How to make royal icing

Posted on May 8th, 2008 in Cake Tips, Tutorials

How to make Royal Icing

I have received many questions about how I make my royal icing. When I make my royal icing I make it with eggwhites (pasturized) only because meringue powder or dried eggwhite powder is not commen use here in Denmark. Some of the cake decorating shops may have it though but I stick to the eggwhites.

If you do know how to make royal icing but are having trouble getting it runny for flooding your cookies then take a look at the photos maybe they can be helpful to acchive the smooth look on a flooded cookie. I can tell that I always start out with a stiff royal icing and then I thin it down with water to either soft for piping and runny for flooding.

Always remember to cover up your royal icing with either cling film or a wet cloth as this will prevent the royal icing to dry out. Also if your icing gets too thick add water or if it is too wet add more icing sugar. So here is the tutorial on how to make royal icing.

This is what I use:
2 eggwhites
2 lb icing sugar sifted (Not all may be used)
1 tsp lemon juice
Large bowl
Handheld mixer with hooks or kitchen mixer with paddle attachment
Cling film

Step 1:

Combine eggwhites and lemon juice in a large bowl. Add some of the sifted icing sugar to the mixture and start the mixer.

How to make Royal icing

Step 2:
Keep adding icing sugar a little at a time. When the mixture looks like thick whipped cream and makes soft peaks when you push down the hooks/paddle in it, you can use it for piping.

Step 3:
When you have the soft peak icing, you start to only add 2 tbsp of icing sugar at a time because from now on the icing will get more and more stiff. When you can pull out small stif peaks the icing is ready. Cover the icing with cling film and a lid or wet cloth and store it in the fridge.

Runny icing:
If you want to make runny icing for flooding cookies or making run-outs then take some royal icing (stiff made) into a bowl and start mixing it with water, a few drops at the time. Continue this until the icing it thin and liquid. It should be smoothing out when you lift the spoon. The mixing with the water will most likely cause many air bubbles in the icing, so it is always good to cover up the icing and let it “rest” for 30 min. Then give it a slow stir and you have reduced the amount of air bubbles in your icing.

I hope you can use this :-)

Happy Caking

Louise

Related Posts with Thumbnails

177 Comments to “How to make royal icing”

  1. Thank you Louise! Perfect timing: I’m going to prepare a cake for my boyfriend’s mom and I did not know wich coating I could use. I will try your royal icing: the tutorial is really detailed and the pictures are really helpful!! Thank you very much :-)

    Paola

  2. Thanks for this…I didn’t know the best way to do royal icing was to use handheld mixer with hooks…and the problems with bubbles…maybe is for this reason that my royal icing is always not smooth at all..

  3. Thanks Louise for the great tutorial, as always !

  4. Thank you Lousie for this ultrausefull post
    I really didn’t know where to start with this icing so I appreciate your help and expecially the photos that really clear up my mind!
    Thank you from the bottom of my heart
    Silvia

  5. Thanks Louise for posting this! I’m going to start icing 300 cookies today, so this was perfect timing! I enjoy seeing all that you do. I’m learning loads from you!

  6. Thanks, Louise. This is a lot of help.

  7. Thanks again!

  8. Thanks, Louise. Excellent directions. Only one question: how do you pasturized the egg whites?

  9. Do you pasteurize the egg whites yourself? And if so, how? Thanks!

  10. Thanks so much for this Louise! I cant wait to try this out! I think Ill like using the egg whites rather than the Meringue Powder. The pictures help alot too! Hugs!

  11. Thank you for this, Louise…today I have just prepared some cookies for a wedding. I would like to show you them, they are no excellent, but I think good. You always helps us.
    Paola, Roma

  12. Thank you so much! I’ve attempted numerous cookie icing recipes but none ever seem to come out as beautifully as yours. I look forward to trying this! :)

  13. Dear Louise, thanks so much for the fantastic photos and tutorial. I’m sending you work off to several friends. Lovely to have you out there.
    Cheers, Geraldine

  14. Thanks Louise. Well done!
    Geraldine

  15. So nice to hear that many found the tutorial usefull. About the pasturized eggwhites I get those from the grocery store. Using raw egg products in non cooked food is different around the world. Here we use pasturized egg product for things there wont be cooked/baked over 75C.

    So if you cant get pasturized eggwhites then use dried eggwhite powder.

    Paola: I would love to see them. Can you send them to me??

    Thanks!

  16. Hi Louise, I have been avoiding doing anything with RI as it is humid here in Hawaii & we have a good amount of rain. I know RI will just melt away, but was wondering if there is anything I could add to it to stop this or at least delay it happening. Any ideas would be welcome. Thanks
    June

  17. Louise… Thanks A lot you don’t know how I appreciate this!!!
    I’ll be trying it out very soon!
    Thanks again…and I hope my cookies look just like yours!!!
    Greeting from Caracas,

  18. What a great tutorial on royal icing! Now whenever people send me questions about it I will send them your way!

  19. Tak Louise! Your site always inspires me! We have nearly 100% humidity here in Florida and I know that I have to turn our air conditioner on about 65 degrees to get the kind of results I want from royal icing. I have never been to Hawaii, June, but I think if you have A/C you can get professional results!
    Have fun everyone!
    Andi

  20. Hi, Louise, thank you very much for the tutorial, the pictures are very very helpful to get the ideal consistency for each steps…

  21. June: I had to ask one of my friends she gave me this recipe for a RI with gum arabic. She have not tried it yet but told me that it is used by Geraldine Randlesome. It should dry very hard up so maybe you should try just to use a smaller amount of the gum arabic and see how it work?

    8-10 oz confectioner’s sugar
    1 egg white
    1/4 t gum arabic
    1/4 t glucose

    Mix glucose with egg white, Gradually add sugar with gum arab., one Tablespoon at a time, whisking by hand.
    Continue mixing by hand…should take about 20minutes to mix properly

    Do let me know how it was….

    Louise

  22. Hi Louise,

    Found your blog when I’m doing some research on how to make a fondant cake this week for my friend. Really amaze on how good looking are your cake. Also you tips helps me a lot.

    I want to ask if I can use cheese cake as a fondant cake base, coz I know fondant can’t be refridgrated. My friend’s daughter love cheese cake, so what am I going to do?

    shira

  23. I found this blog on the Blogger’s Choice Awards page, voted for best food blog. Without a doubt, this site has gotten my vote! I am so glad that I came across this site. Your cookie templates are beautiful and this blog is definitely well written. Thank you so much for sharing your expertise with the world! You have a new loyal subscriber here!

  24. Hi Shira: Do you know the company Elegant cheesecakes? http://www.elegantcheesecakes.com/ECC_Homepage.asp They make the most fantastic cakes using cheesecake so it could work.

    I always keep my fondant covered cakes in the fridge, I just put them in cardboard boxes and they will be fine.

  25. Hi Shannon,

    Thank you for the vote that was very sweet of you. Well I do try to do my best with the site and getting comments like yours surely shows that I am doing the right thing :-)

  26. Louise,
    The anlo thing I can say is thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!! A friend showed my your website a couple of days ago and I cann’t thank you enough for all the information you give and for inspirering us with so beautifull thing. I love baking as all your fans and would love to share my projects with all of you!!!
    keep up the excellent work
    anita

  27. Hi, I would like to know more about paint cakes.

  28. Louise,

    Thx for yr advise and glad to hear that the fondant cake can be chilled. I think I’ll make mango cheese cake then and will post the “cake” in my blog in few days time. Will let u know how will it turn out to be.

    cheers

    shira

  29. Shira: Just remember to buttercream it first before you cover with fondant. Because the fruit acid can melt the fondant. If it is very humid it will likely sweat but it will dry up a electric fan cna help.

    Good luck!

  30. Bianca: you can paint on cakes with either food color paste or petal dust mixed with a few drops of clear alcohol. Or you can melt some cocoa butter and mix it with petal dust not paste or liquid colors.

  31. nice… thanks so much louise!!!

  32. Louise,

    Your tips really helpful. But I miss the last one that u wrote to me because I tot it is ok to use “mango” cream chesse icing to cream the cake before laying the fondant. Like you said, the fondant melt and starting to leak when the cake arrived my friend’s home. Also it sweeten the cheese cake. It looked fine thought.

    I’ll try again next time! Feel free to go to my blog http://shiraschoice.blogspot.com to take a look of the cake photo!

    Many thx!

    shira

  33. Shira: How sad that the fondant melted. I still hope it was great tasting though. The cake is sweet with the little bees on it.

  34. Hello…I wanted to say your cookies look amazing with this frosing. Do you use the watery one or the stiffer one? how do you frost the cookies? I have never made cookies or used royal icing before…Thank you sooo much!!

  35. Oh one more question how do you color your icing? :}

  36. dayanara: I use the stiff icing for the outlining of the cookies and then I fill in with the runny icing. I color my icing with food color gels or pastes. Take a look at this site it have many great recipes and how to’s on cookie decoration: http://www.karenscookies.net/shop/index.php

  37. Thanks for the response and the site..you are the best!!!

  38. hey louise. nice tutorial, i really like it:D thanks. perfect timing, me and my twin sister are going to bake a cake for our friends. we really loved your tutorial, and i’m sure our friends will really love the cake especially your royal icing. thanks again:D

  39. hey i didnt know where i could ask this so i decided this would be the best section. how do you make frosting? i’ve tried to make two frosting recipes from the magnolia bakery books. and they always came out not thick enough. i followed everything to a T but then again, they were vague as to when to stop beating it in the stand mixer. it comes out runny when i pipe it, it doesnt have that creamy thick texture. especially not the texture i need to make swirls on my cupcakes do you think you could help? and do you know which paddle im supposed to use on the stand mixer? is it the whisk or the paddle?
    thanks so much !

  40. hey. if you don’t mind can you mail me a picture of a cupcake with royal icing on it? i’m learning to bake cupcake for my grandma’s birthday and hope that i can bake cupcakes like yours that have such wonderful design. do you mind sharing? if you do not. mind mailing me?
    are royal frostings the coloured ones i see on your cupcakes pictures?

  41. Help!!! I have just thrown out my second batch of cutouts. The flood went on beautifully: shiny and perfect. The next morning I came down to find the cookie surface bumpy and sweaty looking, the icing looking crystalized. Why is this happening? I have a picture of the ruined cookies if anyone thinks seeing it will help them diagnose my problem. Would be MUCH appreciated !!!

  42. yaneee: Thank you:-)

    elouise: I have not tried the Magnolia frostings, but when I make frosting I use the paddle and I use the amount equal parts of butter and icing sugar. If its too thick I add a few tsp of milk and offcourse I add flavourings aswell.

    melinda: you can find some of my cupcakes that have been decorated with royal icing in my cake gallery here: http://www.cakejournal.com/flickr/album/72157600186762989/photo/1466487063/Cupcakes–Mini-Cakes-Chocolate-cupcakes-close-up.html
    Sure you can use my desings as an insperation.

    Mary Lou: Could you have used to much water to thin down the royal icing??

  43. Hi Louise!

    this is the first time i’ve visited your blog…. Amazing cookies and cup cakes… and great tuturial…
    i’ve been baking cakes for some time now… and wanted to learn new techniques…
    I have never used Royal Icing…. I wanted to know that is it possible to make royal icing without egg….
    I would also be greatful to you if you can forward me some Eggless cakes and cake decoration recipes….

    Thank you!

  44. Help!!! I just iced some cookies with royal icing made from fresh egg whites which I had kept in the freezer for a few months. They were from fresh eggs I separated myself. In the past I’ve used frozen pastruized egg whites commercially packaged with great success. I made it as I always do, and always without fail. I thinned the icing to flood the top of the cookies. The icing behaved nicely and went on perfectly. However, it still has not dried 24 hours later!! It remains very sticky to the touch. I made another batch of icing with fresh pasturized egg whites that I bought from the grocery store. That batch I used to pipe on flowers on top of the glazed cookies. That batch has set up perfectly hard, like always. The weather was perfect. Not too hot, no humidity. What happened?? Why won’t the glaze dry? Any ideas?

  45. The cookies are for a wedding on Saturday. Is there anything I can sprinkle on top of them to at least take away the sticky feeling?

  46. Tripti: the only thing that you can use as an subsitute for eggs is flax seeds that is boiled with water. I have been told that it looks really gooey but it can work to use it in royal icing. Email is on the way.

    Bertilla Baker: First I would personally not use fresh egg whites. I only use pasturized egg whites. I dont know what can have caused the problem with them. I once tried to make royal icing with Meri-White powder and the next day they looked fine hard on the surface but the RI was still runny under.

    I dont know what you can do so they dont stick. I am sorry to say it but I think that you will have to start over again :-( ((( or can you scrape the icing off and re-decorate??

    I hope it works out for you. There is nothing more anoying when things goes wrong.

  47. Hi Louise,

    Thanks for your website. It is such a wonderful information for me to learn as a starter. Ive been wanting to make frosting the traditional way like my mom used to make when she is baking cake and frost it by herself when i was little looking at her seems too complicated but taste so much better, the homemade style. I forgot how she did it. Searching on the internet, i found your site , exactly the way how i wanted to make my frosting and in easy way step by step. Thanks a lot! More power to you!

  48. annie: Nice to hear:-) Just a note this is “frosting” is mostly used for piping, decorating cookies. It can be used on cakes but it will dry hard.

  49. hi!
    i absolutely love your site! the tutorials are great.
    just a quick question, im making a cake for my sons 2nd birthday (lots of youn kiddies so the thick icing like plastic stuf is out really). is it the this royal icing you can pour over buttercream and and it makes a kind of crust that you can paint? or is there some other type of icing that you use? i really wanted to paint some animals on it.

    i hope you can help me! i only have 20 days to go!!

  50. oh i forgot to say that the crust type thingy is quite thin, like about 3mm

  51. chloe: If you want to paint on your sons cake. I would use rolled fondant icing over the buttercreamed cake.

  52. Finally, an icing recipe that does not use milk products. My son is allergic and all the recipes I have call for either milk or butter (which is a milk product). Thanks.

  53. Hi Louise,

    I love your website, it’s given me so much inspiration. I was wondering if you could help me. I’ve got landed with making my own wedding cakes and all was going fine. I have baked them, covered them in marzipan which i left to dry for a week, then a friend who worked in a bakery said it should be covered in egg white to seal it and stop any discolouration. I have just started to ice the cakes and now it is drying brown patches are appearing on the icing. Do you have any ideas of what i can do about this? My wedding is in 23 days and i am starting to panic! Thanks.

  54. Hi Helen,

    So sorry that this has happend to you.

    I have looked in my books and if the cake is going to be covered with RI I dont say anything about covered in egg whites only that the marzipan should be left to dry completly. It says nothing about there can appear discolouration.

    How many layers of RI have you made on the cakes? maybe you can carefully scrape the RI off. Brush with egg whites and re ice again?. If you want to be safe the only thing is to start all over again. Maybe you can re-use the cakes if they are fruitcakes?

    Or you could cover them with rolled fondant icing? if so then you need to brush the marzipan covered cakes with clear alcohol to make the icing stick.

    I hope you find a way that works best for you :-)

    GOOD LUCK

  55. Alaina: I dont think I have seen a royal icing that calls for milk or butter. It is always nice when you find something you can use if someone has allergy.

  56. can u pls explain what is flood icing, i have seen cake pictures decorated stating that they have use flood icing technique.thank you

  57. siami: Flood icing is a very thin icing that will spread out even when added to cookies or to color flow motifs.

  58. thanks for sharing, always wanted to try this on cookies….

  59. zaitgha: Your welcome:-)

  60. Would you please tell me if its the same work with merengue powder instead of eggs, because I used christmas red from wilton and I only get a pink even I used very much red. if you can made a tutorial for decorate cookies with royal icing I will appreciate very much.

    Thanks,

    Luz

  61. Luz: I have never tried meringue powder but I think that it is.
    I only use either Sugarflair extra red or the one you can get from Americolor. A good trick is to colour your icing 2 days in advance (dont use to much color at this stage) Then let it “rest” to mature the color. You can then always add more if it needs it

  62. Hei!

    I’m “brand new” at cake decorating, so much that I’ve actually never decorated a cake, only cupcakes. I’ve bought quite a lot of supplies from the US, but I was wondering if you could make a post with “beginner” equipment? Like, what to buy first, things you could’t do without and such. There is so much stuff out there, and I really cant buy everything at once.

    I’ve kind of decided that I should start practicing my piping, using buttercream and RI. How did u practise your decorting? Have you always decorated cakes, or do you practise on the table/a board? What would you recomend me to start with?

    I’ve seen your cakes using color flow. Do u use color flow mix (from Wilton), or do u just thin down your RI?

    Is it possible to make a plaque out of marshmallow fondant? I’m thinking that dont want to be dependent of fondant bought in a shop/onlie, since I live on an island with no place to buy special supplies.

    I have so many questions, and I just love your site. I hope you have the time to answer some of them! You are my Cake Decorating Idol! I love the way you use your colors, and that the decorations are kind of subtle. I’ve seen so many cakes online that are just 2 much, and yours are always just right. I’m hoping that I can be as talented as you once in the future.

    Thank you,
    Siri

  63. Hi,

    I love your site… I would like to know if its possible to make royal icing without eggs… Could you please email me some good eggless recipes for cakes and icing and stuff…

    Thanks :)

  64. thank you so much for this
    :)

  65. Siri: Your idea on making a post on what is most important to have is great and I will look in my tool boxes and collect for a post soon.

    Now I have not really taken any piping classes, I would if I could get Jean Michel to teach me ;o) But I have many times just made a batch of RI and used my kitchen counter and just piped all over the table. Then I scraped it off again with a scraber and started over again.

    Its important that you keep your un used RI under a wet cloth or it will dry out to fast. Ri with small bits of dried icing is not good for piping. You could also use Nutella? or any other chocolated spread as this is always soft. Only remember to use a disposal piping bag because of the fat/grease in the Nutella so it dont ruin your “real” piping bags.

    You can easily make a fondant plaque out of MMF and just thin your RI down with water.

    You are always welcome to send me an email if you have any questions.

  66. HK: I am not sure… I have though read on several vegan sites that you can use flax seeds to replace eggs. But how it works with RI I dont know sorry!

    I dont have any eggless recipes. You will have to Google them ;-)

  67. Pasteurized eggwhites are not common here, although suppliers guarantee their eggs are 99% salmonella free. In fact, I’ve yet to find a local supplier who has them. Is it possible to start beating the eggwhites and a bit of the sugar over a double boiler to pasteurize them at home? I could buy royal icing powders locally, but I’d like to learn the basics before taking a shortcut in case of “emergencies”.

    Thanks!

  68. Kayenne: I would not personally trust even if they say 99%. For your question about the heating the whites over a double boiler, im not sure if it would be good if you want to make RI. I know some says it “cooks” the whites when you make a swiss meringue buttercream but I would still not use fresh egg whites. I would go for RI powder.

  69. hi Louise…
    love your website !

    & thanks for your tips & tutoriol ..
    we use your royal icing recipe for all -of our Royal-icing project…
    .. the results were fantastic…!
    tq

  70. Sham: Thats great :-)

  71. Hi Louise,

    Great website u have!! and u are so generous in sharing your knowledge. I just had some disaster with RI today! Wanted to make x’mas tree, by using flower corn and RI. Some one told me it dries faster if I put in the oven at 100dec C for 5 mints, which i did. And what I get was ruined xmas trees!!!
    :-( ((((. These were supposed to be my toppers for my xmas cuppies.

    anyway, if I frost my cuppies directly with RI, what is the best way to dry it apart from leaving it at room temp? (worried about ants getting the first bite on my RI+cuppies he he he)

    On the other hand, can i crumb-coat my cuppies with BC before layering the top with RI? or apply deco with RI?

    Tks Louise. Keep up the fantastic work. Hope to be like you someday. Cheers, Fanny

  72. Hi Louisa,

    Can i keep the royal icing flowers in the fridge ? I am making a buttercream iced cake with a lot of royalicing flowers.

    Thanks
    dhanya

  73. Thank you so much for your tips and tutorials

  74. Fanny: Hmm i would not use the oven to dry my RI ;-) whenever I make RI deco. I just let them dry on a tray.

    If ants is the problem then keep the RI cuppies in a cardboard box. It is not airthight so the RI can still dry.

    Dont crumb coat with bc first. Just use RI also to apply deco use “wet” RI.

    Dhanya: If they are all dry there should be no problems putting them on the cake that is going in the fridge.

  75. Hi Louise. How long does it take for RI to completely dry? I frosted my cuppies yesterday afternoon, but it is still soft as of this morning :-( (

    So much questions!!! anyway, thank you for your reply. appreciate it a lot!!

  76. Fanny: If there are high humidity it can take long for the RI to dry. Normally it will only take less than two hours depending on how much you have used of course.

  77. Thanks for the information, it really great and helpful.

  78. DINI: Your welcome

  79. Sikke en dejlig side og hvor sjovt at du er fra Danmark.
    Just looking for ideas for Valentine cookies and found your site – great tutorials. Thank you soooo much. Knus og kram

  80. Eva: Hejsa og velkommen til :-)

  81. Hi Louise,
    Lovely cookies! I just finished piping and flooding some Valentine’s cookies and found that my runny RI ran over the top of my piping bag while it was sitting in a glass (with the inside edge folded out a bit) – so I’m keen to try the plastic squeeze bottles – do youbguy a special kind of bottle? As I can see you fitted a coupler over the tip. If you know where I can buy some that would be great!!!

  82. hey louise so im from denmark to an di was wondering about two things i didn’t know if u could help me, one the confectioners sugar in this recipie is it just ( flormelis?) or what is it and where did u get the cookie cutters u use for the cakes? ( the cupcake shaped one?!

  83. Lærke: Ja confectioners sugar er flormelis :-) Lige netop de cookies/cupcake er nogen jeg selv har tegnet. Det er ikke så svært at skære ud i hånden når bare man bruger en lille skarp kniv og dejen er godt kold.

    Der er et link til mine cookie skabeloner i bunden af posten “Vanilla sugar cookies” se efter “cookie templates” de er lige til at printe ud.

  84. lige for at være ekstra besværlig hvor køber du dine farver og de der pinde til at lave de der kage ‘slikkepinde’ ? sys nemlig de ser ultra fine ud men ved ikke lige hvor man kan få det!

  85. Lærke: Jeg vil anbefale dig kigge på http://www.kageportalen.dk dels er den det bedste sted hvis man kan lide at dekorere kager men der er også en masse tips at finde + links til shopping. Generelt køber jeg mine ting fra England da det er noget billigere. pindene får jeg fra denne butik nævnt her http://www.cakejournal.com/archives/cookie-cutter-texture-set

  86. Hi Louise,

    Do you know the shelf life of the above royal icing receipe?
    Can I refrigerate it when I was not piping all??

    Thanks,
    Gloria

  87. Hello Louise,

    I would like to ask if i could substitute cream of tartar(powder) to 1 tsp of lemon juice?

    How much Cream of tartar would i add to the mixture?

    Hoping for your reply… thank you so much! :)

  88. Hi Louise,

    Is gloria again. I have used the above recepie for decorating my cookie. It was so amazing. Thanks for your sharing.

    The colour faded in my cookie day after tomorrow. How is the correct procedure?

    Pls reply. Thanks

  89. Gloria: I go by the expiration date on my egg whites. There are no problems keeping the RI in the fridge. Just cover it well with plastic wrap so it wont dry out.

    I have not tried that problem with my cookies was it flooded cookies? could you have used too much water to thin it down with? what brand of colors do you use?

    MaryHeart: I am not used to cream of tartar powder but try out with 1 tsp at a start.

  90. On some of your cookies in the gallery pics, you have listed that they are decorated with sugar icing. What is this, is it like RI? Would you mind sharing your recipe for sugar icing. Thanks

  91. Hello Louise,

    Thank you for your reply… I’m trying the run outs today… Hope everything goes well… i’ll post the pictures on my flickr soon… :)

  92. Hi Louise,

    I love your site, I came across it by accident. I like to make some cookies for my niece’s bridal shower but I like to know what is the life of royal icing once it hardens? I greately appreciate you reply.

    Thank you,

    Olga

  93. aundreah: I decorate my cookies with either rolled fondant icing (sugar icing) or royal icing (RI) I dont have a recipe for the rolled fondant icing but if you search on Google you will quick find one.

    Olga: I use pasturized eggwhites and when I make royal icing I store it will covered in the refrigerator. I use it within the expiration date of the whites.

  94. I just wanted to say I think it is brilliant how you are able to describe your cake-craft abilities in a friendly manner!
    All the cake people I have ever met have all been bitter snide people who look down at beginners.
    It has put me off ever taking classes entirely, so I rely on reading posts like these online.

    Piping is my prime issue, as I haven’t found an icing that I am good at working with yet.
    So I primarily stick to molding fondant for my cakes and such.
    Next time I make a cake (coming into my mini cake season – all the nieces and nephews birthdays!) I’ll try this recipe and see how to goes.
    I prefer the taste of butter cream frosting but the buttery colour is kind of annoying when you’re looking for a pure white icing.
    I know there are whiteners and such, but I have yet to buy some. :)

    One problem I have (and it’ll probably sound silly to those who are used to making icing) is that when I make icing, it is usually too runny.
    But when I try to make it firmer, so it doesn’t lose its shape, it then loses it’s sticky-ness and when im piping it onto the cake, it doesn’t stick to the rolling fondant.
    It’s very frustrating to work with and I always make a mess of it.
    Do you have any tips?

    Anyway, so thank you for your posts!
    These are all so brilliant to read and they remind me of why I love making cakes!

  95. Hi my name is angie i love your site i never make any icing or shortbread cookies bebore but am going to try to make question can i but the shortbread cookies at the store or any store that sale

  96. Snickle: I am assuming that you referer to royal icing right or do you mean buttercream? Anyway with RI always start out with stiff/firm icing and then make it more loose/runny by adding drops of water a little at a time. For piping you would go for a soft consistency, soft but not too soft either. I should hold it shape afterwards. The soft icing will be slightly sticky but nothing more than it will stick to the cake but not run.

    Its soft when it have peaks that fall over.
    I hope it works for you, dont give up, practice is the best way of learning :-)

    angie: Well you can of course use ready made shortbread only go for those that are not crumbly in the surface. Its not nice getting crumbs in your icing.

  97. hi Louise..
    i found your lovely website accidentally when Googling 4 something else. And i love it..!! Although i’m not a baker and never spent my time make some cake – I’m a dentist actually :) – but your site was so interesting to visit again and again..there’re so much beautiful pics of cakes…and i can’t help to not put my comment here for your great job..
    i appreciated your kindness to share your knowlegde to others..And i wish i can make such a beautiful cake like you did someday ;)

    nice to be here..

    buthie bunny

  98. Excellent recipe, really easy to do, especially for a beginner like myself!

  99. Thanks for the Tutorial. It’s always nice when there are pictures. :D I have to make cookies for my nieces graduation and wanted to flood them!

  100. Hi! Thanks for this recipe. Is this icing stiff enough to pipe flowers?

  101. Hello,

    I was wondering …
    I don’t get pasturized eggs overhere in Germany – at least I don’t know where I would get them – but also don’t get meringue powder easily. Is there any other way I can still safely make this recipe? Or is there another icing recipe which I could use (and which I can similarly use to decorate) that does not call for raw eggs?
    Would be very thanksful for any suggestions or tipps!
    Miss Muffin

  102. Steph: You can pipe flowers with this icing only you would not thin it with water but maybe ad more icing sugar to get it more stiff.

    Miss Muffin: Pasturized egg whites is found in supermarkets. If you cant get that or the merinque powder you can order if from UK cake decorating sites in that case you would be looking for egg white powder. Try and look here http://www.squires-shop.com/ibf/index.php?p=product&id=2725&parent=0

  103. Thanks so much for the answer! I guess I could get the powder also in special bake shops – it’s just alot effort to do it in order to make some cookies. (I don’t have anything special in mind – no special occasion or anything.) Therefore I was just wondering whether there is an alternativ to royal icing that could be used. I already had the idea to use fondant instead – I might give that a try. I’m just curious whether there is another frosting or icing recipe that could be used for cookies but does not contain eggs …

  104. Miss Muffin: Well then you can make it with only water but you have to add the water a little bit by bit or it will be too runny. You will not get the same workability like real RI but it could do. Or just use fondant on the cookies?

  105. Thanks again! I already tried to do the frosting just with water. It’s really not at all like the RI. :-( I will try the fondant option. :-)

  106. I found your site by accident. From the moment I found it I totally fell in love with it. Your tutorials are great and inspiring. Thank you for taking the trouble of sharing your ideas with us. Greetings from Germany.

  107. I need help! I’ve been using a royal icing recipe to decorate sugar cookies. I have a consistency that I like, and the cookies look beautiful when iced. BUT, I have 2 problems. First, I have very small air bubbles. I saw your tutorial, and think that I will try letting frosting rest for a bit before starting. Second, the day after my cookies have been frosted, the icing is nice and hard – but it becomes flaky, dry, and will “pop off” in whole pieces. They still look great, but the flaking off is unappealing. Any ideas?

    PS. I’m using powdered sugar, water, meringue powder, and vanilla extract in RI recipe.

    Thanks! Your site is great.

  108. Can we use royal icing as frosting for cupcakes?

  109. JGS: mmmm not sure what could cause the problem? I have not with RI that contain meringue powder but how much water did you ad to make it runny?

    Candy: Yes RI is great on cupcakes. You then need a spreading consistency.

  110. Hi Louise!
    ireally love your site it’s really great and helpful, but the only thing i wish for is to make fabulous cookies like yours. Everytime i try i fail. c ya ;)

  111. thanks alot this really helped
    and if you want it another colour do you have to add food colouring?
    reply back
    thanks a lot
    (L)

  112. Laila: Yes just a food coloring. If you want to obtain soft pastel colors only add tiny amounts of FC as it can quickly get too dark.

  113. me encanta tu paginas y tu recetas que dan mucha ayuda a nosotro que estamos empezado pero me gustarian si pudiera ser en español.gracias

  114. Hi Louise, I am going to be making my daughter’s 1st birthday cake tomorrow. Does the royal icing mixture dry clear? the recipe uses this to stick on the lolly decorations? Thanks

  115. Julie: No this does not dry clear. It stays white if no color added.

  116. Hi Louise! I read on another on of your posts that you made chocolate royal icing? Could i ask how to do that? I love chocolate but never knew how i could make a chocolate royal icing and would definitely want to know how to make that! :)

  117. A question for the runny icing. Would you use cocoa powder to make it chocolate? Would it be a good brown color like the ones you used in your cupcake cookies?

  118. Serene Lui: I think that I was reffering to cocoa royal icing. I must say though that if it for glazing cupcakes I just mix powdered sugar and cocoa powder. but you can mix in small amounts of cocoa powder to the royal icing along with brown food coloring. It can change the texture of the royal icing a bit so I use this mostly for piping fur on teddy cakes ect.

    Sheena: For the cupcake cookies I used only food colors. Start adding color the first day (before you make it runny) next day or the day after the color have matured a bit and I then add the “rest” until im happy with the color. This way you dont always have to use so much food coloring. I do the same with blacks and reds, only here I use and extra strenght food coloring otherwise it wont go black or red.

  119. Thax very much for the recipe ,i really love it……
    i find it hard to make icing but now i’m happy that i know how to make RI …
    god bless you and BUSSINESS……….

  120. Hi Louise

    Your cookies are fabulous – you are very talented! I hope you can help with my problem. When I ice my gingerbread cookies the cookie goes soft before the icing hardens. They are very crispy to start with but just seem to absorb all the moisture. I have tried putting it on more thinly but they still go soggy. Do you just dry them on the bench or is there some special trick?

  121. Hey, i was just wondering do you have to put the lemon juice in? Also could i put blue food coloring in with the mix?

  122. Hi Louise,
    you have an amazingly inspirational website. Your recipes are perfect and the photos are a helpful resource. Thank you very much for your time and expertise. Is it possible to use your icing recipes for my website. If so, let me know how I can represent you on my website, links etc. In Creative Pursuit! ~Sophia

  123. Dear Louis,
    Thanx for the amazing tutorial, i tried it at home but i always end up with a runny icing does it mean that i have to add more sugar?? because it will be so melted that i cant even cover my cupcakes with it, i really would like to learn how to make it because its amazing for cupcakes decorating :(

  124. Katherine: No you dont need the lemon juice. It works very well without.

    Jeanie: I have had many request on how to prevent cookies from getting soft after decorated with royal icing. I myself have never had any problems at all. It is of course important that the cookies is fully baked and not raw in the middle. When I have decorated my cookies with RI I let them dry on trays on my dining table over night or wherever I can place them. I dont find mine to soggy, but they are not as crisp as a freshly baked cookie but crisp enough for me. How thin do you rool out your cookies? maybe thats the problem? I roll mine into a 5 mm thickness.

    Sophia: Well you have asked me and as long as you are writing credit and a link back to the original post its ok by me :-)

  125. Hey louise thanks so muck i am in grade six and i was looking for a really good iceing recipe for my ginger bread house (not atucly made of gingerbread but a house)
    for a project at school and i found this one
    thanks again and wish me good luck (plz)
    Jaz

  126. wow i am doing a science fair project and your website helped me so muchh! thanksss:)

  127. This worked very well for a gingerbread Christmas tree, then I softened it up and used it to ice the leftover tree parts. I used 1 egg white and waaaaaaay less than 1 lb sugar, and was able to ice 4 trees plus about a dozen small cookies. That’s like…6 dozen cookies. Anyways, thanks! Simple and easy :)

  128. i love the iceing all my friends loved how i did the special iceiing everyone said what a great job but i coulden’t done it with out you!! thanks~

  129. hi louise.may i know how many tbsp of meringue powder equal to 1 egg whites?

  130. Hi Louise,
    You have a nice site. Thank you for a great recipe. I am an aspiring Pastry Chef. Keep up your excellent work.

  131. Sam: 1 tablespoon of meringue powder mixed with 2 tbsp. of water is equals with the white from one egg.

  132. Hi Louise!

    This is the my first visit of your blog and loved your tutorials. I was reading through the questions and came across Tripti’s question. I too have been looking for an eggless recipe for Royal Icing since a long time. I wanted to know that is it possible to make royal icing without egg….
    I would be very grateful if you can please forward me some Eggless cakes and cake decoration recipes….

    Thank you!

  133. Sanumom: Welcome to CJ. For the eggless royal icing I dont know of any. I know that you can make a subsitute to egg whites using flax seeds but I dont know if that will be good to use for RI. You can find both eggless/vegan recipes on the net and for cake decoration please visit my tutorial site: http://www.cakejournal.com/tutorials

  134. Hi louise.Thank u so much for your info..Happy New Year.^-^

  135. pls i want to do color flow icing but i made it and it’s too hard is it right and what they mean by full strengh !! do u have it in video so i can see how it must be like ??? help

  136. bana: The best is to make stiff icing, then you thin the stiff icing with a little water at a time. Until you get that flooding consistency. I dont have any videos, but im sure that you find some on you tube if you search for Royal icing.

  137. Hi Louise. May i know if the RI will melt if not refrigerated? And should i use the runny one or the hard one if i want to use it for decorating cupcakes?

  138. Cupcakebaby: No the RI will not melt. I only keep it refrigerated when not using it. If you want to cover the whole cupcake with RI then you should thin it down to soft consistency, but not runny. If it is for piping soft is the best.

  139. Greetings from Vermont! I had a question – I would love to try this recipe for RI as I have over 200 cookies to decorate by next week. My question is it possible to reduce the amount of sugar and add cocoa to this recipe? My client would like their logo to be done in chocolate and I’m unsure if melted chocolate on fondant is going to work at all. Thank you!

  140. Emma: I think that I would still use the same amount of icing sugar and then add some cocoa + brown food color to get “chocolate” color. But you can pipe on fondant with melted chocolate.

  141. Hello Louise,

    Thank you for the reply. I have been searching the net for good eggless/vegan cake recipes. My problem is that my cakes become too dense – not as soft as we find in bakeries. Hopefully one day I will be able to bake light fluffier cakes.
    Till then I am working on learning how to ice the cakes so that I can create a cake for my dd’s birthday. Thank you for creating such a great website.

  142. Louise please help!!! I am just now trying to make your royal icing per your recipe above. I put two egg whites in my Kitchen Aid mixer (with Paddle Attachment) and decided to go with 1 tsp of almond extract (in place of the lemon juice). I used large eggs. Let that slowly mix just for a few seconds then started slowly adding in my sifted powdered sugar. Before I ever got to using 1 lb (and your recipe calls for 2 lbs) the icing was like a bread dough stuck to my paddle. What did I do wrong? thank you. I am so excited to try your recipe because your pictures look exactly the way I want my cookies to look.

  143. Cathy: Try adding a little more egg white and see what happens.

  144. So glad for your advice on Hard Royal Icing. I failed miserably again this year with my Christmas cake icing, so I am going to practice with your instructions. Thank you

  145. I was just reading the questions on here and I know what Cathy did wrong. I too have a Kitchen Aide Mixer and she used the wrong attachment. She needed to use the attachment that resembles a wire whisk. Also, she didn’t beat the egg whites long enough.

  146. I tried this and may I say “WOW”. I love how smooth and easy it is to use. But there was a weird taste to it, most likely the cornstarch in the sugar. but enough lemon juice and I was happy =0)

  147. Oh Thanks! I’d like to try out this recipe!!I’ve Tried alot but it Failed because of too Sweet and Does Smooth… Anyways Thanks!

  148. I am confused about what can and can’t be refrigerated. I want to cover a cake in fondant and I have a decoraton made with RI to put on it. However, the cake will be filled with mousse and will need to be refrigerated. Some websites say I can refrigerate and some say no. What’s the deal?

  149. Very nice tutorial!!!!!!

    I have a problem with some tips like the one I use to make grass (233) No matter the consistency of the icing, I start to pipe and in a short while the icing stacks in the tip and nothing comes out!!!!. I have to clean with water the tip again and again to pipe. I am certain that I am doing something wrong.

    Please advice.

    Thanks

  150. Wendy: It can be a bit confusing. I always go by this, if im using fresh cream in a cake like a mousse filling I always keep it in the refrigerator. If its only with BC or chocolate ganache (boiled cream) I would store it “outside”. I have never had anyproblems with royal icing going in the refrigerator and thats with fresh piped RI or dry RI decorations.

    Irini: I have had the same problem once. Not sure why it happens?

  151. Hi! can i use milk instead of water to make runny icing?

  152. Hi guys! we have a tropical weather here in the philippines and i loved to use white icing in my cupcakes. i did royal icing and it sagged for a few minutes. how can i make my icing fresh despite of a hot temperature?

  153. Shake: I would not use milk. About the white icing, do you mean as a decoration on your cupcakes like a frosting? If its very hot then you should use a vegetable shortning for your frosting. Though I have used RI on top on my cupcakes last summer and it was very hot here. It did not sagg.

  154. How do you pasteurised egg white at home?????

  155. Hey Louise i tried your royal icing and it turned out great!! Thanks so much!!

  156. Can you pipe Buttercream (Italian Meringue or regular American Buttercream) decorations on a fondant cake or can you only use Royal Icing?

  157. jun: I would not trust that egg whites can be pasturized at home.

    Marie: Cool :-)

    Joni: Yes you can pipe buttercream on a fondant cake.

  158. thank u so much for this helpful tutorial :)
    im from the middle east and so glad to find ur blog.
    keep the good work :) )

  159. Great tips! Thank you for this. If I am decorating my cookies with fondant, what would be this best piping recipe to use for outlining the cookies and decorating them? Should I use the Royal Icing piping or a buttercream recipe? I tried one buttercream recipe but it was kind of wet, and my writing looked messy. I prefer buttercream for the taste and wondered if you had a great recipe for piping.

  160. Louise, I can’t thank you enough.You are a truly helpful person. people tend to with hold all the information they have and wouldn’t share it with anyone.so, thank you again.
    I have been working with RI for a while now and let me tell you, we are not friends:( this thing hates me..:)
    no, the thing is when i pipe my outline it dries but then the crust crumbles to the touch:( (what am i doing wrong here?)
    Ah, i forgot to mention that i do work with the powder stuff as i cant get my hands on pasteurized egg whites.And because of that, i also sometimes end up with ewwwwwwww, raw egg smell that sends all my cookies to the bin( i mean to the dogs but what a waste:( )so, i put a drop of coffee or lemon extract to take away the smell.Any idea what can i do?(sorry, i know you have mentioned that you don’t do meringue powder,but i’m desperate)
    One last thing, when i thin my icing…it looks beautiful on the cookie( only for a couple of hours,then the cookie tends to absorb the icing and leaves me with a funny looking icing that looks nothing like the pics i c around)
    Again, thank you soooo much for doing this.

  161. I tried your royal icing recipe a few days ago, and I just wanted to write to say a huge “thank you”! It turned out great, and I received many lovely comments about it! Thanks once again for an amazing website, I really enjoy it.

  162. organicsweettooth: I would use royal icing on the fondant.

    Malak: You should take a look over at the Sweetopia site where you also can find loads of sweet tips on cookie decorating. It is the RI recipe you should look at because it is made with meringue powder: http://sweetopia.net/2009/05/tea-party-cookies/

    I would say that it could be the amount of water you use to thin it down with. It should be runny but still thick in texture.

  163. Hi there Louise!! I have a quick question, do u perhaps have a recipe for me on how to make a very soft almost marshmallowy cupcake frosting? A meringue frosting that wont drip off the cupcake but wont become as hard as meringue either!

    Would really appreciate any help I can get!!
    Love your website – VERY resourceful.

  164. Cynthia: You should try and look at the Italian Meringue buttercream. It startes with a “cooked” meringue = egg whites and a boiled sugar syrup. This makes a nice soft meringue and great for piping too.
    http://www.cakejournal.com/archives/how-to-make-italian-meringue-butter-cream

  165. I love your site!!! You are an AMAZING decorator. I’m making 200 cookies for my niece’s wedding and have a question. As I am a beginner… I’m concerned with being able to get them done in time. If I make them the weekend before would it be ok to freeze them once they are completely dried?

  166. Karrie: I guess that you are thinking on freezing the decorated cookies? I have seen it done, but I would make a test, just to be sure on how the cookie react while it thaw. Make sure that you take notes on how the RI is on the cookie but also how does the RI looks after 1 hour-3 hours. Esp. if you are plannin on wrapping them for favors. If I all goes well then when you are going to freeze the decorated cookies then place them on a tray first in one layer, let them semi freeze and then pack them in containers in layers with parchment paper i between. When you need to thaw the cookies take them out and place them on cooling racks in one layer.

  167. Thank you Louise!!! I will do a test batch this weekend. :) I might just have to take a couple days off before the wedding but hate to use my vacation for that. It will be fun… but no vacation! LOL

  168. Thanks so much louise.. it works great! Now if you dont mind, i just have one more question!!
    I want to decorate a cake with white chocolate ganache… but I want the ganache to kinda set and not drip or run at all. So that it forms an even surface almost as if you put fondant on. How do i achieve ganache thats nice and stiff? Do i add more chocolate and less cream?
    Its going to sit on a table for a while before it gets eaten so it needs to last quite a while!
    Thank you!!

  169. okie can i substitute the icing sugar for granulated sugar?

  170. Karrie McCrea: Let me know how it went.

    Cynthia: You should use 1 part of cream to 2 parts of chocolate. Chop the chocolate and place it in a heatproff bowl. Bring cream to the boil and pour it over the choc. Let it sit for a few mins then slowly stir until cream and choc is combined and smooth.

    franky: No, you can only use icing sugar when making royal icing.

  171. hi louise this is michelle i wanted to know if you know how to make a type of iceing that can dry really fast because i’m making a cake for my best cousin and her birthday is gonna happen soon!!!! so can you email it to me THANK -YOU SO MUCH hope to hear from you soon

  172. Thank you, this was very helpful. I have tried many American recipes but always get a lot of air bubbles. Paddle attachments are not common on Australian mixers, so I was glad to read that you use the hooks. It worked much better. Similarly meringue powder is hard to find so I needed an egg white recipe. A friend in the chicken industry informed me that Australia does not have the dangerous strain of salmonella that scares so many American cooks.

  173. Michelle: You can make a royal icing to pour over the cake this dry very quick.

    Emma: Im happy that it was helpful to you :-)

  174. Hey Louise
    Excellent website. I just had one query. How do you store RI? i plan to make in advance but have no idea how to store it.

  175. thanks

  176. This is so useful, thanks a lot! :D

Leave me a comment


Blog sponsors









Credits