Hi All!

I am going to make Royal Icing via the WILTON receipe. The receipe calls for Meringue Powder, Warm Water and Powdered Sugar. I know that decorations that have been made out of Royal Icing will last a
L-O-N-G time if stored properly. My question is what about the actual icing in the already made complete receipe form? Does that make sense?

I want to make some Royal Icing in advance, but can the icing itself be stored? If so, how and how long?


Thank You,

I have never made it in advance, for fear it would harden up too much while being stored. Someone might have done it before though and have an answer for ya .

I make a full batch of royal icing usually antonia74, but have made wilton before. I set it on the counter in a sealed container, put a damp towel over the lid as well. You will have to remix it by hand or on the mixer after a few days, but it lasts me a couple of weeks, by then I've used it all up. If I have smaller containers of colored icing left from a project, they also go in a sealed container, a damp towel, then into a ziploc.

I make the wilton royal icing quite a while in advance. I put saran wrap over the surface of the icing (actually touching it), then the lid. You just mix it a bit by hand before using it and there you go!

I've had some in a ziplock in the fridge for a few weeks now, and it's separating a bit, but I kneed it together and it's fine.

Hi, yes you can make the RI in advance. It will last for up to two weeks. Do not refridgerate, just leave on the counter. You will want to remix well before use to regain the consistancy back. HTH

Learn something new every day on this site. I have made royal icing so many times, but have thrown out the extra after I have completed my project. I did not think it would last more than a few days. Thanks for the info.

If you take your container of royal icing and place plastic wrap over it before putting on the lid then flip it upside down the icing will make an air-tight seal. This will keep your royal icing good for quite awhile at room temperature. You may have to re-whip it when you're ready to use it depending on how long you have been storing it.

Thanks!!

Royal icing keeps for a couple of months in the fridge. I keep a Pyrex bowl with a well-sealing lid full of RI on hand at all times because that's what I use for the centers of my bows and whatnot.

I put a damp paper towel right on top of the RI, actually touching it. Cover with a tight lid and keep in the fridge. Don't worry, the h2o from the paper towel won't affect your RI. Just stir it up when you want to use it and you're good to go.

Similarly, if I have several bags of RI that i'm using, I wrap the tips in wet paper towel to keep them from drying out. Easy to haver several different colors on hand at once.

In my experience, (based on 11 years of making royal icing and having 1000+ students also make royal icing ), sugar is very hygroscopic and will completely suck all of the water out of the wet paper towel, and then your royal icing is soupy. RI will also suck the water out of wet/damp paper towels if the tips are left sitting on them for more than an hour or two. The ability of sugar to pull water out of its environment is really pretty cool until your RI commits suicide.

For storage, put plastic wrap directly on the surface of the icing (just extra insurance, not really necessary) and snap on a well-sealing lid. To store royal icing in bags, I unscrew the coupler, put a piece of plastic wrap over the tip, and screw the coupler back on.

Royal icing does get 'spongy' as it sits and needs to be given a brisk stir with a spatula to restore it to its smooth texture, so storing RI in bags is only good for less than 24 hours.

LOL, Cakepro. . . I was just about to add a question to this thread about that "spongy" effect and what to do about it So that result is not "bad"? It's okay, food-safety wise? What is it that makes this airy/bubbly texture after sitting!?

I have no idea why it does that but it's annoying! LOL! If you've used meringue powder, there's no worries about food safety issues.

Wilton will two you two weeks. I'm sure you can store it longer, and I have read about it being frozen.

I will say though, from my experience, if you are looking for white white icing I would make it fresh. I have used a week or or two week old 'white' and it wasn't white white like it was when I originally made it. It had yellowed a bit.

I do agree that it is weird how the texture does change as it sits, but stirs back up fine. And I have never had any luck storing it in bags either.

I made royal icing with meringue powder and I used Wilton tip 1 to make an intricate pattern, but the meringue crystals kept getting stuck in the tip and so the final result was a bit blotchy and I spent a long time unblocking the tip...Did I make it wrong??

Thanks!

Royal icing made with Wilton meringue powder keeps in the fridge for many months. Proper storage is key.

It sounds like some of your RI dried and got mixed in with your fresh icing, houri. You can filter your royal icing through a clean nylon knee-high. Most pros do this when piping RI through tiny tips.

thanks, i'll try that!!