Royal Icing Roses – Tutorial with a how to Video

Remember the other day when I shared the Train Cookies with you? I told you I would be back soon to share how to make Royal Icing Roses with you and I kept my promise. There’s just one thing you need to know. The humidity here is bad!

It’s the middle of summer and it’s seriously humid. The more I tried to make the royal icing roses the more I realized I needed to think outside of the box. I had to think of some way to make them even though the humidity was high. No one wants wilted roses on a cookie. Guess what? If you live in a humid area don’t worry because I have some good news for you. We’ve got this!

To show you how different the roses are I placed them side by side so you can see for yourself. Some of them are holding their shape quite well while others look like they are wilted. It looked like it was happening right before my very eyes. Don’t worry, I’m sure we can find a use for the wilted looking flowers. Halloween is always a good time to use wonky things so we can save them for October.

Supplies for Royal Icing Roses:Recipes:

Recipes:
Royal Icing Recipe or Half a Batch of Royal Icing

Icing Colors:
White Royal Icing
Pink Royal Icing-Add a drop of AmeriColor Soft Food Paste Gel to some white icing. Add a drop at a time until you get a pink you like.
I suggest you make these in lots of different colors. They come in handy and

Tools:
Decorating Bag
Decorating Tip #101,#102, #103 or #104-The size of the tip will determine the size of the royal icing roses.
Parchment Paper Squares
Flower Nail
Coupler
Bag Tie
Scissors

Royal Icing Roses Video:

I hope you enjoy the video!

• Begin by gathering your supplies. If you don’t have parchment paper squares you can always make your own. Simply cut some parchment paper into about 3″ x 3″ squares.

• Prepare the decorating bag by inserting the coupler.

• Place the rose tip on the end of the coupler and add the ring to hold the tip in place.

• If you want the roses to have the edge of the petals pink then use a butter knife to make a stripe of pink icing on the inside of the bag from the coupler to the edge of the bag.

• Then fill the bag the rest of the way with the white royal icing.

Here is the part where we try to beat the humidity.

• Take a parchment paper square and pipe a dot and pull it up as you stop releasing the pressure on the bag.
• When you’re done, you will have something that looks like a little witch hat but, it’s made with white icing.
• Remove the parchment paper from the flower nail and repeat the process with multiple parchment paper squares.
• Let them dry for about 30 minutes. Letting them dry will be a great base for the roses and will help keep them standing tall without looking wilted.

• Next, with the rose tip (this was made with a tip #101) pipe a circle that will look like a ribbon around the tip of the white icing.
• Pipe it all the way around so it will look like the center of a rose.

• Next, pipe a petal halfway around the center you just made by piping it like the shape of a rainbow. Start a little low on the side of the roes and lift the bag up as you go around the center while turning the flower nail.
• Then, bring the bag back down as you reach the opposite side of the rose.
• Overlap a little of the petal you just made and repeat for the other side of the rose.

• Then, go around the rose with three petals each overlapping the previous petal.
• Heres the fun part. You can stop here for a small rose or you can continue the next row with 5 petals with each overlapping the previous petal. For the train cookies I made the other day I usually stopped here because this royal icing rose worked well with the size of the cookie cutters.
• Remove the parchment paper from the nail and let the flower dry overnight before you try to remove it from the parchment paper.
• Be sure the royal icing roses are completely dry before you store them and then lay them flat in between layers of parchment paper or wax paper. Store them in a cool dry place away from the sun. They will stay fresh for months and months.

As you watch the video keep in mind the humidity level was extremely high when I made these. Remember, if there’s a will, there’s away. By making the base for the rose ahead of time it will help hold the weight of the petals so your rose won’t look wilted when its all said and done.

There may be many different ways to make royal icing roses but this is what works for me and you will need to play around and see what works for you. Notice in the video the consistency of the royal icing. The consistency isn’t the issue because the icing is very thick. Instead, the issue for me is the humidity so making the base for the rose ahead of time is what worked the best for me.

Royal icing flowers are great decorations for your cookies and you can make them in so many different colors. You can make them ahead of time so when you start decorating your cookies, your flowers will be ready to add without waiting a day or two for them to dry. It’s much easier to pipe them on parchment paper instead of piping directly onto the cookies. Royal icing transfers are by far one of my favorite decorating tools so that’s why I make them often in a variety of colors to choose from.

If you don’t want to use traditional roses, you can always add a few ribbon rose by following this Ribbon Rose Video Tutorial. If you don’t want to make royal icing roses, you can make a few fondant flowers by using a silicone mold. Really, any rose will make your cookies look great with very little effort. I guess that’s why I enjoy making them. They make life easier!

Bear hugs,

Products Featured:

(may include affiliate links)

AmeriColor Super Red Soft Gel Paste Food Color

Wilton Icing Bag Ties

Flower Nail for Icing

Ateco Tips Rose Tube Set 4 pc.