Royal Icing Recipe

With this perfect royal icing recipe, you can elevate your cookies to new heights. You only need three ingredients to prepare this easy royal icing recipe, and in a matter of minutes, you can create beautifully decorated cookies and sweets.

This simple royal icing recipe, which uses only three ingredients, works well for creating patterns and lines on sweet treats, decorating gingerbread houses, outlining and flooding sugar cookies for a perfect finish, or using it as bonding to “glue” walls together. Lots of people make gingerbread or Graham cracker churches, castles, barns, lighthouses, birdhouses, stores, trains, boats, haunted houses, etc. This is the type of icing used to “glue” those together. Also works great on pretzel cabins! Royal icing is what is used to make intricate designs on wedding cakes.

Royal Icing Recipe

This icing hardens as it dries, making it ill-suited for use on cakes and cupcakes, but its finish makes it the perfect icing for sugar cookies. If you add sprinkles, sanding sugar, or decorator sugar, they will harden with the icing. See below for the best results on how to do this!

What is Royal Icing?

Royal icing is a sweet, hard icing made from powdered sugar, egg whites, or meringue powder. It may be flavored with extracts. It is used to decorate sugar cookies, gingerbread cookies, or a gingerbread house.

Tips and notes for making and using royal icing

● I recommend using a stand mixer for this recipe, but people do use a hand mixer.
● Use room temperature water, not cold water.
● You can add vanilla extract, mint extract, almond extract, anise extract (great for Christmas cookies!), or other flavorings to your royal icing if you so choose. Clear extracts are better because they will not color the white icing.
● Some people add lemon juice to their royal icing, which is very nice if you make lemon sugar cookies.
● For my UK and Australian friends: confectioners sugar is icing sugar (powdered sugar, 10x).
● While royal icing is typically created with raw egg whites, this version uses meringue powder instead of eggs and is based on the Wilton recipe.
● Two teaspoons of meringue powder and two tablespoons of water are the substitute for one egg white if you do not have meringue powder on hand.
● Do not overfill your piping pastry bag.
● Use a piping bag to outline or make straight lines. Fill in (flood) those lines by piping in more royal icing. Use a toothpick to smooth out any areas not reached quickly or any tiny air bubbles that may come out. Some people like to thin out royal icing to fill (an extra little bit of water added), but I do not. The downside is that you might be able to see the border, or it may flow too quickly. If you prefer a thinner icing, do that from the get-go to line + fill; just don’t make it too thin and runny. I do not advise a thinner royal icing, but you may have a different opinion. I feel that this royal icing is the right consistency for piping and flooding.
● I recommend a #3 tip for piping, but you can use other piping tips: a 1.5 is an excellent writer tip and the #2 piping tip works, too. It depends on how thick you would like your lines.
● To get straight lines on your cookies, place a piece of lined craft paper or a pastry mat with lines underneath the cookie, and pipe the straight line using the sheet or mat line as a guide. The Reynolds cut-to-fit parchment paper lines would also work.
● Here are some great royal icing piping tips. Remember, beginning with the proper consistency is key!
● When using more than one color you can allow your cookies to dry and then use the second (third, etc.) color(s). The benefit to this is there will not be any smearing. The negative to this is that it is time-consuming to have to wait for the royal icing to dry.
● The simple ingredients used in this royal icing recipe are commonly found in the baking aisle of your local grocery store. Meringue powder can also be found in craft stores such as Joann, Michaels, Hobby Lobby, or purchased online
● Royal icing decorations can be prepared weeks in advance and kept at room temperature for up to 6 months in an airtight container.
● Leftover royal icing can be frozen for up to three months in an airtight container. Be certain to freeze individual icing colors separately. To thaw, leave it in the fridge overnight and then allow it to come to room temperature on the counter the next day before using.

Recipes where you can use royal icing:

● Grandma’s Old Fashioned Sugar Cookies Recipe
● Skeleton Cookies Recipe (where I originally posed this recipe)
● How to Make a Toaster Pastry Christmas Train

Royal Icing Recipe Ingredients:

● 3 cups Confectioners’ Sugar
● 3 Tablespoons Meringue Powder
● ¼ cup Water, room temperature
● Food Coloring or Food Gel (optional)

Royal Icing Mise en Place:

● Stand Mixer (whisk attachment, large mixing bowl, etc.)
● Rubber Spatula
● Measuring Cup
● Measuring Spoons
● Piping Tip(s)
● Pastry Bag
● Wire Rack (to dry your cookies on)

Royal Icing Recipe Directions:

1. Combine confectioners’ sugar, meringue powder, and water in a large bowl. Beat on low speed for several minutes minutes until everything is combined into a thick glaze consistency.

2. Increase the speed to high speed and beat for another 5 minutes until the icing looks like a soft whipped cream with soft peaks.

3. If you wish to color your frosting, add a few drops of food coloring or gel food coloring and mix well. Alternatively, you can mix a small amount by transferring a small portion of the royal icing to a small bowl, mixing in a few drops of food coloring or gel, and then stirring thoroughly by hand until there is no more white showing.

3. To use: transfer the royal icing to a piping bag fitted with a #3 piping tip.

4. Decorate your cookies in lines using the piped frosting. Fill in lines with piped frosting, and use a toothpick to quickly smooth out any areas the royal icing has not reached.

5. Optional Step: Sprinkle sparkling sugar on the wet icing and tap the cookie to remove the excess. Let the icing dry completely. About 2 hours. Take a pastry brush and remove any remaining sparkling sugar.

6. Let the icing dry completely before serving and storing your baked goods.

Yield: 2 cups

Royal Icing Recipe

Print

Royal Icing Recipe. With this perfect royal icing recipe, you can elevate your cookies to new heights. You only need three ingredients to prepare this easy royal icing recipe, and in a matter of minutes, you can create beautifully decorated cookies and sweets.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Additional Time 10 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 3 cups Confectioners' Sugar
• 3 Tablespoons Meringue Powder
• ¼ cup Water, room temperature
• Food Coloring or Food Gel (optional)

Instructions

1. Combine confectioners’ sugar, meringue powder, and water in a large bowl. Beat the ingredients on low speed for several minutes until everything is combined into a thick glaze consistency.
2. Increase the speed to high speed and beat for another 5 minutes until the icing looks like a soft whipped cream with soft peaks.
3. If you wish to color your frosting, add a few drops of food coloring or gel food coloring and mix well. Alternatively, you can mix a small amount by transferring a small portion of the royal icing to a small bowl, mixing in a few drops of food coloring or gel, and then stirring thoroughly by hand until there is no more white showing.
4. To use: transfer the royal icing to a piping bag fitted with a #3 piping tip.
5. Decorate your cookies in lines using the piped frosting. Fill in lines with piped frosting, and use a toothpick to smooth out any areas the royal icing has not reached.
6. Optional Step: Sprinkle sparkling sugar on the wet icing and tap the cookie to remove the excess. Let the icing dry completely. About 2 hours. Take a pastry brush and remove any remaining sparkling sugar.
7. Let the icing dry completely before serving and storing your baked goods.

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Nutrition Information:

Yield:

32

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 44Total Fat: 0gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 1mgCarbohydrates: 11gFiber: 0gSugar: 11gProtein: 0g

Note: for exact nutritional information, consult your dietitian. All nutritional information provided is simply a guideline.

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