Jill Takes The Cake: Making Royal Icing

This process can become time consuming so it is best to have everything you need in place and allow plenty of time for the process. I think you will find that it is more fun if you are not rushed. Plan what colors you will need for the cookies you are making, or for a cookie decorating party, make a variety of colors. Please note that this icing should be used the same day you make it as it separates overnight.

Ingredients

1/4 cup water
1 tsp almond extract
4 cups powdered sugar (about 1lb)
2 tablespoons Wilton Colorflow Mix (mix thoroughly in the powdered sugar before adding liquids or you will have lumps!)

This recipe is taken adapted from the insert in the Wilton Colorflow Mix can. It makes about 2 cups of icing. Plan on using about 1 cup per color on average. Half will be piping consistency and half will be flooding consistency.

Equipment

Stand mixer
Piping bags (2 for each color)
Color gels
Couplers (2 for each color)
Tips (Wilton size 3 is best, but size 2 or 4 will work)
Elastic bands (2 for each color)
Tooth Picks

Instructions

1) Gather what you will need. (The picture below shows red plastic mixing cups but I ended up finding a better way to mix colors so you won't need them.)

2) Prepare your piping bags and get one ready to be filled by placing it in a tall cup.

3) Mix Cororflow and powdered sugar together first or you will have lumps. Combine powdered sugar mixture, extracts, and slowly add the water into the mixer and mix on low for 5 minutes. Royal icing crusts very quickly so cover the mixer with a damp dish towel while mixing. Be careful not to cover any vents on the mixer. A standard KitchenAid mixer is large enough to quadruple the recipe, but not more. The consistency should be stiff, but not so stiff that you would have trouble squeezing it through a piping bag. So you may need to add a very small amount of water at this point. I usually don't add any extra water and use this thickness for piping.

4) Measure out 1 cup of icing. This type of measuring cup is easy to work with because you can level it off and know exactly how much you have. While you're working with this small amount, keep the rest of it covered with the damp cloth in the mixer.

5) Use a small spatula to transfer the icing to a 2 cup measuring cup.

6) Add a small amount of color gel with a tooth pick. Use a fresh toothpick each time because you don't want to get any icing in the color gel and ruin it. Add more color or blend colors until you have the shade that you want. Colors will intensify. For red you will need a lot of color gel. Get it as red as you can without changing the consistency of the icing. It will intensify when dry.

7) Thoroughly mix in the color and put a little less than half of it in the piping bag. Push down the icing toward the tip, twist the top of the bag, and secure with an elastic band.

8) Keep the icing in the tip of your piping bag from crusting by using the damp dish cloth you used to drape over the mixer.

9) Add water, or a combination of almond extract and water, a teaspoon at a time, to what is left in the measuring cup until it is the proper consistency for flooding. This means that when you drizzle the icing off the spatula back into the cup, it is fully absorbed by a count of 10. I usually end up using between 2 and 3 teaspoons for about 1/2 cup of icing. Add water slowly. You can always add more. Once it is added, you can't remove it. Try not to add a lot of air as you stir in the water.

10) Put a piping bag, with no coupler and without cutting the tip, in a tall cup and fill with the flood consistency icing.