Hi Everyone,

I am trying to find out what is added to royal icing to make it more pliable and less able to break...please help as I can make the royal icing but still have difficulty when piping long strands....I read once some ingredient and I cannot remember what it was...also what quantity per 1kg powdered sugar.

many thanks

probably corn syrup. What are you trying to get the icing to do? String work?

Yes and I am failing hopelessly....I thought one person said agar agar. How much corn syrup does one add?

Thanks for the reply....

What are you trying to do?  Royal icing is not supposed to be pliable at all?  I do quite a lot of work with royal icing and found that how you handle it makes a big difference to how well it survives.  Only hold it from one side (so don't hold it between 2 fingers, just support it underneath with 1 and be very gentle.  I made this for my cake international entry last year and all the pieces were made of royal icing and free-standing (not attached to the cake)...the big ones were 3-times the size of my hands and curved.  I only broke one piece (and thankfully, it was a small one!).  Try adding a bit more water to the mix and also start with thicker nozzles until you get the hang of it.  If you are working on a pattern/greeceproof paper, make sure you greese your paper to help the icing release and DO NOT try to remove them until the icing has completely dried.  I leave mine overnight at least.  Good luck :-)

And for string work, try adding about 1 tablespoon of corn syrup to the 2 lb/ 1 K powdered sugar recipe. It only takes a little to get some "string" going. 

awesome effect snowflake!

Oh wow I am so impressed with your work. Thank you very much for your hints and tips I will try them and hopefully become more adapt at icing. I even sometimes find it difficult to get the icing to stick to the fondant. I will keep trying as you cake is awesome.

Many thanks

How are you trying to stick the icing to the fondant?  You can't really use water as a glue for royal iced decorations like you would with fondant/gumpaste decorations because it will dissolve the sugar.  I always use royal icing itself as a glue...much easier and gives better contact.  Alternatively you could use buttercream.

Thanks so much for all your help....I will practice