As appreciation for your interest, were giving you free, unlimited access to The New Essentials of French Cooking. Weve saved the recipes from this guide to your Recipe Box for easy access anytime you visit. As appreciation for your interest, were giving you free, unlimited access to The New Essentials of French Cooking. Best Way To Cook Corn On The Cob. Weve saved the recipes from this guide to your Recipe Box for easy access anytime you visit. As appreciation for your interest, were giving you free, unlimited access to The New Essentials of French Cooking. Weve saved the recipes from this guide to your Recipe Box for easy access anytime you visit. Royal Icing Recipe Gingerbread House Glue. Royal icing is the edible glue or mortar that holds a gingerbread house together. It also is used to make fancy sugar decorations. Royal icing got its name from being used to cover fruitcake to keep it moist. Fruitcakes were, and still are, the traditional wedding cake of English royalty. If the gingerbread house and royal icing will be eaten after it has served its decorative purpose, I prefer to use pasteurized fresh egg whites now available at grocery stores in cartons instead of meringue powder because the result is smoother and it has better stickability. Make sure the egg whites are at room temperature for better volume and are careful not to overwhip your royal icing, or it will crack as it dries and your house will collapse. The best and easiest way to use royal icing is to transfer it to a piping or pastry bag. The piping bag makes it much easier to get into corners when assembling the gingerbread house and allows for more exact placement of candy decorations and icicles and curlicues. This recipe makes enough royal icing for assembling and decorating 1 Gingerbread House. Gingerbread House Icing© 2017