When I make things with royal icing I pipe onto wax paper instead of parchment. That appears to help. Also, when piping I find they don't break as much if they are piped out slowly to prevent any cracks or thin areas. These will be your weak points when you pick them up. There will almost always be some breakage though, if for no other reason then that I'm a clutz!
I do use wax paper and I tried a spatula. They broke one after the other. I expected there to breakage so I made extra but they broke too. What is really sad, I have carpel tunnel in my right wrist and my hand will probably be numb all day because of those darn snow flakes!
I'm doing snowflakes also. I started with tip#3- they were too fragile. The tip#5 ones are holding up much better.
I piped the designs, then left them UNTOUCHED for 24 hours.
To remove from waxed paper: put your hand under the waxed paper and peel the paper off the RI -instead of trying to LIFT the RI design. They WILL break every time if you try to lift them!
Peel the paper off the design, then carefully turn them over and pipe the backs too. Place your wires in at this time if using wire.
By piping the backs- your design looks good from both sides, and this strengthens them making them easier to handle.
I also have sprinkled mine while still wet with a mixture of a little edible glitter with sugar for a snowy sparkle!
HTH!
have you tried making them out of candy melts?? I find they're much sturdier than royal....and since they dry hard so quickly you can pipe on several layers of thickness if needed without the whole process taking 3 days!
I need them a true white. Are white candy melts really white or do they have a yellowish tent like most white chocolate? Thanks.
I made some for a cake I'm making and they all broke... with the exception of two. I piped onto wax paper and left them to dry and they were ruined so I chunked the whole idea of RI Snowflakes and make candy ones instead lol I bought the snowflake lollipop mold from Wilton and make a bunch of candies to place on each piece of cake 
I just made an RI snowflake cake last week (it's in my photos). They are very fragile, so about half will probably break!! I used wax paper and piped them onto the 'waxy' side of it. Then peel the paper away from the flake the next day, like was already mentioned, then kind of flip the flake into your hand. Start from the edges and work your way around until the centre of the flake comes away last. Does that make sense? Some of mine were fine after taking them off the paper, but then I broke the damn things as I was handling them!! Thery are frustrating to deal with, that's for sure.
They are for a winter wedding cake. How do you think chocolate molded snowflakes will look. My bride gave me ribbon she wants me to use. It is blue with snowflakes on it. She didn't give me any other guidelines besides the ribbon and size of cake. What would you do?
I just made an RI snowflake cake last week (it's in my photos). They are very fragile, so about half will probably break!! I used wax paper and piped them onto the 'waxy' side of it. Then peel the paper away from the flake the next day, like was already mentioned, then kind of flip the flake into your hand. Start from the edges and work your way around until the centre of the flake comes away last. Does that make sense? Some of mine were fine after taking them off the paper, but then I broke the damn things as I was handling them!! Thery are frustrating to deal with, that's for sure.
I looked at your cake and it is pretty! Maybe I didn't let them dry long enough. I'll try again.
If you can find chocolate in a true white, they would definitely be easier to work with. If your lines are on the thicker side though, they might not look 'snowflake-ish' enough! I've never tried doing them in chocolate, I wonder if you could sprinkle some edible sparkle onto the chocolate....do you think it would stick?
If I sprinkle it before the chocolate is set I think it would stick but I don't think the chances are in my favor for finding pure white chocolate. Thanks for your comments.
For future reference. I have a topic posted The Cake From He-- and this weekend is THE weekend. I have to put snowflakes on the cake. I HATE royal icing so I am using White-White Clasen Candy Melts. I buy them from a local supplier but I am sure you can get them online and trust me....they are WHITE WHITE! The snowflakes look beautiful...I think....we'll have to see about "Bridezilla"! LOL
Beth from KY
I want to try snowflakes now!!! Where do you get the patterns to make them or do you just make them up yourself? Does anyone have a pattern to share?
If you look at www.wilton.com you can find a pattern. There is probably an easier way but if you view the 2003 year book you will find a pattern for snowflakes. When it was all said and done, the ones I made with out the pattern held up better. I think because they were smaller than the pattern. Hope that helps.
I agree that the #5 tip is the way to go when piping snowflakes or in my case, swirls for a wedding cake i did (it's in my pics) The wilton instructions said to use a #3 but they broke everytime. I switched to a #5, let them rest 24 hours and no problem. Also, try the shiny side of freezer paper to pipe delicate royal decorations unto!!!
Royal icing made with 3 egg whites rather than meringue powder is stronger. You might try that.
I haven't piped snowflakes yet, but I wanted to suggest piping the royal onto saran wrap. Someone on here told me about using saran wrap (or cling wrap for those of you overseas) this summer. It's great because it pretty much removes itself from the piped pieces once they are dry. My breakage has gone down to practically nothing since I started piping on the saran wrap instead of waxed paper.
Well, when I went to actually put the snowflakes on they broke. I was only left with a handful. The brides priority was the ribbon so I'm not going to stress about the lack of snowflakes. Next time I am trying chocolate. The RI worked but they are so fragile!!!! The picture is too big so if you want to see how it turned out it is in my pics. It"s the snowflake one. Once again, thanks for all the tips!!!!
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