My Favorite Royal Icing - Sally's Baking Addiction (2024)

FAQs

What is the 10 second rule for royal icing? ›

To check the consistency, all you need to do is drag the tip of a butter knife through the surface of your icing, letting the knife go approximately an inch deep, and slowly count to 10. If the surface of the icing smoothes over in approximately 10 seconds then your icing is ready to use.

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.

Overmixing the icing

If you overmix or mix the icing on a high setting, you'll whip too much air into the mix, leaving you with a frosting that looks more like a crunchy sponge than a smooth finish.

Like royal icing, cookie icing can be used to decorate your roll-out sugar and gingerbread cookies; however, unlike royal icing, cookie icing does not dry hard. Cookies decorated with cookie icing will set smooth, but the icing will remain soft and can be damaged if cookies are stacked or packaged.

How long does it take for the icing to dry? It takes at least 6 hours for flood consistency royal icing to dry completely, but I always allow the base layer of icing to dry overnight to be on the safe side.

If the icing is applied thinly then it should take 4 to 6 hours to dry completely (though the surface will be touch dry quite quickly) but if it is a very thick layer (such as "snowcene" icing on a christmas cake) then it can take a few days to dry completely.

It's called 15-second royal icing because if you run a butterknife through the royal icing in your mixing bowl, the icing should blend back together in 15 seconds. This royal icing consistency holds its own, but softens or floods lightly so that any peaks made in the icing smooth out.

This recipe uses milk instead of water, which gives it more flavor and just a tad of creaminess. The corn syrup keeps the icing soft – unlike the varieties that get crunchy – and gives it a glossy sheen – so pretty!

You've added too much water to the royal icing. The best way to fix this is to start adding a little extra powdered sugar. If you need a large amount, also add some extra egg white to keep the ratio egg whites:powdered sugar the same. Just add a little extra water.

The three best ways to get that shiny perfect icing finish is using lite corn syrup, making sure your flood icing dries as quickly as possible, and using a thick flood icing. If you are able to incorporate more than one of these tricks, the greater chance you will have to achieve that shiny look!

What does cream of tartar do in royal icing? ›

On the other hand, cream of tartar on its own is often included in royal icing recipes, as one of its key functions is to stabilize whipped egg whites. (It's also used to stabilize whipped cream and to prevent sugar syrups from crystallizing.)

It takes royal icing six to eight hours to completely dry. Once you flood, spread, or pipe it onto your cookies, let them stand at room temperature. However, royal icing will start to dry mid-use if you're not careful.

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

It is likely caused by bad powdered sugar or vanilla extract. Not all powdered sugars are created equal. Make sure you use a good quality powdered or confectioners sugar that only contains cane sugar and corn starch. If it contains anything else, it will affect the taste and the texture.

Covering a cake with royal icing or buttercream

Buttercream can be spread directly on to the cake; if you are using royal icing, first cover the cake with apricot glaze (see above). 1) Stir royal icing or buttercream just before using, to make sure it is easy to spread.

The minimum amount of drying time required is typically 6-8 hours. However, this time can be variable. The best way to get your royal icing to harden is to let it sit out on parchment paper or wax paper for many hours, place it in front of a fan, or put it into a food dehydrator.

If storing your royal icing right out of the mixing bowl, Maddie recommends transferring the icing into a glass container for storage. However, you can also store your royal icing right in the piping bags! Simply tape the tip of each bag closed to prevent your icing from leaking or drying while being stored.

Attempting to spread frosting onto warm cake layers is a recipe for sloppy disaster. Chill your cake layers for at least 2 hours, or better, overnight. If you've made your frosting ahead, make sure it's at room temperature before you start.

Optional Flavors: Feel free to add 1/2 teaspoon of your favorite flavored extract, such as lemon, orange, maple, peppermint, etc when you add the water. Taste after the icing comes together, then beat in more if desired. You can also use 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.

Conclusions: This experiment generally confirms what has been written about adding corn syrup to royal icing: it gives a bit more sheen, especially when the icing is fan-dried, and makes the icing slightly softer, particularly if added in quantities greater than 1 tablespoon corn syrup to 2 pounds icing sugar.

What is the best icing tip for royal icing? ›

For tip sizes, my favorite tip is #2; it's great for outlining and filling in. For larger cookies use tip #3 or #4 and for smaller cookies use tip #1. 4. Seal the top end of your piping bag closed with an elastic band for less mess.

Using Royal Icing for Sugar Cookies

For easy outlining, we suggest using a round #3 or #4 tip. This tip size gives you better control without putting too much stress on the decorating bag. Fine lines and detailing can be piped with a thin round #1 or #2 tip.

As it dries, it hardens to the consistency of candy, similar to like button candy or a smarty. Hard enough to not smear, but not so hard you can't bite it easily. It's perfect for piping on cookies. Pipe out your image, flower, or whatever, then set it out to dry for a few hours or overnight.

Piping consistency royal icing is stiff icing that has been thinned down with a couple spritzes of water from the spray bottle. The icing still forms peaks, but the peaks are softer and fall after forming. When piping with this consistency, the icing should flow nice and smooth out of the tip.

He calls it The 10 Second Rule: just do the next thing you're reasonably certain Jesus wants you to do. (And do it quickly before you change your mind.) The 10 Second Rule will empower you to take simple “baby steps” of obedience, as God directs you. This is not only a “rule” you can do – it's one you'll want to do!

Medium Thick Icing: 18-19 seconds to mostly smooth over. Medium Icing: 15 seconds to settle mainly flat. Flood Icing: 10 seconds to settle flat. Runny Icing: 4 seconds to completely disappear.

(basketball) The rule that a team must advance the ball over the center line within ten seconds of gaining possession. The 10-second interval is used in U.S. high school and college basketball; professional leagues use an 8-second limit.

Essentially, the five-second rule is your window of opportunity before food dropped on the floor becomes contaminated with any potentially harmful germs that may be present.

Mel Robbins explains that she first started to use the 5 second rule as a way of getting out of bed at a time that was both difficult for her and her family. The process was simple. Counting backwards from 5-4-3-2-1 and immediately acting at the end of the count, and before the mind creates a reason not to act.

Why is the 5 second rule good? ›

Faster is better.

A piece of food will pick up more bacteria the longer it spends on the floor. So food left there for 5 seconds or less will probably collect fewer bacteria than food sitting there for a longer time.

I always use Wilton piping tip #4 for outlining and flooding the cookie with icing. This is a wonderful basic piping tip to have in your collection. For any detail, I use a thinner round tip like Wilton piping tip #1 (super thin) and Wilton piping tip #2 (thin).

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

The thicker the icing, the quicker it will dry. For flood consistency icing (thinner icing), you will need much more drying time. If your icing is too thin (or left to dry in a very humid environment, your cookies may dry with a matte finish instead of the shiny look.)

If you want to create a new habit, you have to make it easy to integrate by decreasing the activation energy for the habits you want to implement. In a nutshell: the less time it takes to get done (ideally 20 seconds or less), the more likely you're going to do it!

5 second rule is a fast, funny, family board game based on a series of videos from Ellen Degeneres. It's a party game very similar to 30 seconds. In 30 seconds you have to answer 5 questions in 30 seconds, in 5 second rule you have to give 3 answers to a single question in 5 seconds.

"The five-second rule is simple. You can comment on any aspect of someone's appearance if and only if they can change it in five seconds," the expert said in her TikTok video. "If it would take them more than five seconds to change it, then hush. Especially if the comment is based on your opinion."