i hope that make sense, I want to know if i can add somethign to the royal icing to make it more 'smooth' and easier to write with ..

also, is there a tip i can get smaller than a wilton 1 and would it work to make fine details on cookies?

Is your icing too thick? That would make it harder to write.

Or does your icing have air bubbles? If that's the case, let it sit for an hour or two with a wet towel over the bowl.

Check these out...

http://shop.cakecentral.com/round-tips-p-435.html

I think maybe the 1a might work?

I find that just thinning it a bit with water makes it easier to do fine work on my cookies.

I'm not aware of anything to add (the way you add piping gel to buttercream), but would love to know about it if you find anything!

I just recently picked up some teeny tiny tips at sugarcraft, smaller than size 1 - they're size 0,00, and 000.

I haven't played with them much yet, but just enough to know that the icing has to be quite thin and completely lump-free to get it to go thru the tip at all!

hth!
Laura.

I was looking at some links on another thread and I saw this photo -

http://www.parkavepastries.com/photos/winter/small%20wonderland%20arrangement-2.jpg

I am still trying to learn. I am able to write with the 1 tip, but not do fine letters and numbers.. I am trying to get ideas for holiday cookies ( its coming!!! ) and I really like the snowflake and swirl designs ..

I was wondering if glycerin would work, but would it dry ok?

I was just thinking again, dangerous I know! but can i add corn syrup to antonias icing to make it smoother ? It should dry ok?

I am just throwing out some ideas ..

Yes, if you add about 1 t. corn syrup to 1/2 cup of royal icing you will be able to write much nicer. Your icing will turn out more smooth and break less. Good luck!

Yes played with my first batch of Antoina's icing.

I added 1 tsp. to the whole batch (small steps), it came out so smooth. My taste tester really liked her icing better than the plan royal- so I'm changing to her recipe now.

One thing I noticed, the color seemed to not completely blend in. It had small speaks of color. Any clue why?

What type of color are you using?

I've never had a problem with the color not mixing in when I use Antonia's icing recipe (but I've never put the corn syrup in it), and I've used wilton and Americolor in many different colors . . .

Laura.

I used Americolor.

I was thinking. I used the hot pink, and for whatever reason (just that pink one) it comes out more as a paste than a gel. I'm thinking, maybe, that had something to do with it.

I mixed the icing for 10 min. and it even sat overnight.

slejdick, so you've never had this problem?

No, I haven't, and in fact I just mixed up about 7 different colors today for some cookie orders, including americolor hot pink, red, and black, and had no trouble with any of them.

How big of a batch are you mixing at one time?

I read here recently that you're "supposed" to mix your color into a small amount of icing to make sure it's mixed well, then mix that into the rest of the white icing to get consistent color. I've never done it that way, and don't know of anybody that does, but I wonder if that might help.

The other thing I do is shake my color gels (the americolor ones, not wilton) before I use them. It seems that some of them are thicker than others, and I'm not sure why, but yours might have separated somewhat, and shaking might help.

I hope you figure it out, that has to be frustrating!

Laura.