Ingredients-wise, royal icing is deceptively simple in its ingredients but demanding in its execution. But the execution is anything but.
Because the consistency make all the difference, you don’t need a ton of piping tips, you do, however, need to know what each stage looks like. Here’s an infographic that explains effect of gradually adding water until it reaches flood-ready consistency:
How to Get the Right Royal Icing Consistency
But seeing this on a chart isn’t the same thing as picking up some icing and feeling it in your hands as you try to push it through a tip. Decorators generaly begin with a basic batch that they can stick upside-down. That’s your starting point, the blank canvas.
Then you go ahead and thin it out in different batches, depending on what you’re trying to do. You want it to be runny enough that it doesn’t drip or fall off the cookie but also firm enough that it will set hard once dried. That sweet spot is what separates professional from amateur decorations.
Okay, first think about consistency of the flood part (which covers most of the cookie’s surface). In general, you want it to self level in like fifteen seconds. To test this, drag a spoon across the bowl and watch what happens to the ridge. Do you see the ridge vanish immediately? It is too thin. Does it remain raised for too long? Then you’ll end up with a bumpy flood you’ll spend hours scraping down.
A good consistency will dissolves slowly enough for you to time it. This is why it matters. It must also dissolve quickly enough that it doesn’t bleed beyond its borders. In terms of the time test, that’s more trustworthy different than just trying to eyeball it in the moment. The chart shows it all pretty well.
You also need to learn to rely on your own eyes in the process. Just keep in mind humidity affects everything. That fifteen second window might be different from day to day based off how humid your kitchen air is.
For outlining, you want something with more stiffness, as it needs to resist gravity and stay up. So you’re looking for body in the icing. The ability to pipe a border without it slumping over right away. The structure provides the containment for the walls where your flood color stays in place. Otherwise, if the outline is too soft, there’s nothing stopping the flood from spilling out before it can set.
Many new people tend to use a single consistency for all purposes. That almost never works out. Always have at least two bowls ready. One with sturdy outlines and another with smooth flood.
Adding color makes things even more interesting because gel paste doesn’t thin out the icing; it only changes its appearance. Black and red are particularly tricky, those darker shades require a lot of color and can make the icing slow down/stick. Patience is key here. When you’re mixing colors, mix them several hours before baking so the color has time to develop and the consistency firm up. Lighter pastels can wait, while the deeper colors requires attention and time.
One little-known trick to success is storage. The enemy of royal icing is exposure to air, which causes it to crust over faster then buttercream. Make sure to cover each bowl with plastic wrap or a damp towel pressed tightly down onto the frosting’s surface at all times. Don’t even think about leaving it uncovered while you talk to your friends, you’ll end up with a skin on top that’s ruined when folded back into the frosting, giving it a lumpy look. Sounds annoying, but taking a few seconds to cover the bowls would of saved you minutes of scraping later.
And lastly, just know that thicker will dry slower. A thick border will set up more slowly than a thin flood. Wait for each layer to be totally rock solid before piling on the cookies. If you try to rush things you’ll end up ruining some detail or cracking the surface.
These are the kinds of textures that turn frustrating guesswork into consistent results. Once you get a handle on what the water does to the sugar, then you can realy start working with it instead of fighting against the icing. Next time you’ve got a piping bag in your hand and you’re standing there looking at your cookie, take a second to check your consistency first. That makes all the difference.