Hi.  I am making cupcakes for a party on Saturday.  I made these fish out of royal icing.  What did I do wrong???  The piped border and the "flooding" didn't meld together and you can see the border.  I thought when using royal icing it was supposed to come together better.  Suggestions?

First picture didn't show up.

Trying again...

based on your description, the icing that you used to flood the fish wasn't liquid enough. To pipe the borders you need a stiffer icing, then you flood it with an icing that's been watered down a tiny bit. And I mean tiny, like add a drop at a time until it will sink into itself when you count to three. If you pipe it out and it spreads to the count of three or four it's fine, if it just goes Sploosh and is super wet then it probably won't ever really dry out. Royal icing is tricky, you have to be careful not to add to much water, it really is the difference between one or two drops at a time.

I meant to write "too" much water. We really need an edit button for those of us who can't type!

costumeczar,

Thank you.  I did do the count to three thinning method.  It flooded fine.  I don't think it was too thick or thin.  It just didn't come together with the border.  

I really wish I could figure out why I can't get a picture to upload.

I often take a pin or toothpick and "swirl" the edge a bit to be sure it flows together and forms well. And follow up to remove air bubbles...

It sounds to me like you needed to really the outline almost to the point of overflowing.  Add your picture to the gallery, and then copy from your profile and then paste into the comments.  It's a pain but until they add the picture button this is what we have to do. A picture would really help.

Pastrybaglady..thank you.  Not sure why I didn't think of that.

So, here is the picture..

http://www.cakecentral.com/gallery/i/3339359/fish-for-cupcakes

I really wish they would get the edit button going!  Yes, FILL the outline really well.  If you use 10 second consistency you can outline, fill immediately and there will be no distinction between outline and filling.

Pastrybaglady,

Thank you.  I thought you could do all the outlining and then come back and do the filling.  That must be what was wrong!  They dried too much in between.

You can outline a few at a time and still be able to fill without drying, but not all of them.

http://www.cookiecrazie.com/2012/03/cookiecraziebasics-decorate-with-glaze.html

This might help!

Thank you!  I think I'll try again!

:-)

If I don't want the outline to show, I outline and then immediately flood them in. It gives them a nice puffy look.

I stopped outlining simple design cookies, where you need to flood the whole area, I just use icing that's a little thicker (ca. 15 sec.), and there's an added bonus of it drying quicker ;)

So, here is the final product.  I never did get the fish remade.  But the cupcake turned out cute!  And the client was happy, so that is all that matters, right!?!?!

http://www.cakecentral.com/gallery/i/3339715/fish-cupcakes

these are very cute!

O fish al - so cute! They look great :)

Thank you.  And thanks for the great advice.  Next time I'll try the different techniques and see if I can't get it right!