Will Piping Gel Break Down Royal Icing?
Decorating By stephilde Updated 27 Apr 2010 , 11:54pm by BlakesCakes
I know it is going to sound weird but i was thinking of doing a piping gel transfer and then trace it with royal icing instead of buttercream. Will this work? I know the fats in buttercream make the royal icing break down, will that happen with piping gel? Thanks!
Nope, you can add buttercream into royal.
It isn't the fats that break it down, after it is made, it is the moisture in the icing.
I interesting...all this time I thought it was the fat, too! When making royal icing you can not have any grease get into it or the egg whites (merignue powder) will not whip up properly. Once made though that is a different story.
Last summer I did the black and pink cake in my photos. I rubbed every tier down with crisco because they were dull from the powder sugar I rolled the fondant out on. Each tier had a good coat of crisco on it. I pipped royal icing on and it is still there, even now. It did not desolve, melt or run. It dried rock hard as it normally does.
When I took Course 3 years ago we taped wax paper to the back of the flower formers and spread crisco over the wax paper then piped some royal icing hearts on them. Again they dried hard, the cirsco was there to help them release easier.
In Course 3 now we actually add piping gel to the Lilies to help them pipe with a prettier point. And they dry just fine.
I fully believe that the softening of the royal icing and color flow comes form the moisture in the icing (remember moisture will melt royal icing) rather than the actual grease. We are just taught to be so careful about how we make it that we have become scared to get 'fat' anywhere near it. If it wasn't meant to actually go on cakes, people would have stopped using it years ago.
Yes, I think that piping gel will "melt" the royal icing because of the high moisture content in the gel.
As for the fat vs. moisture issue with buttercream, etc. I think that you have the most destruction of royal when you have a moist (non crusting) icing in contact with fresh royal. In that instance, you have no barriers between the 2 and the breakdown is pretty quick.
Royal on a bit of crisco on wax paper or fondant doesn't have this issue--there's no moisture exchange. But, if there's a LOT of fat, there's also moisture in the fat, so, you get a mess.
The issue of no fat near royal when making it has more to do with the fact that you're making a meringue and meringues won't beat up properly in the presence of fat. Meringues will also deflate once whipped if fat is introduced.
HTH
Rae
so do you think piping gel will melt it then? Its pretty moist
I've been teaching Wilton classes for 6 years. My students have been adding piping gel to the royal icing when making lilies all those years. Their flowers did not melt. They dried hard, just like they were suppose to.
If you took a dried flower and set it on the piping gel I'm not sure what would happen, but you can add it into the royal with out a problem.
When making royal icing you can not have any grease get into it or the egg whites (merignue powder) will not whip up properly. Once made though that is a different story.
Last summer I did the black and pink cake in my photos. I rubbed every tier down with crisco because they were dull from the powder sugar I rolled the fondant out on. Each tier had a good coat of crisco on it. I pipped royal icing on and it is still there, even now. It did not desolve, melt or run. It dried rock hard as it normally does.
When I took Course 3 years ago we taped wax paper to the back of the flower formers and spread crisco over the wax paper then piped some royal icing hearts on them. Again they dried hard, the cirsco was there to help them release easier.
In Course 3 now we actually add piping gel to the Lilies to help them pipe with a prettier point. And they dry just fine.
I fully believe that the softening of the royal icing and color flow comes form the moisture in the icing (remember moisture will melt royal icing) rather than the actual grease. We are just taught to be so careful about how we make it that we have become scared to get 'fat' anywhere near it. If it wasn't meant to actually go on cakes, people would have stopped using it years ago.
TexasSugar, you rock!! this is like taking a class 
Thank youuuuu 
how do you htink it will do with GLACE? Beacues I want to make sunglasses, and thought piping gel would look cute
Do you mean can you do the techinique with cookie glaze? If so I'm not sure. I haven't used it much so I don't know if it is going to dry hard enough to come off the backing in once piece. Now if you wanted to just outline the image on the cake and fill it in with cookie glaze I can't see why that wouldn't work.
There use to be a techinique though you don't see alot of it any more (or I don't) where you outlined in buttercream then used powder sugar, corn syrup and maybe water to make a pourable mixture to fill in areas. I want to say it formed a skin, was still easy to cut through but didn't dry hard or firm like color flow/royal icing would be. It was refered to as run-in-sugar I believe.
I believe, off the top of my head, it is 1/4th of a teaspoon piping gel to a 1/2 cup royal icing. We use it for the lillies in class as it is suppose to help form the pretty points to the flower petals.
I don't see why you couldn't use it for other techinques, though if I was doing something like a royal icing/color flow transfer I'd go with straight icing..
I have a question. I am doing a dora Color flow and want to lay it on the cake. How do i provent it from NOT breaking down?
I have put color flow pieces straight on a cake many of times with no problems at all.
Are you covering the cake in an air tight container or putting it in the fridge?
I have a question. I am doing a dora Color flow and want to lay it on the cake. How do i provent it from NOT breaking down?
I was taught in my Wilton classes to press a few mini marshmallows, sugar cubes, or balls of fondant into the cake (so that they stand up just a fraction of an inch above the buttercream) and to then place the color flow piece on it.
The thicker parts of the piece would take quite awhile to show the effects of being directly on the buttercream, but the thinner edges can get raggedy pretty quickly.
HTH
Rae
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