Can I Use Black Royal Icing To Pipe On White Butter Cream?

Decorating By tmassey5 Updated 27 Oct 2016 , 7:28pm by Coob

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tmassey5 Posted 1 Jul 2008 , 2:55am
post #1 of 20

I have a wedding cake that has very simple black designs on a white background. The cake will be iced in white butter cream and I am concerned about "bleeding". I have been thinking royal icing this whole time and now that the cake is for the 5th of July, I am not sure about what to use to do the piping. Will the royal icing melt into the butter cream? BTW-----I am in Mississippi and it is really, really hot and humid!
Thanks for you help.

19 replies
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karateka Posted 1 Jul 2008 , 5:56am
post #2 of 20

Are you using anything that will require the cake to be refrigerated? If not, I'd suggest just using black buttercream. Keep it at cool room temp and there shouldn't be any bleeding. I've done this before....check out my pics. I've only had bleeding when I've put the finsihed product in the frig and then taken it out. Condensation caused the bleeding at that point.

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gr8_seamstress Posted 1 Jul 2008 , 6:28am
post #3 of 20

A little meringue powder in your buttercream will prevent the bleeding of colors.

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tmassey5 Posted 1 Jul 2008 , 1:41pm
post #4 of 20

the cake will not have to be in the fridge, but the humidity is really messing with my cakes this summer. The icing almost seems to be separating and the cakes are "greasy" looking. I really think the heat and humidity are the cause as I have never had this problem before.
So, I guess that using the royal isn't a good idea?

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stampinron Posted 1 Jul 2008 , 2:35pm
post #5 of 20

Bumping.....I want to know about the royal icing on BC as well.......

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tmassey5 Posted 1 Jul 2008 , 8:17pm
post #6 of 20

I decided the best way to see if this works, is to just try it.
I iced a small round cake with my buttercream icing and have piped black royal icing all on it to see what happens. It has been about an hour and so far, so good. I did have the cake covered in saran wrap and am noticing that the RI is getting softer...maybe not a good sign. I have uncovered 1/2 of the cake to see what happens with that.
I can wait to put all of the piping details on my wedding cake until Sat. Morning,or early afternoon, but the cake is being delivered around 3 pm and the wedding isn't until 7:30. This is the bride's choice. I have a 30-40 minute drive to get there also....so have to factor in the car temperature too.
I'm guessing I need about 8 hours from icing the black to the actual serving of the cake....give or take a little.
I am going to throw some black buttercream on there also and see the difference.
I will post an update!
If anyone else has a suggestion, please let me know!

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CenterpieceSweets Posted 1 Jul 2008 , 8:29pm
post #7 of 20

royal icing should be fine, just don't cover it, if you cover royal icing it wont dry. royal icing needs to be exposed to air to dry.

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tmassey5 Posted 1 Jul 2008 , 8:39pm
post #8 of 20

thanks for the tip. I don't mind the cake not being covered, but I always wonder what the people think when I arrive with an uncovered cake! icon_lol.gif
I think being not covered helps the butter cream not look "greasy" as it sometimes does in the heat.

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karateka Posted 1 Jul 2008 , 8:51pm
post #9 of 20

I think she means don't cover it airtight such as with saran wrap. You could put it in a box and close the lid. Enough air gets in so the RI will dry, but no moving air to bring dust and goo.

Don't forget the pics!

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CenterpieceSweets Posted 1 Jul 2008 , 9:25pm
post #10 of 20
Quote:
Originally Posted by karateka

I think she means don't cover it airtight such as with saran wrap. You could put it in a box and close the lid. Enough air gets in so the RI will dry, but no moving air to bring dust and goo.

Don't forget the pics!



yep!!!!!! thumbs_up.gif

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tmassey5 Posted 1 Jul 2008 , 9:30pm
post #11 of 20

Great! Now I feel like I am getting somewhere!
What about the fact that this is a wedding cake. It is going to be 3--2 tiered cakes actually. I really want to go ahead and stack the cakes before I leave.
I don't have a box for that.
Any thoughts on that? I normally just wrap in saran wrap, but since that isn't an option......

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karateka Posted 1 Jul 2008 , 9:38pm
post #12 of 20

I buy boxes at Wal-Mart. They are the Duck brand. They come in sizes from 6x12 up to 20x20x20. And they are pretty inexpensive. But if that isn't big enough, try the local "Mailboxes" or UPS store. They have tons of boxes of all sizes, but they run around $8 apiece. Good luck!

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CenterpieceSweets Posted 1 Jul 2008 , 9:50pm
post #13 of 20

any bakery supply store will sell them too, or even and organization store might have them I would stack when you get their. you could leave bottom two tiers stacked and put the 3rd on when you get their..are they stacked or separated with pillars at all.

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tmassey5 Posted 1 Jul 2008 , 9:51pm
post #14 of 20

thanks for all of your help.
BTW---the icing is still fine and no bleeding after 2 1/2 hours.

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tmassey5 Posted 1 Jul 2008 , 9:52pm
post #15 of 20

There are 3 separate cakes....each is 2 tiered. Since they are only the 2 tiered, easy to travel with stacked beforehand.

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CenterpieceSweets Posted 1 Jul 2008 , 9:54pm
post #16 of 20

yea you should be fine..the royal icing wont bleed you should be good to go! post some pics when your done.

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tmassey5 Posted 2 Jul 2008 , 2:58pm
post #17 of 20

Just an update....no bleeding of the royal on the BC....over 20 hours now,
For all of the inquiring minds.....it will work. Black on white! yeah!
I will post pictures after saturday

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tmassey5 Posted 5 Jul 2008 , 9:09pm
post #18 of 20

Here is the final product!
I posted the picture in the wedding cake gallery also.
Thanks for all of your help. I didn't have any trouble with bleeding.
LL

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karateka Posted 5 Jul 2008 , 10:20pm
post #19 of 20

They are lovely, great job thumbs_up.gif

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Coob Posted 27 Oct 2016 , 7:28pm
post #20 of 20

Thank you for doing the footwork and posting the progress it was very helpful and I'm feeling a little more confident. 

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