Finding the perfect gift is an innate skill. You are either born with the gift of giving wonderful presents, or must call in reinforcements for every present-giving occasion. Yet there’s one category of gift that always receives a positive reception: the edible kind.
From hampers to luxury chocolate boxes whose tins will inevitably be reused to house sewing kits , you can’t go wrong with a sweet treat. The rise in decorative iced biscuits, alongside overly iced coquette-core heart-shaped cakes, has revealed a particular trend towards aesthetically pleasing desserts. Gone are the days of messy chocolate lava cakes and endearingly mispelled buttercream icing.
The world of dessert gifting has moved onto skilfully crafted, patisserie-level sweet treats. The search for iced biscuit designs on TikTok has garnered an impressive 10 million views, while the hashtag #CookieDecorating has a whopping 3.1 billion views.
Results vary from hyper-realistic cookies depicting celebrities and memorable monuments in capital cities to sets of luxurious biscuits which spell out a hidden message. To create these intricate designs, bakers use royal icing. This is because it dries hard with a smooth and shiny finish, while remaining entirely mouldable and can also be used to create three-dimensional designs such as flowers and other botanicals.
Made from egg whites and powdered sugar, royal icing serves as the perfect sweet compliment to an opulent cookie or biscuit without overwhelming the flavo.
