The Perfect Gingerbread Kit-Royal Icing: Thanks To GenAI
I used GenAI to help engineer a rich, flavorful gingerbread house icing that tastes like the best store-bought frosting. It's time to ditch your plain sugar glaze.
Tis the season: the struggle is real! For years, my husband and I have talked about how when you buy a gingerbread house kit (the ones that come with icing, sprinkles, etc), the icing it comes with is the best. IYKYK. I know what you're thinking - you can buy additional icing to use BUT the icing outside of a kit isn't quite the same.
The Problems
- In the past, I tried Sally's Baking Addiction's royal icing recipe - a recipe I know others have had success with. It ended up too marshmallowy for what we were looking for. I think this is because I whipped the meringue powder the "correct" way, which in turn makes the icing marshmallowy and delicious (like real egg whites would when making meringue).
- This year I really wanted to start decorating cookies for the first time in prep for a night with our family decorating one of the trees. Time was NOT on my side as I only had two days to figure this out.
This is where I turned to Gemini (Google's Generative AI).
Conversing with GenAI
My 1st Prompt: Provide a recipe for gingerbread icing like you’d get in a kit at the store
Gemini's Response: Gemini provided a list of ingredients to make royal icing and instructions to make it.
My next thought: "Royal icing" just didn't see right for what I remember the icing being like. I decided to upload an image of an gingerbread kit's icing ingredients - maybe Gemini could uncover something I didn't understand
My 2nd Prompt: Review this image of the icing that I want for my gingerbread. It has the ingredients listed in this image. Tell me how to make this icing at home with simpler ingredients
Gemini's Response: Gemini provided a similar list of ingredients to make royal icing and instructions to make it.
My next thought: I sat back and wondered - if it is only royal icing that is used in gingerbread kits, why does homemade not taste like store bought?
My 3rd Prompt: Why is it when I make this at home? The flavor is different.
Gemini's Response: Gemini outlined the differences between commercial and home processes to make the icing. It also included three alternative ingredients to try to achieve a "store bought" flavor.
After Gemini's final response, I had a lightbulb moment. A few years ago, I took an online class from Christina Tosi (famously known for the bakery Milk Bar in the US), and she educated that clear vanilla extract is one of the key ingredients needed to produce a "store bought" like flavor when baking at home. And not surprisingly, clear vanilla extract was one of the final ingredients Gemini had suggested to try.
Testing My Solution
Before getting started on making a royal icing recipe, I had one other thought: I don't want it too marshmallowy. Many recipes use three or more tablespoons of meringue powder and this is exactly what I want to avoid. BUT meringue powder contains flavor that would be missed without including it. So I took a risk, kept the meringue powder, but reduced the amount to one tablespoon.
Things to know before getting started
This icing will be thick! Cover until ready to use or it will form a crust. To create the right consistency for decorating, I recommend adding the thick icing into a small bowl and adding 1 tsp of water per cup of icing (mix well with spatula) until desired consistency is achieved:
- 10-15 seconds: dropping the icing on itself, it should level out again within 10-15 seconds. Good flooding consistency.
- 20 seconds: dropping the icing on itself, it should level out again within 20 seconds. Good flooding and outlining consistency. Some cookie artists prefer to only use this consistency for flooding and outlining as it reduces effort.
With Gemini's help, I pieced together what ingredients are actually in store bought gingerbread icing and what ingredients I should try to make the flavor right. Evaluating Gemini's responses allowed me to continue the conversation and discover key information I needed to be successful.
I knew what I wanted but didn't exactly know how to get there myself, and the 10,000 recipes online couldn't give me the insight I needed. This is how GenAI tools can be so powerful! Are the ingredients the same as other recipes? Yep. Is the ratio of ingredients different than others I have seen online? Yep. And yet I now have a recipe that may not be the same as the real thing - but is good enough for me!
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