Here is your ultimate guide to royal icing consistency.
This post is all about royal icing consistency. We are going to learn all the terms you need to know to get started cookie decorating with royal icing.
I love making beautiful royal icing cookies. To get that flawless look, royal icing consistency is one of the most important things to master. I will go over four different royal icing consistencies that you can make royal icing.
Once you master the consistency you like, your cookies will look beautiful. I will explain the difference between outline, flood, writing, and outline/flood consistencies.
This post is all about royal icing consistencies.
When I first started making cookies, of course, my cookies did not look professional. That is because I didn’t know how to make that royal icing flow like I wanted it to on my sugar cookies. And how to fix imperfections.
Now I know it was all about royal icing consistency. Once I found how I wanted to outline and flood my sugar cookies and the thickness of the royal icing, my cookies game blossomed.
Royal icing recipes: Glaze Icing versus Regular Royal Icing
During my cookie journey, I experimented with different royal icing recipes. Let’s talk about the recipes I tried. One was a glaze royal icing, and the other a regular icing recipe. Both use meringue powder.
Glaze royal icing recipes typically have a nice amount of corn syrup, which uses about a 1/2 cup of corn syrup, compared to the recipe I use now, which only uses one tablespoon of corn syrup. The recipe that I consider a regular royal icing recipe is the recipe with less corn syrup. I love the recipe I use now.
Grab this royal icing recipe to get you started. Also, a good cookie recipe is needed to pair with the royal icing. Check out the best sugar cookie recipe.
How to change the consistency
Changing the consistency of royal icing is effortless by using water or powdered sugar. To make the icing looser, use a spray bottle and add water to it. I would purchase a designated spray bottle that is just for your cookies. Then, you would spray a little water and stir the icing.
To make the icing thicker, add powdered sugar to the icing. The fantastic thing about changing royal icing consistency is that you can go back and forth, making it looser or thicker.
Types of royal icing consistencies
Let’s talk about the different royal icing consistencies you will use to make beautiful cookies. Some people like to use seconds to determine their consistency. I don’t use seconds, but I will briefly talk about it.
Some icing consistencies are referred by 15 second, 20 second flood. This is how long it takes the icing to flood back together after drawing a line. I stopped using this method because I was either counting too fast or too slow . So I was having to go back and change my consistency until I got it right.
Now, I don’t count seconds; I look at how the icing moves, which works for me. But you can decide what works best for you.
Flood
Flood icing consistency means the icing will spread around the cookie. To test this icing consistency, draw a line in the icing while in a bowl and see if the line will disappear. If it fades fast, then you have a flood icing.
If your icing moves fast, you need a border around the cookie. That’s where outline icing will come in handy.
Outline
Outline icing consistency means the icing will not move and can be used as a border around the cookie and sometimes to add details to cookies.
Outline/flood
Outline/flood consistency is my favorite consistency on cookies when I need to outline a flood with the same color. This consistency is thick enough to be used as a border to go around the cookie; it can also be used as a flood icing.
Fewer bags of icing are used when you use his combined royal icing consistency in one piping bag! Less clean-up is the best.
Writing
Writing consistency is similar to the thickness of toothpaste. It should be stiff but thick enough to hold its shape for writing letters and numbers on your cookie. This is also a good consistency to add details to your sugar cookie.
Useful Tools
Plastic deli containers with lids
Wilton’s cake decorating tools brushes
You can always practice your royal icing on a piece of parchment paper. If it isn’t right, add it to the bowl and adjust it as needed. Once you master the consistency, it will make your cookies look flawless. You got this!
