Using only three ingredients, this royal icing recipe is great for decorating cookies, gingerbread houses and piping flowers. It dries hard, with a shiny smear-proof finish, and is easy to customize with color and flavor. This recipe makes 3 cups of icing and uses meringue powder rather than egg whites as the base.

Royal icing is a favorite for decorators, as it dries hard and doesn’t smudge like buttercream icing. It can be used to ice cookies, assemble gingerbread houses, pipe flowers and much more!

Made using meringue powder rather than raw egg whites, this royal icing recipe works up quickly and easily and is a cinch to customize with color or flavor.

Ingredients

• 4 cups (about 1 lb.) confectioners’ sugar
• 5 tablespoons warm water
• 3 tablespoons Meringue Powder

Procedure

1. Beat all ingredients together until icing forms peaks (about 7 to 10 minutes at low speed with a heavy-duty mixer, 10 to 12 minutes at high speed with a hand-held mixer).
2. Let icing sit for 15 to 30 minutes to let air bubbles rise naturally. You can also tap the bowl on the table several times to force the air bubbles up. Gently stir the top surface to release the air.
3. Add flavorings and color, as desired.

Flavoring for Royal Icing

On its own, royal icing has a sweet, vanilla flavor. This comes from the confectioners’ sugar and the meringue powder. If you want to brighten up the flavor a bit, you can add your favorite non-oil based flavoring, such as almond or orange extract.

Be careful not to use oil-based flavors, like those used for hard candies or ice creams, as these will break down your icing, rendering it unusable.

How to Color Royal Icing

The best way to customize your royal icing is with color! Royal icing can be colored just like buttercream, with icing colors or Color Right Concentrated Food Coloring. Avoid using powdered or watery food coloring, as these can affect the consistency of your icing.

Keep in mind that royal icing also darkens as it dries, so make your icing just a little lighter than your desired color.

Some colors, such as red and black, may require the use of more food coloring to get the right shade. If your icing begins to thin out because of this, you can add a little more confectioners’ sugar until it reaches the correct consistency.

How to Get the Right Royal Icing Consistency

Whether you’re piping flowers, assembling a gingerbread house or decorating sugar cookies, there’s an easy way to get the right royal icing consistency for your project.

Royal icing can be prepared to stiff, medium or thin consistency, all by adjusting the water or sugar content.

Stiff Consistency

Use for:

• 3-D decorations
• Gingerbread houses
• Piping roses and flowers with upright petals

Prepared as is, our royal icing recipe will result in stiff consistency icing. If you need stiffer icing, prepare the royal icing recipe with 1 Tablespoon less water.

Medium Consistency

Use for:

• Outlining cookies
• Flowers
• General piping and decorating

For medium consistency, add 1/8 teaspoon of water for every cup of stiff icing.

Thin Consistency

Use for:

• Flooding cookies
• Pouring on cakes

For thin consistency, add 1 teaspoon of water per 1 cup of icing. Use a grease-free spoon or spatula to stir the icing slowly in a figure 8 motion. Avoid beating or mixing vigorously, which will introduce more air bubbles into your icing.

​Some projects will instruct you to thin your icing to a count of 10 or 20. This is a simple test to make sure your icing is the correct consistency for flooding.

To do this, use a spatula to pick up some icing and drop it back into the bowl. If it sinks and disappears back into the icing after the desired count number, you’re good to go!

If it disappears before your count, your icing is too thin. You can thicken it by adding a little more confectioners’ sugar. If your icing doesn’t disappear after you’ve reached your count, it’s too thick. You can thin it with a little water.

How to Fix Royal Icing Consistency

If your icing is too thin or too thick, there’s a quick and easy fix! To thicken your icing, simply add more confectioners’ sugar (you can also add cornstarch if you don’t want to add more sugar), 1 Tablespoon at a time, until you reach the desired consistency.

If your icing is too thick, add water, 1/2 teaspoon at a time, until you reach your desired consistency

Using Royal Icing for Sugar Cookies

Perhaps one of the most popular uses for royal icing is to decorate sugar cookies! A medium consistency icing is often used to outline your design, then a thin consistency icing is used to flood, or fill in, the cookie once the outline has dried.

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.

For flooding, you can use a round #4 or #6 tip, depending on the project, or simply cut a small tip off the end of your decorating bag.

The great thing about using royal icing for sugar cookies is that it dries hard, so you can package and gift your treats without worrying about the icing getting damaged or smudged. Make sure you allow your cookies a full 24 hours to dry at room temperature before packaging