Royal Icing Recipe and Tips (2024)

FAQs

How do you get the perfect consistency of royal icing? ›

When you mix the royal icing, keep your mixer on medium-low speed (I use speed 2 on my stand mixer) and mix the icing for no more than 5 minutes. The icing should hold a stiff peak and have a thick and creamy consistency. It looks a lot like softened cream cheese.

Outlining-consistency icing should squeeze easily out of a #2 pastry tip, stay in place, and hold its shape on the cookie when it lands. If the icing is too stiff, it will be hard to squeeze.

The trick I use to make sure my icing is at the right consistency, is called the “10 second rule“. Drag a butter knife through the surface of your royal icing and count to 10. If the icing surface becomes smooth in anywhere between 5-10 seconds, then your icing is ready to use.

One of the main keys to shiny icing is getting that icing to dry quickly. The faster the icing dries, the shinier it will be. One simple method to faster drying is to just aim a fan at your drying cookies. I like to aim the airflow so that it passes evenly over my cookie sheet, not directly down at a particular cookie.

Undermix, and your royal icing looks translucent and is structurally weak. Overwhip, and you're giving too much volume to the egg proteins via air, causing the structure to weaken in a different way. Overmixed icing usually looks porous when dry, and sometimes will not even fully dry and be soft/brittle.

The icing consistency can be adjusted at any stage of the decorating process simply by stirring in sifted powdered sugar to thicken, or water to thin. Remember, at this stage, it is important to gently stir in (not whip on the mixer) any additional water.

A touch of glycerine in royal icing adds shine and prevents your icing setting hard and dry. This makes it far easier to apply to cakes, and guarantees a nice smooth cut when slicing. Add 1 tsp of glycerine for every 500g of icing sugar for a softer set and 2 tsp per 500g for a nice glossy finish.

Royal Icing needs at least 6-8 hours of drying time to thoroughly harden so that it can be touched or moved without creating imperfections. After about 30 minutes to an hour, a thin crust will begin to form on the top of the royal icing.

Start with a base icing that has white gel added to it. Uncolored royal icing has an off-white natural tinge and is more likely to allow bleed and absorb color. Add white gel to your base to act as a stabilizer to prevent color bleed right off the bat. The biggest culprit in color bleed is usually oversaturated color.

There are three main types of royal icing: stiff consistency, piping consistency, and flood consistency. They are used for different decorating techniques, although sometimes you can use different consistencies to achieve the same result.

Why is my royal icing not drying hard? ›

Royal icing needs a nice temperate environment to dry completely and/or at the usual pace. You have placed the cookies in an airtight container BEFORE they are dry. Yes, you heard that right! You should NOT put royal icing cookies in an airtight container until they're completely dry.

The icing will turn light and fluffy like marshmallow fluff if it has enough moisture. Be careful not to add too much water though because it is difficult to make the icing thicker again.

Corn syrup helps give shine and also a soft-bite to your icing. Without corn syrup, your royal icing can be as hard as a rock, and no one wants to chip a tooth on a cookie. I use 1 Tablespoon of Karo Light Corn Syrup in my icing recipe.

A: Bad tasting icing is very disappointing. It is likely caused by bad powdered sugar or vanilla extract.

For richer, more vibrant colors, allow the first attempt to sit for at least 30 minutes before adding more drops of Gel Colors. Always remember, as royal icing dries - it does deepen and intensify! So it's best to stop a shade lighter than your desired tone.

Keep in mind that the longer you beat the royal icing, the thicker it becomes. If your royal icing is too thin, just keep beating it to introduce more air OR you can add more sifted confectioners' sugar.

The more water you add, the more runny your icing becomes, the less water you add, the firmer it is. Firm textures of icing, like the really stiff straight out of the mixer kind, are typically used for things like flowers, piping thin lines, and piping fine details.

The glycerin is the not-so-secret ingredient that keeps the icing from being rock hard. You can find it in the baking section at craft stores or online. The purpose of the white food coloring is to make the icing a pleasant bright white instead of off white.

It sound like your icing needs to be thicker. Sift in a tablespoon more icing sugar and stir well. Test it in the bowl so make sure it will form a peak that holds. If it doesen't, sift in some more icing sugar, stir and test again until it does.