Ok, I have such a difficult time with royal icing, but I have about a dozen occasions I need to bake for this season, and cookies make up so much faster than cakes. The Wilton recipe for royal icing calls for:

4 c. powdered sugar (sifted)
3 T. merengue powder
6 T. Water

I use a stand mixer and only used 5T water instead of the 6 called for. It says to beat it for 7-10 minuted until stiff peaks form. I beat it for at least 20 minutes and still my peaks were soft. I kept adding more and more powdered sugar until it finally stiffened up.

I had sifted my powdered sugar first before I measured it. Should I have measured first then sifted?

Thanks in advance for your advice!

Hi, I always measure and sift whether its powdered sugar or flour.

The way you have written it, that would mean to measure, then sift. If it were to say "4 cups sifted PS, you would sift first, then measure.

This is why professional weigh everything. Sifted, unsifted, packed, loose... you get more accurate, consistent results by weight than by volume.

Hi...I always sift then measure. Have you tried Antonia74's Royal Icing? I finally did and like so much better then Wiltons, my sister said it was better on the cookies.

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-1983-Antonia74-Royal-Icing.html

The way the recipe is written you sift after you measure. Ditton on Antonia74's icing.
Cathy

Ditto Pink, I weigh everything. The only thing I sift at all is cocoa because this bag of cocoa is lumpy. The last bag wasn't. :sigh:

You have to pay attention to how the recipe is written because 1 cup of sifted powdered sugar or flour (sifted first, then measured.) is different than 1 cup of powdered sugar or flour, sifted (measured first, then sifted). If you sift first, you'll have more air in the powdered sugar or flour so watch how the recipe is written.

I would like to start weighing my ingredients. If your recipe uses measurements, do you just measure then weigh so that you can modify your recipe and uses weights from then on out?

Just curios.