too much water. Did you read all of the tips and tricks for knowing the amount you need?
I am making 4Xsmall gingerbread houses using your templates and recipe, how much icing should I make? I am afraid to quadruple this, seems like it would be too much!
I’d just do a double batch!
Using the ratios provided (egg whites), it was incredibly runny. I needed to add another 2 cups of powdered sugar. Even then, it couldn’t stand up my gingerbread house.
Hanna, I’m so sorry. I think this recipe got edited wrong because it needs 2 pounds of powdered, not the 1. I just made it today again. I hope you try again.. not sure what happened there.
If I’m giving this to a friend to decorate a gingerbread house, how should I package the icing for them so it wouldn’t harden before they use it?
Yes! You’ll want it fully covered, so like in a tupperware with plastic wrap all the way touching the top or in a piping bag that isn’t cut open on the tip and is tightly sealed.
I’m not really sure what I did wrong but the icing didn’t get nearly as tight as I wanted it to.
I did fresh egg whites with the 5 tbsp water and ended up adding more sugar but it never held for me.
Could have been the organic sugar. I don’t know what happened.
The gingerbread house turned out fantastic, google images worthy, just not what I had originally intended. All in all a good recipe.
Thanks for sharing!
I use organic sugar with this recipe, it’s probably just too much water. And did you beat it until it was no longer shiny?
If you make the day before, do you need to refrigerate? I am using pasteurized egg whites from carton. Thank you.
Yep, just make sure it’s covered really really well so it doesn’t start to harden!
Can we use milk instead of water?
The fat in the milk can inhibit the icing from hardening properly, I wouldn’t.