How to Thicken Royal Icing-Video For Decorating

They say a picture is worth a thousand words and if that is true, how many words is a video worth? I like movies and I love how to videos. As a matter of fact, I built this blog watching how to videos. I am the type of person that can see things done once and then can remember how to do it (most of the time like, pre-thyroid). It really helps me see things in action. Sometimes a video really comes in handy and is so much better than using a thousand words to decsribe something simple.

With that in mind, I am making some videos for you that talks about something we have all had trouble with at one time or another…royal icing consistency. I want to make a post for you on each type of royal icing consistency that is used here on The Beafoot Baker blog. Today we are going to talk about how to thicken royal icing so you can add texture to your cookies. How to Thicken Royal Icing For Perfect Sugar Cookie Decorating via www.thebearfootbaker.comThick icing is used to make royal icing flowers, leaves and even for piping string work. It is used to ‘glue’ cookie stick to the back of cookies to make cookie bouquets. It really comes in handy for a lot of things.

Supplies for How to Thicken Royal Icing:

Use your own royal icing recipe or chose from one of mine:

Confectioners Sugar
Water- One Tough Cookies taught us how to use a spray bottle to thin royal icing and it CHANGED my COOKIES for the BETTER! Thanks Gail!

I am going to try to keep this very simple. If you want to know how to thicken royal icing, keep reading and watch the video. How to Thicken Royal Icing For Perfect Sugar Cookie Decorating with thebearfootbaker.comThick royal icing is a great tool for cookie decorating. You can pipe borders, make flowers, leaves, use it to glue sticks on cookies, make gingerbread houses and so much more.How to Thicken Royal Icing For Perfect Sugar Cookie Decorating with www.thebearfootbaker.comWhen I first started decorating cookies I had a hard time with the consistency. I was hoping to watch a video where someone would magically pop out of my computer screen and hold my hand while they taught me to make the perfect icing consistencies.

It didn’t happen. Don’t worry, I figured out how to make it and so can you. Just don’t give up and keep practicing. You will master it before you know it.

I can’t come to your house and hold your hand but I can make some videos. I hope it will speak more than a thousand words so you can see how easy it is to make thick icing.
The icing in the video is not thick enough to make flowers. If I were going to make flowers, I would have added more confectioners sugar.

 

  • How do you know when the icing is thick enough?
    The icing is thick enough when it can hold the shape you pipe. That means, if you pipe a flower, 10 minutes later it will look the same as when you piped it. If it looks different and ‘flatter’ than it did when you first piped it, you icing is too thin.
  • How do you know if it is too thick?
    This is easy to figure out. If you can’t pipe it out of the bag with all your strength, it is too thick. (No, I have never done that! LOL) Or if you pipe some flowers and see cracks, it is too thick. Just add a little water with the water bottle trip Gail taught us to get it to the right consistency.
  • I pipe flowers that look good but 10 minutes later they have lost their shape. What am I doing wrong?
    Again, if this happens, your icing is too thin. Add some confectioners sugar to make it thicker.
  • Help! My icing looks ‘flakey!’
    If your icing looks flakey, it could be caused by over mixing.

How to Thicken Royal Icing For Perfect Sugar Cookie Decorating via thebearfootbaker.comThis “How to Thicken Royal Icing” is the first of several videos that will hopefully speak volumes about royal icing consistency. I would like to hear your question about how to thicken royal icing or thick icing in general so I can help you understand this wonderful but sometimes frustrating icing. Don’t be shy now. Ask away! If I don’t know the answer, I will try my best to find someone who does.

In the meantime, here are more videos and tutorial that might help with royal icing consistency.
How to Make Royal Icing with a Hand Mixer
How to Make Royal Icing Video and Tips
How to Remove Air Bubbles from Royal Icing
Royal Icing Quick Tip
How to Decorate a Cookie with Royal Icing

Bear hugs,

Lisa