I have a BUNCH of royal icing made for a Wilton class I was unable to attend. Can it be converted to a more desirable frosting such as for decorating cookies? I can't see myself using royal flowers (just not my forte I guess) but I really don't want this to go to waste, as there is 3 batches. I like Antonia74's cookie frosting but wasn't sure if this royal could be converted somehow to be anything closer to hers or not.

May be a shot in the dark but worth a try before I throw all this frosting away!

Thanks in advance!

bump!

I think if you thin it down with water you can use it for cookies.

you said "more desirable" frosting - were you looking for a way to flavor it or something? You can use it for cookies - royal icing is used mlit of the time anyway - but if you don't already like the flavor of it - then you prob. won't love it on a cookie either. Kids love it though.

You could also practice yoru flowers - I know I did that w/ all my extra royal icing from the class... it's great to have some flowers on hand. I was making a cake that turned out to be a bit of a disaster, but since I had some extra flowers on hand - it turned out looking pretty good! You can see it in my pics - it's kinda off-white and it has a "half circle" of flowers around the top. Thankfully it wasn't for sale - it was just for my parnets church group - but still, hayng the extra flowers made it at least look prettier than it would have been!

Why don't you just make a ton of drop flowers. They're super easy, and you can't believe how pretty they can look.

I thought drop flowers weren't so easy - you have to twist your wrist at such a weird angle - do you know of a better way to do it, cakesbyellen?

I ice my cookies with royal icing as it is, in fact I wouldn't know what else to use. Basically you pipe the outside edge of the design you want in normal royal icing and fill it in with watered down royal icing (the consistency of thick cream)

Nic Lodge's Gumpaste recipe starts with royal icing.

imartsy,

I start with my wrist twisted forward a bit (say 9:00), then squeeze as I move my wrist to about 1:00. I think it gives just enough twist.

You can also make drop flowers without twisting your wrist at all. Just put the tip down and squeeze a bit to push the icing out.

Then all I generally do is put light yellow dots in for the centers.

What do drop flowers look like? Could you post a pic as they sound interesting

Here are a few pictures of drop flowers I made

I also decorated a garland with only drop flowers and it looked amazing. Here's the link.

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=coppermine&file=displayimage&meta=allby&uname=CakesByEllen&cat=0&pos=10

Wow!!! You're right! That garland is amazing! I'll have to keep that one in mind, as well as in my favs.

I had never used royal for flowers until recently but I made it and absolutely LOVED using it. I don't even mind the taste but they are easy to pick off if people don't like to eat them. I think I liked the no-grease clean up the best.

On a side note - drop flowers are supposed to be "easy" but I can never get mine to turn out. I've tried all kinds of consistencies of icing. But the never have pretty, full swirled petals like the ones here by Vanaya.

I like royal icing better on cookies than on cakes. Something about the crunchy sugary buttery cookie just makes the royal icing great. Also, royal icing lasts a REALLY long time, I'd hang on to it until you thing of something you want to try.

Thanks so much for all the input and tips!!! I do wonder about something tho....I had it in an airtight container and it started separating at the bottom. As mentioned, there were three batches in there, and it is now 3 weeks "old." Any suggestions as to what could cause this and if it means it isn't any good anymore...or does it just need to be remixed?

Thanks again!

Hoe long does Royal icing last sitting out on the counter?

Also, would you refrigerate it? If so, how long would it last then?

I think it lasts 1-2 weeks either in the fridge or out (although I don't think you need to put it in the fridge). I remember in my Wilton class I tried to bring some royal fromt he last class to the next and nothing was really piping right - the teacher said it had probably started to "break down"

Thanks Imartsy, I think I might need to throw some away that I have a t home that has been there for about 3 weeks!