(following the discussion of my earlier thread on how to get my logo onto a cake) I attempted my first try at piping Royal Icing onto wax paper. First problem . . I couldn't get the icing to the right consistency. .it was still too thick and didn't 'blend' well, so all you saw were stiff strokes and break offs etc. Second problem. .it tasted HORRIBLE! Not sure if it was from the food coloring, cause I couldn't get it dark enough blue, so there was definitely a lot in there, or if it was due to something else. 3rd problem. .. it just looks horrible. .LOL I am now thinking, for lack of time and any other methods, that I am just going to pin prick the design onto the fondant and then just use decorator's icing and pipe over it. But for future reference, what the heck did I do wrong and how do you get it so smooth.

I am so bummed!

Sounds like you needed to thin it out some more. The taste could be because you added too much color, but RI doesn't really have a "good" taste. Unless you add flavoring, its pretty much just like straight sugar.

So how do I thin it out?? Just keep adding water until it's super thin?

Also, how do I get the finished product off the wax paper without breaking it?

Oh and it didn't taste like sugar it tastes like chalk! Yuck! LOL

I agree with Tellis12. You needed to add more water to thin it out.

Also, don't use wax paper. Use plastic cling wrap (Saran) instead. No sticking at all!

As for the flavor, if you're expecting people to eat the logo, maybe you should consider a chocolate transfer. Royal icing isn't very tasty, as you discovered. But, adding flavoring to it may compromise it's ability to set up properly.

I've made tons of royal icing pieces over the years. As with anything else, you'll get a lot better with practice.

Thank you! How would I do a chocolate transfer? Same thing just with melted chocolate? Does it pipe well? (sorry for all the dumb questions, I am new at all of this)

i thought that wasn't going to be a good time for you to try something new...sorry you had so much trouble. royal icing is something you need a little practice at working with. but yes, when you make royal icing you can keep adding a tablespoon at a time of water until you get the right consistency. and yes, it doesn't taste that great


I say you should just go back to do a bc transfer like you know how to do. there is no rule that says you can't have bc on fondant.

yes, you could also use chocolate. but again, if you haven't used it before now probably wouldn't be a good time to try something new.

take a deep breath. don't freak out. go back to what you know.

You can also add some corn syrup to make it stronger without adding so much water. It just takes some time getting used to. I took a class last week after OSSAS with James Rosselle, Joshua John Russell and Jason Ellis. Joshua is the one that does such great piping on all of the Food Network Challenges. He told us that he whips his royal much longer, sometimes an extra 10 or 15 minutes after it should be done. It makes it much lighter and easier to pipe without cramping your hand. After using the royal that he whipped up, I agree and now I can't wait to do more piping and I've always hated it. Now, I love it!

To strengthen royal icing add gum arabic.

Global Sugar Art--three buck & change.

Steponmi (is your name Stephanie. . cause I was plagued with that nickname growing up. . LOL) Anyway, yes you are right. .wrong time to try something new!! But honestyl, it's ALL new to me. Even the BC transfer. My only thought with the chocolate is I an buy it already colored so I won't have to mess with the color too much. I need a Navy Blue and by the time I turn the icing that color it's got half the bottle in there! Any thoughts on how to get it dark without using so much color?

Well, the hands are blue and the inside of the circle is white (some logos are reverse, but most of them are white in the middle). Anyway, if I do that I just mix the blue gel coloring with some vanilla to get the "paint"? If I do that though, will the pin pricks show through the coloring since it is not going to be an actual substance like BC covering up the pricks?

Thanks so much girl!

Sounds like you really didn't have enough liquid in the royal icing. Add lemon juice after you have the finished product to make it a little easier on your hands.
Also.... You MUST sift the powdered sugar that goes into your royal icing. If you don't you will get clumps and lumps that will drive you crazy clogging your piping tip.

If your design is not smooth after you pipe it. You can use a food safe paint brush and vodka to smooth it out. It works like magic.

The clear gel idea might work! I am going to try the chocolate transfer tonight (I have time to play while the cakes are baking) and we'll see how that works out. . if not then i will try your idea and then just pipe or paint directly on the cake. I might as well try. . .gotta practice at some point right!

I will be sure to post a pic when i'm done. . thanks so much for all the help! I'm sure I'll be back at some point tongiht with another question along the way. . LOL

OH (see already thought of one). . I"ve seen a mix of recommendations to use wax paper, ziplock bag, and cling wrap to do the chocolate transfer on. Which should I use? Which is easiest to remove the chocolate from? I'm so afraid of breaking it!

well, if you let the chocolate sit long enough it becomes strong again. don't put it in the fridge, after you take it out of the fridge you'll get condensation and it will just take longer to dry.

personally, I've used parchment paper only. I think if you use the wax paper you may get a shiny chocolate transfer. ummm...ziplock bag I've never used but I would think that having the bag sides would move about a little bit so you might want to cut it in half.

you really have to use what you think you are comfortable with. I think what the other bakers were saying about the bag or cling wrap is that is non porous and so it may be a little easier to take off. whatever you use just let you chocolate sit long enough and then peel off by going down and do it slowly. IF you like this technique you may want to make another one just in case of breakage and keep them in a safe place.

believe me...the chocolate transfer is going to be easier then you imagined

awesome! Thanks for the tips. . I'll post a pic when I'm done tonight!

Well, I have to say it went fairly well last night with the chocolate transfer. My only issue is that some of the chocolate didn't 'sink' all the way to the bottom so there are a couple (very tiny) air pockets. I am going to do another one tonight just to see which one comes out better.

QUESTION. . .I just left the leftover chocolate in the decorators bags and was going to re-melt them tonight to do the second logo. . .How do I re-melt it. . is it ok to put the bag with the white attatchment in the microwave? The back of the chocolate bag says you can microwave them in the decorator bag so I'm not too worried about that. .but what about the white attachment inside the bag that you screw your tips onto (cause I can't dig that out now. .LOL)

I really hope I don't have to waste all that chocolate and start over.

Thanks! (I know I promised a pic but I didn't finish until 11 pm so I will have one tonight. . I PROMISE!) LOL

yes, your coupler will be fine in the bag with the chocolate. just don't keep the tip on warm up the chocolate on small increments and do them at half power. I know my microwave does like power of and I normally do power of .

when you do your chocolate transfer again put it on something where you can lightly tap your transfer to get out the bubbles or keep a needle nearby to pop them.

sounds like you're doing good!

thanks! I can't wait to try it again, now that I know what it feels like to handle the chocolate etc. It really did come out good. . .so hopefully tonights will be even better.

Only other concern is how I am going to affix it to the cake. The back is not super smooth (something else i am going to try to fix tonight) so I'm not sure how to get it flat on the fondant and what should I 'glue' it to the fondant with? I am an idiot and got rid of all my extra buttercream last night. I do have some writer icing, i guess that might work. Any other ideas? I really don't want to make a whole batch of icing just to glue it to the cake.

Also, I was quite surprised how much color I had to use to get the chocolate the right shade. I bought the candy colors and it said to add drop by drop. . .no joke I was POURING it into the chocolate and it still didn't turn out that dark. Luckily it didn't taste bad at all, so that's good, but what a waste!

Ok. . .now if the day would only hurry up and be over with so I can go home and start playing with my cake! LOL

See the finished product in my photos! Not bad, hopefully will do better next time.