Hi,

Is there any secret to creating black royal icing? I want to use it for cake stenciling.

Thanks!
Jennifer

Use Americolor black coloring, also dont start with white icing...tint your icing another color first-doesnt matter what color-blue, brown, green. Then start adding the black to that.

I also agree with using Americolor's super black. I actually start with white though. Their black is so strong that it doesn't take much to turn my white into black. And it's in a nice squeeze bottle too.

I added a cocoa powder/water mixture to the royal icing first so then it doens't take as much black to reach a true color.

I agree with PinkLisa. You can even add your black gel color to your water when you are making the RI, get it mixed then add the coca. This also takes some time as the black color will develop. Add a little gel color,mix, cover, let sit for awhile, repeat if needed. Very easy.

Because royal icing made with lots of color is oftentimes brittle, start with an extra Tbsp of meringue powder in your RI. I use both Americolors and Chefmaster super black directly in white RI with excellent results.

When I need black royal icing, I substitute the water for the RI recipe with black airbrush color. Works great with red too.

Seems rather expensive to do it that way. When I make a 1-lb batch of RI, I use 5 Tbsp plus 1 tsp of water.

You don't have to make a whole recipe of black royal icing if you don't need that much. I make smaller batches all the time. Airbrush color isn't that expensive. Sure beats using a whole container of paste color to make black.

True, true...but thankfully with Americolor and Chefmaster, it's more along the lines of teaspoon of color vs a whole jar of that inferior Wilton color.

Thanks for all of your help!!