A cake doesn’t need buttercream to taste festive. While cream cheese icing and cream-laden ganache are no-nos, there are plenty of luxury frostings and icings suitable for dairy-free diets.
Lemon Icing
This very simple icing made with lemon juice and icing sugar complements the flavour of banana cakes and gingerbread cookies. The icing can be spread, but dries hard and holds its shape well when piped. It can also be tinted with food colourings.
To make lemon icing, simply sift 1 cup of icing sugar into a bowl and add 1 Tbsp pure lemon juice. Add more icing sugar or lemon juice as needed to reach the desired consistency.
Royal Icing
Less lemony-tasting than lemon icing, royal icing is made with beaten egg whites as well as lemon juice or citric acid and icing sugar. As the mixture is not cooked royal icing should not be served to those for whom eating raw egg products is unsafe. Using pasteurised egg whites eliminates this issue.
Royal icing is loved by cake decorators for its easy-to-tint pure white colour and versatile texture. Fluffy like meringue, royal icing can form fluffy peaks on a cupcake or be smoothed into sleekness on a wedding cake. The mixture can also be used for precision piping, and sets hard.
To make royal icing:
- Beat one egg white in a grease-free bowl until soft peaks form
- Gradually beat in 1 ½ cups icing sugar and ¼ tsp citric acid or 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- Continue beating until stiff.
- Keep royal icing covered when not in use, as the surface will dry out rapidly.
Dairy-Free Chocolate Ganache
Chocolate ganache is traditionally made by melting together equal parts of chocolate and cream or chocolate and butter. A dairy-free alternative is to use pure plain chocolate – ensuring the chocolate itself is dairy-free – and add a small amount of coconut oil. The coconut oil softens the melted chocolate and prevents it from completely hardening.
Ganache can be drizzled when freshly made, chilled to whipping or spreading consistency, or chilled and then piped. Whipped ganache is paler and fluffier than spread or piped ganache.
Fondant (Roll-Out Icing) and Marzipan (Almond Paste)
It’s worthwhile to check ingredient labels, but many brands of ready-to-roll fondant and marzipan are dairy-free. Fondant is usually based on glucose and sugar, and almond paste contains a base of ground almonds. While fondant and marzipan are traditionally used for formal cakes such as wedding or christening cakes, there’s no reason they can’t be used to decorate informal cakes or even cupcakes. Both icings are easily tinted and can be used to make moulded decorations such as flowers or figures.
Jam Glaze
For a sticky, shiny glaze for fruit buns and sponge cakes, warm a few tablespoons of apricot or raspberry jam in the microwave. Thin with a few drops of lemon juice or sherry if necessary and brush over the cake while hot.
For a more comprehensive description of various frostings, see Different Types of Icing.
Sarah Tennant - Sarah Tennant is a onetime English major who lives in New Zealand with her husband and two small children. Her interests range from ...
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