I've had issues with my last two batches of royal icing (Wilton's Recipe doubled- 2 lbs powdered sugar, 6 TBSP meringue powder and 10-12 TBSP water). It's turning into little blobs after piping. I thought it was grease somewhere along the line, even though I had washed everything in the dishwasher and soaked in vinegar-water. This time I was meticulous and made absoulutely sure everything had been soaked in vinegar-water even though most of it was soaked last time and hasn't been used with BC since. Is there anything else that would cause this? I switched to C&H pure cane sugar just in case it was the beet sugar I've been using. I beat it 10 minutes in my KitchenAid. It seems fine until I pipe it. I'm using disposable bags so I doubt it's in the bag. (Last time it was parchment which I don't use often, so I went back to plastic just in case.) Does vinegar go bad? I've had it 6 months or so. Any other ideas???
Kelly
kellyh57, to me it sounds as if you are adding a bit much water, also i have found it works best when the water is luke warm, add the water a bit at a time untill you get the desired consistancy. Piping consistancy should be somwhat on the thick side, but not to thick it hurts to squeeze the bag. Toothpaste is a great example. For outlining something to make something similar to a color flow piece you add more water and it should then it should flow freely from your spatula when mixing is done. I hope this help you out some. Good Luck 
I just bought a Kitchen Aid mixer tonight and I was reading the book about the mixing times. And, in my wilton book, it says "When using large countop mixer or for stiffer icing, use 1 tablespoon less water". I just made some more royal icing roses for a wedding cake. First, I made a boo-boo doing the regular tablespoons of water and then I needed to add more confectioner's sugar and meringue.
In the Kitchen Aid book, I read somewhere in there, that Kitchen aid mixers take less time mixing (which is about half the time than regular mixers).
I hope some of this information helps you or anyone else!
Thanks to everyone helping me also with so much information. 
I agree with trying one batch at a time. I have had problems trying to do a half batch even though I put in the right amount of everything - it just doesn't work like a single whole batch. Hmmm. That's good to know that a double batch does similar things.
I made the same icing last week, just a single batch, and had the same problem. I used the smaller amount of water, but it was still too wet. It piped fine (I was making drop flowers) but then turned into blobs before it dried. The good news is that I added a bit of powdered sugar to a small bowl of the icing, and that made it work like it's supposed to!
I have no idea why this happened, because I've used that recipe several times and the consistency was perfect, but I was glad that it was "fixable" with more sugar instead of being a different problem!
Laura.
A couple of weeks ago we did the royal icing flowers in class. Now we all used the same recipie from the book, and made the icing the nite before. When I put the icing in my air-tight container is was very stiff, as well as everyone else. However come the next nite at class we all had the same problem of the flowers "melting". The solution was more powdered sugar, but we also realized it was raining outside that nite and the air was a bit humid whereas my house air is dry. The weather plays a big role with this icing apparently.
deb
I've had issues with my last two batches of royal icing (Wilton's Recipe doubled- 2 lbs powdered sugar, 6 TBSP meringue powder and 10-12 TBSP water). It's turning into little blobs after piping. I thought it was grease somewhere along the line, even though I had washed everything in the dishwasher and soaked in vinegar-water. This time I was meticulous and made absoulutely sure everything had been soaked in vinegar-water even though most of it was soaked last time and hasn't been used with BC since. Is there anything else that would cause this? I switched to C&H pure cane sugar just in case it was the beet sugar I've been using. I beat it 10 minutes in my KitchenAid. It seems fine until I pipe it. I'm using disposable bags so I doubt it's in the bag. (Last time it was parchment which I don't use often, so I went back to plastic just in case.) Does vinegar go bad? I've had it 6 months or so. Any other ideas???
Kelly
So you made sure that everything is grease free. Let's go from there.
Measuring:
How do you measure your sugar? Do you weigh it? Do you use a measuring cup? How do you measure using your measuring cup? Scoop and dump? Fluff, spoon, level and dump?
I like to sift my sugar when doing royal icing. It helps to eliminate any lumps that might clog my tips. Some times when I am lazy I just fluff with a fork. Then I use a spoon and gently scoop in to my measuring cup, level and dump in the bowl.
Amount of Water:
How many tablespoons did you use?
Generally in recipes if they give you 2 numbers you use the first one. So 5-6 would be use 5 unless you really need to add they 6th. So for a double batch aim for 10 tablespoons BUT remember they say to use 1 tbsp less water if using a heavy duty stand mixer. So you really should be using 8 Tbsp of water to begin with. If it seems like it needs more than 8 tbsp then add 1 at a time until it's a good consistancy.
Climate
If it's humid out this will also affect your recipe.
Just remember you can adjust your recipe. If you are piping and the icing is too soft or runny just add more icing sugar until it's the consistancy you want.
If it's too stiff slowly add water. It's very easy to over thin royal icing.
There may have been too much water when you made it. As someone else said humidty does play a key in royal icing so while 5 tablespoons of water may work perfect one day the next you may need 4 or 6. If it is a more humid day start with less water.
If you want to thinken it up, you can always add a little cornstrach instead of powder sugar.
I've seen icing that wasn't mixed long enough, and it was thick while piping but the flowers just melted. 10 mins is a good time, but always check to make sure the icing is matte and no longer shiny.
From my understanding, grease is going to cause the icing to be soupy, so I don't think it would even get thick enough to pipe with.
Ahh...humidity. It rained all night afterwards. It hasn't rained in months here (it was/is drought conditions) so I just added as much water as always not even thinking about the moisture in the air. Duhhhh!!!
I weigh my powdered sugar, but then again, I spilled a little (okay, not spilled, I accidently hit the speed on the mixer while I was tilting it back down and some when flying all over the kitchen....) I'll add some powdered sugar to what I have left!
I feel like such a dope. I was so mad last night, going through every step of what I did making sure I did everything perfect and could not find anything wrong!
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!
Kelly
kellyh57, to me it sounds as if you are adding a bit much water, also i have found it works best when the water is luke warm, add the water a bit at a time untill you get the desired consistancy. Piping consistancy should be somwhat on the thick side, but not to thick it hurts to squeeze the bag. Toothpaste is a great example. For outlining something to make something similar to a color flow piece you add more water and it should then it should flow freely from your spatula when mixing is done. I hope this help you out some. Good Luck
I am going to agree w/ Kelly. I also think it's too much water that's why the recipe says 5 or 6 Tbsp of water. Also it does say LIKE WARM water
M
Question on making the "royal icing for decorated cookies" found here on CC.......is it possible to flavor it with vanilla? I would put a drop on my measuring spoon before filling it with water, so as not to add too much liquid. Has anyone tried this? I will be using this icing to cover my "no-fail" sugar cookies; hopefully it won't be too much vanilla flavor.
deb
I had the same problem this week. And it isn't humid here at all. I washed the bowls and utensils in soapy hot water with vinegar. I used the same recipe I've used for 25 years. It just won't work. Next time I go to the store, I will buy another container of merigue..I don't know what else it could be.
one thing my instructor told us is to make sure that the water is not too hot ....... I have yet to make a batch of royal that I'm happy with 
ShelbysYummys -your taglines are so funny!
Anyone who thinks the art of conversation is dead ought to tell a child to go to bed.
If there were no schools to take the children away from home part of the time, the insane asylums would be filled with mothers.
Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt this thread...
kos
I've added flavoring before. Just make sure you are using an extract, and not a concentrated oil. When I add it I will subtract that amount from the water. So if I do a teaspoon of flavor I leave the teaspoon of water out.
Question on making the "royal icing for decorated cookies" found here on CC.......is it possible to flavor it with vanilla? I would put a drop on my measuring spoon before filling it with water, so as not to add too much liquid. Has anyone tried this? I will be using this icing to cover my "no-fail" sugar cookies; hopefully it won't be too much vanilla flavor.
deb
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