Royal Icing For Cake Decorating

How to make Royal Icing

I have received many questions about how I make my royal icing. I make royal icing with egg whites (pasteurized) since meringue powder and dried egg white powder is not very common here in Denmark. Some of the cake decorating shops may have it though, but I stick to the egg whites.

If you know how to make royal icing, but are having trouble getting it runny for flooding your cookies, this step-by-step instruction might be helpful to you. I can tell that I always start out with a stiff royal icing and then I thin it down with water so it's either soft for piping or runny for flooding. I swear by my royal icing recipe and won't use any other method to make royal icing.

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 egg whites
2 lb icing sugar sifted (Not all may be used)
1 tsp lemon juice
Large bowl
Handheld mixer with hooks or stand mixer with a paddle attachment
Cling film

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Step 1: Combine egg whites 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 the 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.
How to Make Royal Icing

How to Make Royal Icing

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 stiffer. When you can pull out small stiff peaks the icing is ready. Cover the icing with cling film and a lid or wet cloth and store it in the fridge.
How to Make Royal Icing

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 a time.

RELATED READS: How to Make Daisy Cookies with Royal Icing

Continue this until the icing is 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 number of air bubbles in your icing.
How to Make Royal Icing

You can use this royal icing for cookies! As mentioned before royal icing is great for flooding cookies. See my "How to Flood Cookies with Royal Icing" tutorial to learn this decorating technique.

You can also visit my tutorial section if you want to learn how to make other icings and frostings.

I hope this piece on how to make royal icing for flooding and other occasions was helpful! I know how tricky it can be to keep your royal icing runny and useable. The trick is to keep adding water to the icing to thin it out to the correct consistency. Again, if you make your icing too watery you can usually fix it by adding more icing sugar. (If the term "icing sugar" is new to you, it's just another name for powdered sugar or confectioner's sugar.)

Dry royal icing is a pain to work with and it can be tricky to decorate a cake with icing that isn't applying right. Perfecting royal icing can take time but don't get frustrated. And now you know how to make royal icing too!

Happy Baking!