Warning: My royal icing took four nights to get right

I was trying to decorate sugar cookies for a kid's party and the icing was either too runny or too thick, like wet cement. I watched a dozen videos and messed up two full batches before I got the right feel for the peaks. How do you know when your icing is at the perfect stage without wasting a ton of time?

3 comments

3 Comments

nina_hall2mo ago

Feel your pain, my first attempt looked like a toddler's art project. The ten second rule is the only thing that works for me. Drag a knife through the icing and count how long it takes for the line to disappear. If it's gone in ten seconds, it's good for flooding. For details, you want it to hold a sharp peak that just barely bends over at the tip. Honestly, I just make a small test batch now to check the feel before committing all my sugar.

finleyk872mo ago

Saw a baker online who uses a spoon test too, just drops some icing off a spoon to check the flow. Your ten second rule sounds way more precise though lol.

bettykim2mo ago

Wet cement" is the perfect way to describe my first batch too, it was a total disaster.