Hi...newbie here, and I am clueless.
I just made my first batch of royal icing. I used the recipe in the Wilton book, just cut it in half because I just wanted to try it out. It wasn't getting stiff enough, so I put in more powdered sugar. It still never really got stiff when I was piping it out. Should I have added more meringue powder?
Also, I was attempting those swirl drop flowers for the first time. I was using a pretty small tip...I think tip 224. I STUNK at doing these!! Everything kind of just mushed together. Was it because my royal wasn't stiff enough? Is it easier to do with a bigger tip, like 2D, like my book suggests trying when you're just learning?
Thanks for any advice.
I'm going to give you my experience.
My RI would always just mush together. I had such a horrible experience with it. Until I used REAL pasteurized egg whites. Then everything I did came out perfect. They're pasteurized, so they're safe and the difference in the RI is amazing.
Rachel
Hi...newbie here, and I am clueless.
I just made my first batch of royal icing. I used the recipe in the Wilton book, just cut it in half because I just wanted to try it out. It wasn't getting stiff enough, so I put in more powdered sugar. It still never really got stiff when I was piping it out. Should I have added more meringue powder?
Also, I was attempting those swirl drop flowers for the first time. I was using a pretty small tip...I think tip 224. I STUNK at doing these!! Everything kind of just mushed together. Was it because my royal wasn't stiff enough? Is it easier to do with a bigger tip, like 2D, like my book suggests trying when you're just learning?
Thanks for any advice.
I use royal icing all the time, just using the meringue powder as direct will be enough..sounds like you had too much water in the mix,so use less water next time and too the weather outside plays a major role in how your RI will turn out, if its moist outside your RI will be too. I'd make a new batch and use less water and use the powdered sugar till you reach the desired thickness.You can check it by lifting a tad of the icing with your spatula to form a peak and if it holds without puddling/losing its form,then its good to go.
How long did you mix it for? If you do not mix it atleast 7 minutes but in most cases you need 10 (or more) it will look thick and feel thick but when you go to pipe with it the decorations will melt on you.
If you have grease on your bowl or beaters it will also keep it from mixing up right. But usually if you wash everything well before you use it you won't have that problem.
Humidity or moisture in the air does cause problems as well. That is one of the problems with Royal Icing. You can use the same recipe over and over and depending on the humidity it will come out differently every time. I usuaully start with a tablespoon less of water and then add in more if I need it.
If it is too thin because you have too much water, then you can always use cornstratch to thicken it up.
I totally agree with frosting111. I think it is a little too much water and the humidity has a lot to do with it. I made a batch yesterday that came out a little soft but it was okay because I was going to thin it out to flood cookies anyway. But I did notice my normal recipe was a little softer than usual. You may want to try Antonia's icing which you can find in the articles tab at the top of your screen. It is located under "How to bake and decorate cookies". The RI comes out stiff enough to pipe flowers with and you can thin it to flood your cookies. Best of luck to you 
I'm in course 2 and we made a ton of batches of royal. I had a terrible time last class with my consistency last class. I think it was due to the humidity that day. It also rained that night.
My instructor told me to cut back one tbsp. of water. Plus make sure that you are whipping the icing until the shine is gone, I believe it says 7 to 10 minutes, which is really hard to do with just a hand held mixer, but it can be done. Make sure you measure everything as exact as possible.
Good luck!
INstead of. Id on't use the Wilton recipe, I use a recipe calling for egg whites.
Rachel
I was using the wilton recipe and I always had to put a ton of sugar in to get it stiff enough. I just tried Antonia's RI and it is so much better. I think it must be the addition of the cream of tartar.
Does anyone add extra cream of tartar to the Wilton meringue powder? I can't buy meringue powder around here except for the Wilton's.
I had pretty good luck with the Wilton recipe, and I haven't tried antonia's recipe yet. It looks the same to me, unless the proportion of cr. of tartar is different.
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