Making icing sugar from raw sugar - just awful for icing cakes!

[~Narelle~]

Hi
we've had birthdays here of late and making the icing for the cakes from raw sugar is just horrible.  The icing tastes yuk and is also a nice brown colour.  Adding colouring results in yukky colours too.

Has anyone else found this?  I don't want to keep icing sugar but I tihnk I'll have to for icing purposes.

[em]

hi narelle
i found this my icing sugar was a yuk brown colour, but sorry i dont know why!  hope someone else can help you

[judydawn]

Have you tried white sugar to compare the difference?

[Chelsea (Thermie Groupie)]

I also hate buying icing sugar because of the bleach etc but still buy it occasionally just for special cakes.  Raw sugar icing certainly doesn't look as nice and the flavour isn't as sweet.  I generally add a generous splash of homemade vanilla extract in with my butter and hot water to disguise it.

[Sundari]

I found it was white and tasted great! Are you using a quality brand of raw sugar? The cheaper brands have stuff (can't think of the name) added back in and have a distinctive smell.

[Chelsea (Thermie Groupie)]

I use organic raw sugar - usually from my health food store and it isn't white when ground.  The coles organic brand seems whiter than most for some reason, but still won't go white when I grind it. What brand do you use Sundari? 

[Meagan]

Narelle if you use white sugar you will get fine white icing sugar

[quirkycooking]

I use Rapadura so my 'icing sugar' is very brown - I just make chocolate or caramel icings - disguises the colour and you don't need yukky food colouring... and tastes good too!

But our favourite icing is just chocolate hazelnut spread (I make mine dairy free with Rapadura: http://quirkycooking.blogspot.com/2009/10/chocolate-hazelnut-spread-dairy-free.html).  Just spread it onto the hot cake, and it melts and drizzles down the sides, then sets as it cools.  Yum!

Or I make this chocolate/carob icing which has no sugar, just honey (sorry, keep forgetting to write down grams for this recipe):

Combine all ingredients in Thermomix - 2 mins, 60 degrees, speed 2:
- 3 Tablespoons coconut oil or butter
- 1/2 cup carob chips or chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup honey (or rice malt syrup)
- 1/4 cup rice-almond milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract

Drizzle and spread over cake - it will get firm as it cools.

Of course, this won't help much if you're looking for coloured icing! 

[Tebasile]

I would colour it with cocoa powder or make it pink with red beet juice 

[Nay-nay]

I also use cocoa, beetroot juice or home made strawberry jam to colour the icing. I'm just happy for it to be healthy (as healthy as a cup cake can hope to be anyway.)   ;)

[Chelsea (Thermie Groupie)]

They are great suggestions.  Is the beetroot juice homemade?  Raw beetroot blitzted with water or the liquid from cooked beets??   

[Nay-nay]

I'm not sure what Tebasile uses but I have some sliced beetroot I bottled that I use the juice off. Even though it does have vinegar in it - sugar over powers it. I do prefer the jam mix though. 

[Tebasile]

Just blend raw beetroot between speed 5 and 7 and strain the pulp. 3 Tbsp. juice is enough for 150g sugar. I use a juicer as well 

[Thermomixer]

Thanks Tebasile - I do love my beetroot ( but not the mess it makes) 

[Depome]

Raw sugar contains lots of molasses I think, hence the colour of it's icing sugar counterpart.