Look no further if you want a good recipe for outlining and flooding cookies.
Royal icing consistency is the most important thing when you are cookie decorating, and you need the best royal icing recipe to help make those cookies beautiful. It is so important to have a recipe that allows you to make icing into different consistencies. This recipe works well with outlining, flooding, and decorating cookies. It gives the cookies a nice hard but not too hard bite.
Let’s be real, when you find a recipe that works you want to share it with the world. That’s how I feel about my sugar cookie recipe. This recipe is simple and does not require a lot of ingredients. No fiddling with the right amount of baking powder and baking soda.
This post is all about you getting the secret to the best royal icing recipe.
When I started to learn how to decorate sugar cookies, it was so much fun. I researched and tried so many different royal icing recipes. At first, I loved to work with glaze icing which had a larger amount of corn syrup than traditional royal icing recipes.
When I started having some issues with craters, it made me switch to using a recipe with no corn syrup. (I wonder if the corn syrup was the issue because craters can always happen!) But I missed the light glaze look of my icing, so I found another recipe with the right amount. Now this is the best royal icing recipe. It is perfect for flooding painting on a cookie and has a nice fluffy look.
Looking for a good sugar cookie recipe to pair this icing? Check out the best no spread sugar cookie recipe.
The difference between buttercream icing and royal icing
Someone asked me what is the difference between buttercream icing and royal icing. Let us discuss this! Buttercream icing is made from butter and buttercream recipes can include heavy cream, cream cheese, even eggs depending on the type of buttercream you want. It is a thicker icing that doesn’t move around like royal icing. Buttercream will not get hard like royal icing.
Royal icing can be made with or without meringue powder. I like to make it with meringue powder. Meringue powder is a mixture of pasteurized egg whites, sugar, and other ingredients. When I need to make vegan cookies, I use a recipe without meringue powder, so there are no egg whites. Royal icing can be stiff or loose enough to move around and flood a cookie. It also hardens overnight.
So which should I use for my cookies? I’m glad you asked! It is up to the look you want to achieve. Royal icing gives cookies a smooth look and allows cookies to be packaged without smushing the icing. You can also achieve beautiful designs and add incredible detail once you understand which royal icing consistencies to use on your cookies.
Buttercream icing brings up beautiful memories! It is the icing I grew up putting on cookies during Christmas time! We would bake sugar cookies, color the buttercream icing with food coloring, and spread it on them. Then top it off with sprinkles. So you can use buttercream to decorate your cookies!
Royal icing ingredients
Very few ingredients are needed to make this icing
- Powdered sugar
- Meringue Powder: I mostly use Wilton or CK bought from Amazon.
- Water
- Cream of Tarter
- Vanilla Extract: Use whatever extract flavor you want your icing. Make sure it has no oil in it.
- Light Corn Syrup
How to make royal icing
Step 1: Using a mixer with a whisk attachment, mix warm water, cream of tarter, and meringue powder in a bowl. Mix until it is slightly frothy for about 20-30 seconds. Warning! DO NOT mix long, you do not want water and meringue to froth too much and grow in size.
Step 2: Add vanilla extract and half of the confectionary sugar for about 30 seconds.
Step 3: Add corn syrup and the remaining confectionary sugar. Mix for an additional minute.
Royal icing tips
As stated above during step 1, do not overmix the meringue powder and water. Allow the mixture to double in size but do not let it get too big. This will affect your icing quality and make it unusable! If the icing is over-mixed, the icing will not harden once on the cookie.
After coming out of the mixer, the icing will be a little thick. The significant part about royal icing is the consistency can easily be changed. Add water to loosen the icing. Confectionary sugar can be added to make it stiffer. Avoid adding too much water because you could air bubbles in your icing. Air bubbles can be popped, but it is better to try to avoid them.
I add Americolor gel bright white food coloring to my bowl of icing. This will prevent color bleed while giving you actual white icing. Color bleed occurs when two different color icings are next to each other, and one color bleeds to the lighter. For example, if you have white icing next to black icing, you will see black icing spreading over to the white icing. It’s a pain. But ever since I started adding white food coloring to my batch of icing, it seems not to be a problem.
Royal icing can be colored any color you would like. I like to use Americolor gel colors. They are my favorite because it only takes a little gel color to get your desired color. They are neat and easy to clean any gel that may spill. It is essential to know that the colors darken over time, so I would stop coloring the icing once you get close to the desired color.
Storage
Immediately pack royal icing in an airtight container, like deli containers with lids. I leave my royal icing at room temp for one week, fridge for two weeks, then freeze it for six months. Enjoy!
The Best Royal Icing Recipe
Ingredients
- 5 tbsp Wilton Meringue Powder (any brand)
- 1/2 cup warm water
- 2 lb powdered sugar
- 3/4 tsp cream of tarter
- 1 tbsp corn syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp additional flavoring (almond, lemon, butter vanilla) *optional.
Instructions
- Using a mixer with a whisk attachment, mix warm water, cream of tarter, and meringue powder in a bowl. Mix until it is slightly frothy for about 20-30 seconds. Warning! DO NOT mix long, you do not want water and meringue to froth too much and grow in size.
- Add vanilla extract and half of the confectionary sugar for about 30 seconds.
- Add corn syrup and the remaining confectionary sugar. Mix for an additional minute.
