This is my royal icing recipe that I have used to decorate tens of thousands of cookies over the years. It’s just 3 simple, easy to find ingredients: powdered sugar, meringue powder, and water. After you get the hang of mastering consistencies (the most difficult part of cookie decorating) this is the easiest royal icing I’ve ever worked with, it sets up quickly, and won’t break your teeth after it dries. It makes the best icing for cookies.
- My royal icing journey!
- What is Royal Icing?
- What is Meringue Powder?
- What is “flooding”?
- Icing Consistencies
- Flooding Icing
- What is the trick for the perfect flooding consistency royal icing?
- 10 – 20 Second Royal Icing Demonstration Video
- Medium/Detail Consistency Icing
- Stiff Consistency Icing
- Why do you add whitener to your royal icing?
- How much water do I use to thin down my icing if it’s too thick?
- How much powdered sugar do I use to thicken up my icing if it’s too thin?
- Can I add extract/flavor to my royal icing?
- How long does royal icing take to dry?
- Why won’t my royal icing dry or harden?
- Does royal icing dry hard?
- Do I have to use meringue powder to make royal icing?
- How much icing do I need to make?
- How do I make different colors of icing?
- What happens if my royal icing separates?
- How do I store royal icing?
- What can I do with leftover icing?
- What if I don’t have a Kitchenaid or other stand mixer?
- How to Make Royal Icing Recipe
My royal icing journey!
When I took my first stab at cookie decorating I was TERRIBLE. No, really, it was that bad. I had been decorating cakes for a couple years and figured if I could master fondant, I could immediately master royal icing. So I did no research, I watched no videos, didn’t obsessively read any cookie blogs. I just quickly looked up a royal icing recipe and got to decorating. When my husband saw my sad little cookies he quietly said “Those are cute…but maybe you just stick to cakes?” Oops!
Then I did my research. I scoured the internet and read every cookie blog. I enrolled in the University of YouTube and watched countless cookie decorating videos. And I practiced… and practiced… and practiced…
My initial attempt, and subsequent epic fail, wasn’t entirely my fault. Royal icing is a jerk. It dries when you don’t want it to. It doesn’t dry when you want it to. You get a speck of oil in it and it’ll never dry. Too thin and it’ll drip down the sides of your cookies. A little too thick and it will never fully smooth out. You bump the table while your cookies are drying and you’ll get these little speed-bump wrinkle thingies on the surface. You finally get everything perfect, the consistency is just right, the weather is ideal, the planets are aligned, Mercury is not in retrograde, you flood the cookie like a pro, everything is smooth and pretty…and then you accidentally stick your finger into partially dried icing, it cracks, and there is no way to fix it. So yeah, royal icing is a jerk.
If you Google “royal icing recipe” or “how to make royal icing” you’ll get over 20 million results. And they’re all a little different. Some will say to sift your sugar, some say don’t bother. Use a whisk attachment. Never use a whisk attachment. Add corn syrup. Don’t add corn syrup. You’ll find recipes with anywhere from 5-10 tablespoons per 2 lbs of sugar. Or recipes that use raw egg whites instead of meringue powder. Start with a thick consistency and thin it down. Start with a flooding consistency and add more powdered sugar to thicken it. After experimenting with a few dozen of those 20 million recipes, I found what works for me.
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Let’s start with a little vocab lesson…
What is Royal Icing?
Royal icing is an icing made from powdered sugar, meringue powder and water. The egg allows the icing to dry to a hard consistency. You can also use egg whites instead of meringue powder and water, but meringue powder is going to be safer AND you can leave it out at room temperature longer than icing made with raw eggs.
What is Meringue Powder?
Meringue powder is a powdered egg white substitute used in baking. It also has cornstarch, vanilla flavoring, sugar and some stabilizers (like cream of tartar). I prefer CK Products or Fat Daddio’s meringue powder, but Wilton will work just fine and is more readily available at craft stores and retailers like Walmart.
What is “flooding”?
Flooding a cookie is the process by which you apply a smooth layer of icing to the surface of a cookie. Flooding icing should be thin enough so that it smooths out, but not so thin that it’ll run off the surface of your cookie. You might also see flooding consistency icing referred to as “10-20 second icing.” More on that in 3…2…1
Icing Consistencies
There are 3 different consistencies that I use when decorating cookies. Flood consistency, medium/detail consistency and stiff consistency. The same ingredients are used for all 3 consistencies, the only difference is the ratio of water to powdered sugar. You add a little more water to thin the icing down, and more powdered sugar to thicken it up.
Flooding Icing
This is the consistency of icing used to create that super smooth layer of icing on a cookie. It’s the consistency that comes right off the mixer when I make a batch of royal icing. Some cookie decorators start with a stiff icing and then thin it down, but since I use flooding icing the most, and because flooding a cookie is typically the first step in decorating a cookie, I start with a flooding consistency and then thicken it as needed.
The consistency of flooding icing should be similar to honey. You want flooding icing to be a little runny, not watery, and just thick enough to smooth out, but not so thin that it’ll run off your cookie. Easy, right?
What is the trick for the perfect flooding consistency royal icing?
To achieve this perfect runny-but-not-too-runny consistency, I use the 10-20 second icing rule. Take your bowl off the mixer, smooth out the icing, pick up your paddle, drizzle a ribbon of icing along the surface, and then start counting. The ribbon of icing should smooth out on it’s own somewhere between 10-20 seconds.
Tah-dah! Flooding icing. If it’s too thick, use a spray bottle and spray a few squirts of water, mix it up, and test it again. If it’s a little too thin, just let it mix for a couple of more minutes and it’ll thicken up a bit. If it’s WAY too thin, you can add a little more powdered sugar, a tablespoon at a time, until you reach the desired consistency.
10 – 20 Second Royal Icing Demonstration Video
Medium/Detail Consistency Icing
This is the consistency of icing I use to pipe outlines, details and flowing script. I also use this consistency for things like eyeballs and smiley mouths. You want this icing to be the consistency of soft-peak whipped egg whites. I’ve also compared it to the consistency of toothpaste. It should hold it’s shape a little and not spread, but you can smooth it out with a scribe tool.
If your detail icing is too thick, the line tends to break when you are piping a design. If your detail icing is too thin, then it will spread, not hold its shape, and you will sometimes end up with little air bubble holes once it dries.
Stiff Consistency Icing
Stiff icing should be the consistency of stiff-peak whipped egg whites or peanut butter. It’s spreadable, but able to hold it’s shape. I use this icing for piping shapes like flowers and leaves, as well for making basket weave patterns, brush embroidery, and ruffles.
Why do you add whitener to your royal icing?
Number one rule in coloring royal icing: start with an icing tinted with white food coloring. No matter what color you’re making. Even if you’re making black icing, add white to it first. Why? Since royal icing is just powdered sugar, meringue powder and water, it ends up being a slightly off-white color. You want to start with a true white icing if you want your colors to turn out right. I’ve noticed that adding a whitener to my icing also helps keep everything homogenized and prevents the icing from separating as quickly.
If you’ve ever made a glaze for a cake or donuts, you’ll recognize that the ingredients are very similar to royal icing, minus the meringue powder. And glaze tends to be slightly translucent. If you don’t add whitener, your royal icing will also be slightly translucent, so adding whitener will bring it to a nice, flat, white, opaque color.
I just add a teaspoon or so to my royal icing when I very first start mixing it. I actually never measure it out, because I don’t want to waste any that gets left on the measuring spoon, so I just squirt a little bit in.
How much water do I use to thin down my icing if it’s too thick?
It really depends on how thick your icing is, and how much icing you have. If you have an entire batch of icing that’s very thick, you might need to use ½ cup of water to get it to the correct flooding consistency. Or you might just need a few squirts of water from your spray bottle to thin it down enough. If you have a small amount of icing that needs to be thinned down, you might only need a few drops of water.
My suggestion is to always add a little at a time. You don’t want to add too much water, and then end up having to add more powdered sugar because you watered it down too much.
How much powdered sugar do I use to thicken up my icing if it’s too thin?
It really depends on how thin your icing is, and how much icing you have. If you have an entire batch of icing that’s very thin and watery, you might need to use ½ cup of powdered sugar to get it to the correct consistency. Or you might just need to add a teaspoon more to get it to the perfect consistency.
My suggestion is to always add a little at a time. You don’t want to add too much powdered sugar, and then end up having to add more water because you’ve thickened it up too much.
Can I add extract/flavor to my royal icing?
Because royal icing won’t harden and dry if you get any oil in it, I avoid using extracts. I flavor the cookies, and since meringue powder is already vanilla flavored, I don’t feel the need to also flavor the icing. If you want to flavor your royal icing, make sure that you only use an oil free extract. You can also replace the water in royal icing with lemon juice, but be careful not to get any oil from the lemon rind in your royal icing.
I flavor my cookies and not my royal icing.
How long does royal icing take to dry?
Decorated cookies typically take 12-24 hours to fully dry. They’ll dry faster in dry climates, and slower in humidity. You can use a fan or food dehydrator to speed up the drying process.
Why won’t my royal icing dry or harden?
If your icing isn’t drying, you might have gotten oil into your icing, which will prevent it from setting. Sometimes humidity will also affect your icing and it’ll take longer to dry. If it’s raining, or very humid, you can give your cookies a little longer to dry. If your cookies aren’t dry after 24 hours, chances are they aren’t going to dry, and the only thing you can do is scrape off the icing and start over.
Does royal icing dry hard?
My recipe “hardens” so you can package and stack your cookies, but it doesn’t dry so hard that you’ll break your teeth biting into it once it is dry.
Do I have to use meringue powder to make royal icing?
If you have an egg allergy/sensitivity, or you want a vegan alternative, there are recipes available online that use aquafaba instead of egg whites. You can also use “glaze icing” that uses corn syrup instead of meringue powder. I don’t have much experience with either, so I would not consider myself an expert, but there are tons of blogs and recipes if you do a little research online.
How much icing do I need to make?
My royal icing recipe will yield enough icing to flood 50-60 large sized (3.5” diameter circle) cookies.
How do I make different colors of icing?
If you’re decorating hundreds of cookies, you’ll probably need an entire batch of icing for each color that you’re using.
If you only plan to decorate a couple dozen cookies, you just need to make one batch of white royal icing, and then you can separate smaller amounts into different bowls and color it different colors.
What happens if my royal icing separates?
If you have left your icing out at room temperature for more than a few hours, you’ll notice that it will have started to settle and separate. This it totally normal and you did nothing wrong. One of the reasons I like to store my icing in piping bags is that I can easily remix the icing by kneading the bag and not have to wash even more dishes by dirtying spoons and spatulas and storage containers to store and stir my icing. If you do store your icing in containers, you can simply mix it back up with a spatula, or throw it back on your KitchenAid.
How do I store royal icing?
Royal icing is shelf stable and can be kept at room temperature for several days. Always store your icing in an airtight container to prevent it from drying. I keep all of my icing in large pastry bags so I can easily knead them if the icing has separated.
What can I do with leftover icing?
You can freeze leftover icing for several months. Just let it come to room temperature in it’s container before you use it. You can also use leftover icing to make royal icing transfers or decorations. When I have icing leftover from projects, and I have the time, I make lots of pretty rosettes that, once dried, I organize and store in compartment craft boxes. Once they are dried, they last for ages and then I have ready-to-use rosettes when I need them.
What if I don’t have a Kitchenaid or other stand mixer?
If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can still make royal icing. You can use a hand mixer, on the lowest setting, and use the same recipe and instructions.
How to Make Royal Icing Recipe
Now, without further ado, here is my professional royal icing recipe.
Royal Icing Recipe
Instructions
- Fit your stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Be sure that bowl and attachment are free of any oil or butter residue.
- Dissolve meringue powder in ¾ cup of warm water.
- Place powdered sugar into mixing bowl, turn on lowest setting and slowly drizzle in water/meringue mixture.
- Add food colouring and mix for 8 minutes on lowest speed.
- Add water as needed for a flood consistency (10-20 second icing) or powdered sugar as needed for medium or stiff consistency.
- Immediately cover icing in an airtight container or transfer to piping bags/bottles.
Video
Notes
- The icing will keep for up to 3 days at room temp and for 2 months in the freezer.
- Do not get any oil/grease in royal icing or it will not dry properly. You can wipe your bowl, spatula and paddle attachment down with vinegar or some lemon juice to remove any oil residue.
- Do not use any oil-based extracts if you want to flavor the icing, use only water-based extracts.
This is the most comprehensive detailed explanation of royal icing in it’s various constancies and use with great visuals. The recipe is straightforward not complex and focused on technique. I cannot stress how much I appreciate the through explanation and reasoning you give. I’m so glad to have found your page.
You have no idea how happy this makes me! I’m so overjoyed that you found this helpful.
Very thorough info on icing. Invaluable tips – follow all instructions and you can’t go wrong.
I just found your webpage and I love how well you explain each process/recipe info. I do cake decorating (wedding) but have never tried to do cookie decorating. I might have to branch out since I only do cakes for family now. Thank you for the info you are providing to all of us. Your work is beautiful. Can’t wait to try my hand at that stacked cookie Christmas tree this week!
That’s exactly how I started out, cakes to cookies. I’m glad you like the recipes and best of luck on your cookie adventure.
Hi! I just watched your video– I found it so helpful, but was unclear if the consistency shown is for a flood or outline. Dependent on your answer would you have added more water or sugar to achieve the opposite texture?
Thank you!
That shows a flooding consistency. I almost always start with a flooding icing consistency, because it’s what I use the most of, and then adjust accordingly. So, you would add some powdered sugar to thicken it up to a detail consistency.
Hi,
Would you just follow the instructions to make a medium consistency icing? Has I just want to make stars with detailed lines. Watching the You Tube video the consistency looked really runny to me… obviously I’m no expert but does it start to stiffen up straightaway?
Sorry if this is a stupid question. I’m just starting to practice and want to make sure I get the consistency right. 🙂
Medium consistency icing should be the consistency of toothpaste.
I describe thin icing as havaing a honey consistency, and a stiff icing should be like peanut butter. So you want to aim for something between those two.
Depending on what I’m using a medium consistency icing for, it can be a little more runny, or a little thicker, but you should still be able to pipe it out of the bag pretty easily without have to squeeze too hard.
It doesn’t start to stiffen immediately. Sometimes I use a slightly thinned down detail/medium icing if I don’t need super sharp lines or details.
Hi there! Thank you for sharing your tutorial as I found it really easy, but the biggest thing I struggle with is tip size because I always have tiny hard icing pieces in any batch I make which ends up plugging the tips of the bottles I use for icing. I’m so frustrated that I don’t know how I’m getting those dried bits in it?
I’ve noticed that merigue these days has large chunks that don’t fully dissolve in the icing.
What I now do is 1) sift my powdered sugar so there aren’t any clumps or hard bits and 2) dissolve the meringue powder in the water before adding it to the powdered sugar. That seems to get rid of those little hard clumpy bits that clog up your tip.
Hi! I’m going to be making this icing for a small batch of cookies, maybe half a dozen. How would I cut this recipe so I don’t make as much?
I would suggest 1 lb of powdered sugar, 4 tablespoons of meringue powder, and 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons of water. I wouldn’t make less than that, because then it doesn’t mix up well and incorporate properly.
If you do end up with any leftover, you can freeze it for up to 3 months.
Thank you so much!
Finally, a perfect, straightforward recipe for royal icing! I followed your instructions to a T and lo and behold, the icing was perfection. Thank you so very much!
This recipe is a keeper!
This makes me so happy! When I was first trying to make royal icing, and decorate cookies, everything was so confusing, and it was a lot of trial and error. My mission is to share my knowledge and make things as easy as possible!
Hi April
for the powdered sugar do I sieve it or not?
If your powdered sugar is clumpy, I suggest sifting it.
This was great information, thank you so much! I’ve been decorating cookies for a few months now, I am definitely not a pro, but not a beginner either. However, every now and then I still struggle with color bleeding. Do you have any suggestions to avoid that from happening? I do use white color to mix in my whole batch of RI, but it doesn’t prevent it all the time. Is there a way to fix a cookie that has color bleed?
You can try using a thicker consistency flooding icing, use less food coloring, dry your cookies under a fan, and flood lighter colors first and allow them to set up a bit before continuing on with darker colors. If you have to flood a darker color first, let it fully dry before moving onto light colors.
Sometimes even then, colors will bleed! Or you’ll have 30 cookies, and they all turn out perfect, except one will bleed. It’s all part of the fun of cookie decorating 😂
Is the meringue powder a stiffener? I have a royal iceing recipe calling for 3 TB meringue pwdr if you intend to ship the cookies to grand kids. How much do you recommend for shipping so they are hard enough, but not too hard?
Meringue powder does help the royal icing to set and harden, but adding less meringue powder doesn’t necessarily make the icing “softer”. My royal icing recipe has what I call a “soft bite” in that it hardens to the point that you can stack and package the cookies, but it doesn’t dry “hard” like a hard candy. Once my icing dries, it’s very stable and can be shipped, but is still easy to bite into.
I have shipped my cookies all across the country, and they’ve always survived the journey. I individually package each cookie in a bag, and then wrap each in a layer of bubble wrap, then I wrap all the cookies together in another couple layers of bubble wrap.
Hi Tyler! I made a batch of icing 2 days ahead of decorating. I stored it in a piping bag at room temperature. Will the decorated cookies go bad after a few days with the icing on it? I see you say it stays shelf stable for 3 days at room temperature. Does that mean it expires and is no longer safe to eat after being out for 3 days?
No, the icing will separate, but it will not go bad left at room temperature for a few days. Icing is shelf stable for much longer at room temperature, up to even a few weeks, it just starts to separate quite a bit after a couple days. And once the icing dries, the cookies are fine for up to a month if packaged in an airtight container. You can make royal icing transfers, which is just dried icing, and those are good at room temp for up to a year. The only time icing might get gross at room temperature is if you’re in a heatwave and the temperature inside out house is quite high.
Hi! A little unrelated to the recipe but do you flood first or outline then flood? I’m decent at decorating with royal icing but trying to get better and your cookies look GORGEOUS so I’m trying to figure out how you do it!
I outline first, so that I have a designated area where I will be flooding, but I outline with flooding icing, and immediately start filling in with flooding icing to flood that area. That way, the outline floods into the flooding icing. I almost never outline with a thicker icing, or outline and let it dry before flooding. I personally don’t like when you can see the outline of icing, because I prefer a smooth, clean, minimal look.
Question 🙋🏻♀️ how can I get my royal icing to be shiny even after is dry
Because royal icing is water, powdered sugar, and meringue powder, once the icing dries, and all the water evaporates, the icing will be matte. I have noticed that the longer icing takes to dry, the more matte it becomes. If you dry your icing under a fan, it retains a bit of a sheen. But royal icing will never be “shiny.”
Some cookie decorators will add a tablespoon of corn syrup to their royal icing to give it a bit of a sheen. I’ve also seen people add edible glycerine. I’ve never tried either myself, so I can’t personally vouch for any outcome. But neither will give you truly “shiny” icing, only icing with more of a “sheen.”
If you are looking for a high gloss finish on your royal icing, the only way to achieve that is by spraying them with an edible lacquer once your icing has dried. You can find “edible glaze spray” online.
Hi, What extract do you think is the best tasting? I have tried vanilla and lemon. I don’t like the chalky taste in the icing. I have tried so many recipes for icing and I can’t figure out how to get that taste out it. Thanks
I’ve never flavored my icing, only the cookies. Because royal icing can be temperamental, meringue powder already has vanilla flavor added, and because you don’t want to get any oil in meringue powder, I don’t add any other flavor.
My best guess is that it’s probably the meringue powder, and/or sugar, that is contributing to the “chalky taste” you described. Without naming names, the brand of meringue powder that you can get in the store has a bit of an odd aroma and flavor. To me it smells a little like play-doh. I only use CK Products meringue powder, and C&H sugar. CK meringue just smells like a vanilla bean pod, and C&H sugar is the only sugar on the market that comes from 100% sugar cane. All other sugars are a combination of sugar cane and beet sugars, or just beet sugar, and while chemically identical, I’ve noticed that they don’t melt, dissolve, or caramelize the same as 100% sugar cane sugar.
Hello!
What do you recommend to substitute for the meringue powder? We don’t have that here.
You can use egg whites instead of water and meringue powder. I haven’t used egg whites before, so I would suggest searching online for a recipe. You can also search for a “glaze icing” recipe that also doesn’t use meringue powder.
To do a large order, do you use piping bags or a bottle for flooding?? If bags, do you use a new bag each time after using all the icing in one bag…. And how large a batch of flooding icing can you make at one time so that the color is consistent on all the cookies?
In regards to bottles or bags, it depends on what you’re most comfortable using. You can use either bottles or bags for flooding icing. If I’m using tipless bags, I don’t refill them. If you are using piping bags with tops, you can refill those. Tipless bags start to lose their integrity after a while, and you can have a bag blow out on you.
The largest order I ever did was for 430 cookies, and I just tried to match the icing color as best as I could. My icing recipe will flood about 50-60 cookies, and it’s usually easy to match the color if you aren’t mixing different colors of food coloring. Typically what I do is count how many drops of food coloring I’m adding.
I just looked up chefmaster colors and they say oil based- is that what you use?
No, the oil based colors are for chocolate. They have water-based gel food coloring that are called “liqua-gel”.
Just a question, why will my qhite Royal icing get yellow spots as it dries🤷🏼♀️
My best guess is that it’s butter from your cookie seeping into your icing and staining it. Solutions for that problem are to 1) let your cookies sit overnight before you decorate them, and never decorate warm cookies 2) Use a slightly thicker flooding icing 3) Add white food colouring to your icing 4) Dry your decorated cookies under a fan, and do not cover them as they dry 5) You might also need to bake your cookies a little longer. If they are underbaked, there’s more chance that butter will seep and stain the icing. I bake my cookies until the edges are starting to turn a golden colour 6) Humidity does all kinds of funky things to icing. And my solution to that is drying cookies under a fan and even turning on the HVAC fan in your house, if you have one.
Hello!
I don’t have a scale. How many cups of sugar would you recommend? I tried to convert lbs. to cups, but it isn’t a measuring cup friendly number. I’ve tried many different recipes for icing, I’m so excited to try this recipe!
Thank you!
My advice would be to purchase 2 lb bags of powdered sugar. I’ve always measured out my powdered sugar for icing by weight, and not volume, so I can’t advise you on how many cups 2 lbs is. A cup of sifted fluffy powdered sugar is not going to weigh the same as a a cup of powdered sugar that is compressed and has settled.
This is great advice! Thank you!
On Pinterest this recipe is shown with Woodland Animal Face cookies. Can you tell me where to get that cutter set? Thanks!
They are actually available on my site. They are the Sweet Sugarbelle Animal Shape Shifter Cookie Cutters. The owl is just an oval or egg cookie cutter that I also use to cut a notch in the top to make the ears.
https://paperstreetparlour.com/shop/sweet-sugarbelle-animal-shape-shifter-cookie-cutter-set/
The recipe works well, but I find that the flavor is very tart. Is this normal?
I’m not entirely sure how sugar, water and meringue powder turned out tart. Did you add lemon? Otherwise, it should not be tart.
Sorry if I just scanned over this answer already but does this recipe dry hard?
Yes, it does
H! I love your decorating! I’m in love with your cookie cutter shaped as well! It’s so hard to find the perfect cutter! May I ask where do you order your cutters from? I’m especially interested in the woodland cookie cutters! Thank you so much! – fellow cookie decorator ❤️
Thank you! I recommend Sweetleigh Printed (https://sweetleigh.com/) and The Sweet Designs Shoppe (https://thesweetdesignsshoppe.com/). I also make some of my own custom 3d printed cutters.
The woodland cutters are Sweet Sugarbelle Animal Shape Shifter set that I actually sell. The owl is just an egg or oval and cut a notch out of the top using the same cutter.
https://paperstreetparlour.com/shop/sweet-sugarbelle-animal-shape-shifter-cookie-cutter-set/
Hi! Does this method allow for the icing to dry really hard? Like you, I’ve been experimenting with the million different recipes labelled “fool proof” Royal icing, and still working out a lot of wrinkles. I ship my cookies to a lot of people, and even though I bubble wrap those puppies like no others, I would want to make sure they could withstand the tossing and turning! Any comments or feedback are appreciated! Thanks!
I have shipped my cookies and they hold up just fine. The icing dries and you can stack and package the cookies once the icing is fully dry. I do bag and bubble wrap each cookie and then bubble wrap them all inside the shipping box, since the icing dries hard, but they can still be fragile.
Hi! I want to try your recipe because my frosting always ripples. I like to put extract flavoring in my frosting to give it that flavor. Can you suggest what I can do and if there is an extract that would be best to use.
Thank you,
Maureen Malinowski
You can absolutely add flavor to your icing. I don’t, only because I flavor my cookies, and since I first learned how to get my icing to cooperate and really nailed it down, I didn’t want to mess with a good thing. The key to flavoring royal icing is to never use an extract that has any kind of oil, use only water based extracts. If you get any oil in your royal icing, it won’t set and harden. I know some cookiers who use a little fresh lemon juice in their icing.
Also, sometimes icing will ripple if you keep your cookies covered while they dry. It has to do with humidity. I will keep my cookies uncovered as they dry so that there is enough air circulating over them. You can even use a fan, and just have a fan running on low over your cookies as they dry.
How long should it take for the royal icing to completely harden? I’ve tried in the past and the following day it still was not hard.
It depends on a lot of different factors. It typically shouldn’t take more than 8-12 hours for the icing to fully dry and harden. However, humidity can lengthen drying time. You also want to make sure that you’re cookies aren’t covered during the drying process, you want air moving over them or they will take much longer to dry. I sometimes have a little table fan blowing on my cookies to help along the drying process. And if your icing is taking too long to dry, it might be because there is oil in your icing. Be sure that you aren’t using an extract that has oil, and that your mixing paddle and bowl are clean and oil free.
I recently started to learn the art of flooding. Despite a lot of hiccups I’m proud to say it has come naturally. However the icing has been a horrific experience. The first batch I had no comprehension of the consistency necessary. The second batch I tried another popular cookie makers recipe. It was literally frothy. Who knows, could have been my fault. But then I came across this page and I have literally never had a website be so helpful and easy for my ADD brain to read. The 10-20 second rule was an absolute godsend. My third time flooding and my icing was a masterpiece. Thank you for this!!!
I’m so glad I found this – thank you!!
I’m still at the “sad cupcake” phase. I’ve tried a bunch of recipes and the icing always seems too fluffy. I’m so excited to try this 🙂
Any tricks to getting your icing this smooth (like the heart cookie)? I seem to be hit or miss and it’s super frustrating because I can do so many other techniques.
It all has to do with getting your flooding icing thin enough so it will smooth out, but thick enough that it doesn’t run off the sides of the cookie. If your icing is too thick and you’re having issues with it fully smoothing out when you’re flooding, stop fighting with it, thin down the icing, and try again. It may be a little annoying, but it’s much less annoying than fighting with your icing and ending up with lumpy cookies.
How long do you wait until you put a layer on top of the initial flood of icing?
You typically want to wait until your flooded cookie is completely dry before adding details. Depending on the weather, humidity, thickness of you flooding icing, and how large your cookie is, it can take somewhere between 8-24 hours for a flooded cookie to dry.
Last year I had some royal icing cookies made for my daughter’s baby shower. They were beautiful and delicious. Ever since then I have been wanting to learn how to make and decorate these cookies. I have reviewed many internet sites to learn the basics. I have really enjoyed your site. Thank you for sharing these recipes and decorating tips. If I was in California I would certainly attend your cookie classes. I’m in Florida but I’m going to give this a try. Question: Can someone who really has no drawing, decorating, or artistic skills make descent looking cookies? I am creative though, if that counts!
I try to teach cookie decorating so that it’s just like coloring in a coloring book. If you can follow some step-by-step directions, you can decorate cookies. I can’t draw to save my life, but I can do magic with royal icing. Just break down the design, and it paint-by-number.
Does this recipe separate in the bag? I had a meringue powder recipe I used last Christmas, and the icing separated in the bag overnight, I had to sqeeze the bag until it mixed together. Also I don’t use a stand mixer, what’s the best way for a standard mixer. And how do you make multiple colors with a single batch. Divide into a couple batches, add gel colors and then mix 8 minutes?
All royal icing will separate due to the ingredients. That’s why I store them in bags, so that I can just knead the bag to mix it back up. Separation is totally normal. To make different coloured icing, I make the recipe as normal, and then I’ll take the icing after it’s done mixing for the 8 minutes and split it up into different bowls and add the food colouing at that point. You can make this recipe using a hand mixer, since you don’t have a stand mixer, you just have to run it on the lowest setting and still mix it for the 8 minutes.
Thank you, I used your recipe last year during Christmas time. Had great results.Thought the mixer was the problem with the separation. I have found that friends that my daughter and I Decorate for are intrigued with the decorating of multiple types of Christmas cookie designs.
Can you store leftover RI in piping bags for 1 or 2 days. Also do decorated cookies with RI Freeze well.
Yes! My RI is shelf-stable for several days, up to at least a week, at room temperature. It will separate, but that’s why I like to store in bags, because you can just knead it up in the bag to reincorporate. I’ve had my clients tell me they don’t get around to decorating their take home cookie kits for several weeks, and the RI is still fine. You can also throw your royal icing in the freezer, and just take it out a few hours before you begin decorating so it can thaw out.
As far as freezing decorated cookies. The answer is that, YES, you absolutely can freeze decorated cookies. However, if you store your cookies like I do, unless you are making them months in advance, they are also fine at room temperature for about a month.
Once you’ve decorated your cookies, and the icing has fully dried you want to follow these steps. First, get yourself an impulse sealer (a heat sealer for bags) and some food safe cello bags, available at any craft store. Do not buy an expensive impulse sealer, you shouldn’t spend more than $30-40. There are ones that are $100+ that are not any better than an inexpensive one. Seal each cookie individually, in a food safe cello bag, and your cookies will stay fresh for several weeks to a month. The only thing that might effect them is sunlight, which can fade the colors of the icing. If you want to freeze them, package them individually in your cello bags, and then freeze ’em. To thaw them out, take them out of the freezer and lay them out on your counter top, in a single layer, at room temperature, IN THEIR BAGS, and condensation will form on the outside of the bag and not on the cookie. Alternatively, you can put them in cello bags, and tie them shut with a little twist tie, but I find you end up with the floofy part of the bag sticking up that can be hard to deal with when you’re trying to store them.
What is the ratio when i want to use eggwhites instemde of merengue poeder as that is not available here. I can’t seem to Find the Recipe here
Hi Ellen, I’ve only ever made royal icing with meringue powder and water, and have not used egg whites. I believe it should be equal parts egg whites to the amount of water that I use, so 3/4 cups. However, I would suggest searching online for a recipe.
What consistency does your basic recipe obtain?
Thank you
It should make a flooding icing or a medium consistency icing. You might have to adjust the consistency a bit, depending upon what you need it for, by adding a little more water or powdered sugar.
So, for the thicker icing, to pipe around a cookie, just add more powdered sugar? Do you suggest a tsp at a time?
Yeah, to make a thicker detail icing, you just add a more powdered sugar until you get the desired consistency. It’s hard to gauge exactly how much you would need to add, but I typically add anywhere between a tablespoon, and even up to a 1/4 cup, depending upon the amount of icing and the consistency you’re starting with. Flooding icing should be the consistency of honey, and a detail icing should be the consistency of toothpaste.
How long in advance can these cookies be made and decorated?
You can make them several days in advance and they will stay fresh boxed up at room temperature. You can also individually package them in cello bags and they will keep for about 3 weeks. Or you can make them months ahead of time, individually wrap them in cello bags, and freeze them. To defrost, take them out of the freezer, and lay them out at room temperature still in their bags. That way, condensation will form on the outside of the bag and not the cookie. You can also freeze undecorated cookies and icing for several months, and just bring everything to room temperature before you start decorating.
How do u flood your cookies without a boarder first?
I use flooding icing for the border and flooding. I outline first using flooding icing, and then start flooding immediately. The only time I use a thicker icing to outline first is when I need really sharp corners (like on a square or rectangle shaped cookie)
What food coloring do you use to achieve those amazing colors?
I have only been using Chefmaster liqua-gel food color for the past couple years. I’ve tried everything on the market, but Chefmaster has become my go-to. They have the best pinks and reds that don’t taste funky. Princess pink, bright red, and neon bright pink are my favorite colors to mix together to get a really bright neon pink color. But definitely stock up on chefmaster colors, they last forever, don’t dry out, don’t get lumpy or coagulated, and go a really long way since the colors are super saturated.
If you are doing multiple colors, do you do 2lbs for each color? Can I add color after the icing is made so I can divided one recipe for multiple colors? Thanks!
You can make the entire batch of icing, and then split it up to make several different colours.
Excellent recipe! At what point would I add flavoring, and how much flavoring do you recommend? Also, what brand meringue powder works best for you?
I typically don’t add flavouring to my RI, as my cookies are flavoured. If you do want to add some kind of extract or flavour, make sure it is oil free, as any kind of oil will prevent the RI from drying. And just add it in with the water.
My favorite meringue powder is either CK Products or Fat Daddio’s.
Thanks you for all the information and recipe ! About to try it out now . I also want to say your cookies look beyond amazing!!
My first attempt with this and it was SO thick! I ended up adding another 3/4c water to get it to flood consistency. The taste was great though.
I tried the egg whites recipe and my 1st attempt was also a disaster. I got the icing right initially but it was way to thick. Thank you for your recipe and post and I’m going in with a 2nd attempt with your recipe. Fingers crossed.