I do not understand why I am so afraid to use Royal Icing unless I am totally off base in my brain...
Maybe because growing up RI was used to glue gingerbread houses together and was hard as a rock.

How & Why would anyone want to eat that? I see people applying it to sides of cakes, frosting cookies, etc...Are we talking about the same thing or no?

I see beautiful tiaras, decorations, etc all made with RI but I have zero understanding of any of this...I tried making RI dragonflies once but they all just shattered...are there any tutorials, tips, different recipes I should be using for different kinds...I just don't know...help please???
TIA

RI is one of my favorite things to use. I like using to make icing flowers and figures ahead of time, and I use it on cookies too. I like to flavor mine with a few drops of extract (usually lemon or strawberry) and they end up tasting pretty good.

If you have them in your area, the Wilton Coure II class is nothing but RI and I learned a lot of things from it I didn't know about RI before. But the real trick is that the RI you use for Gingerbread houses is much thicker than decorating RI.

Try the Cookies! forum here on CC. Most of the RI tutorials and info can be found there.

HTH!

Yes, the RI used to decorate cookies is delish! It usually has corn syrup added and dries softer than gingerbread RI. I love to work with RI...tiaras, flowers, animals, etc. Edna has a couple of YouTube videos that show her using RI. You should maybe check them out. One for her petunia (which is b-e-a-utiful), and another demonstrating a daisy. I sometimes put my kids in the bed, whip up a small batch of RI, and spend hours piping flowers...they last forever in an airtight container, so I know I'll use them eventually LOL!

I also love RI for decorations and to flood cookies. I haven't tried fondant yet on cookies...thats coming next month...but I absolutely love the flavor that RI adds to a cookie. The trick is to flavor it right...otherwise its pretty gross. I also like RI flowers for the same reason that other posters stated.

Don't let it psych you out. Keep working with it until you become comfortable.

As I tell my students, don't let the icing be the boss of you, you are the boss of the icing!

Don't be scared of it! It does have it's pros and cons. Some love it for the easy of makign the flowers ahead and being able to pick them up and put them on the cake, and others (IndyDebi comes to mind) make all their flowers out of buttercream and let them air dry.

I do think that royal has it's place in the cake world, but it does take some practice and play. It can be fragile when dried and moody to make occasionally. But once you get it down, there are lots of things you can do with it.

I must be the odd one here, I was brought up with R.I and buttercream. Fondant is the one that scares the life out of me. I dread if someone should ask for a cake covered in the stuff. I love R.I, just wish I could do some of the decorations I've seen done with it. Don't be scared of it!!!

Thanks everyone, I will be sure to catch some tutorials.
I am just so intimidated!
UGH!