Royal Icing

When I decided to do my cookie baking this year i wanted to try royal icing.  I was very nervous to try but thanks to Lorene at Phat Cat Cakes, she by the way made our wedding cake, royal icing is my new favourite thing.

You can use royal icing for straight piping and for something called flooding.  I had never heard of this term before but wow is it easy to do.  Flooding is when you outline your cookie with piping consistency royal icing then you making a looser icing and flood the cookie.  You spoon a tiny amount onto the cookie then rotate the cookie until the icing covers the entire cookie.  I used this to ice the cookies for my cookie tree and Christmas tree cookies.

The recipe for piping consistency royal icing is:

2 cups (1/2 pounds) icing sugar

4 Tbsp Meringue powder

3 Tbsp warm water (starting amount, you may need to add more)

1 Tbsp or 1/2 tsp of colouring or extract

The recipe for flooding consistency royal icing is:

2 cups icing sugar

4 Tbsp Meringue powder

6 Tbsp warm water

1 Tbsp or 1/2 tsp colouring or extract

1. Combine all ingredients in the bowl of your electric mixer.

2. Beat on high for 5 minutes if you are using an electric stand mixer or for 10 minutes if you're using an electric hand mixer. If your mixer has multiple attachments, use the paddle).

3. When you reach the desired consistency, it's important rhat you immediately cover the mixture as it dries out quickly.  Divide it into separate air tight containers if making multiple colours.

**Use the water amounts as starting points but be prepared to adjust them depending on weather or even your kitchen temperature.  Be aware that the amount of water you add to the icing may change slightly every time you make it.

Piping Consistency Tips

* When first mixed, piping icing will start out with the consistency of white glue.  When you've finished beating the icing, it will be glossy, with the consistency similar to that of toothpaste.

* The icing should squeeze easily out of a #2 tip but should stay in place and hold it's shape on the cookie when it lands.

* If the icing is too stiff, it'll be hard to squeeze from the pastry bag and may lift up off the cookie when you finish the outline or detail.

* If the icing is too loose, it will spread and make too shallow an outline to dam the slood icing.

* Test the icing with just the tip before filling a bag.

Flood Consistency Tips

* When first mixed, flood icing will appear very soupy.  In 5 minutes your icing will be shiny and white, with the consistency of heavy cream.

* It shouldn't be so thin that it runs like water ir that its cookie coverage is transparent, and it shouldn't be so thick that it stays in place when you squirt it onto the cookie. It should immediately flow towards the piped borders.

Preparing to pipe and flood tips

* You will need one pastry bag set up for each piping icing colour and one squeeze bottle for each flood colour.