I tried making a rose with royal icing....... and the frosting seemed to melt together. It was a DISASTER! Why did it turn into a puddle? Anyone else have this problem?

Your bowl.whisk etc all have to be grease free.If a bit of residue is still there it can cause the royal to puddle.You can try and add more icing sugar...I wash all my utensils with hot soapy water and vinegar.I hate making RI flowers also for this reason!!

I did a few more.... each one looked perfect and then as it sat there they melted together. I give up. I don't have this problem with buttercream. See my pictures, I know how to make roses....... so it has to be the frosting. What the heck is going on?!

Did you mix for a full 10 minutes? If you don't mix long enough, even though it seems stiff enough in the bowl, it will melt after piping. (Grease can do this, too, but I have had it more with undermixing.)

Is your RI thick enough?? Just when I think my RI is thick enough my flowers will do the same thing. Make sure the consistency is thick to hold the shape.

Seemed thick enough.... I did make it a couple of days ago though and didn't rewhip it. Maybe I should have done that.........

THANKS!

Maybe put in a little less water and see how that is. Maybe it is just too much water.

With RI you must whip it/stir it well before each use. Look at the bottom of your bowl and you'll see that the RI has separated and there's a liquid puddle. You may have just answered your own question