AHi all. Fairly new to the decorating world and I have a question when it comes to a royal icing transfers (if you're not sure what I mean: it's kind of like a butter cream transfer where you put wax/parchment paper over your image and trace it with the icing, although with royal icing the image doesn't need to be reversed...)

I know I need to allow 12-24 hours for proper drying but I notice my outline is cracking and broke apart when I was filling the inside. Is there a way to make the outline/border thicker, stronger? I am putting these onto standard size cupcakes for my daughter's birthday so I don't need them larger; my goal is to stand them up on the cupcake like you can see in the link below, but these things are fragile!

Any suggestions are appreciated!

http://sweetopia.net/2011/01/how-do-you-store-royal-icing-and-how-long-can-you-keep-it/

AWhat royal icing recipe are you using? What is the consistency of your outline icing? It should be the consistency of toothpaste, if its cracking, without any mor info, I hae two guesses. 1. Overbeaten icing. Overbeaten royal icing is very crumbly and loses its strength. 2. Too thick consistency. If your icing is very thick, it may be breaking when you flood it or even as you pipe it.

HTH!

AI use the royal icing recipe that is in the Wilton course 2 book and mix it for 7-10 minutes until it loses its sheen, as suggested in the book: 3 Tbsp meringue 5-6 Tbsp water 1lb confectioner's sugar

I think my issue was stopping/starting when doing the outline, as opposed to making the outline in one complete motion, because I tried making a smaller tree and that worked out better. I also didn't add details to this tree, thinking once I flood it, it will dry into one complete unit, making it sturdier and then I'll do the details.

I will try to upload a pic...might make it easier to understand what I'm talking about.

[IMG]http://cakecentral.com/content/type/61/id/3075652/width/200/height/400[/IMG]

AYes, one continuous motion will help, and it looks a bit stiff to me. Also, I think you could fill the tree with quite a bit more icing. It will shrink slightly as it dries, so you want it at least even with the outline, and even a tiny bit humped up. There are many videos on YouTube about royal icing consistency. Try some different consistencies and see if that helps.

The smaller tree looks cute! that will look cute on a cupcake.