Is your royal icing still wet after drying overnight? It is sticky or tacky to the touch? Does it look foamy and is it covered in little bubbles?
The problem is...WATER.
I addressed this in my TROUBLESHOOTING post. (There are a lot of Royal Icing Q and A's there.)
(See more of the finished St. Nicholas Day cookies here.)
I'd experienced this issue when I thinned my icing with too much water for flooding. The good news on that front is that if you noticed that you'd done it, you can stir in some sifted powdered sugar (or some reserved piping consistency icing if you want some) and recover.
This week, I had another occurrence. Again, water was the culprit, but it happened in a different way. I only needed a little royal icing, so I halved my go-to royal icing recipe. I typically double this recipe, so in my head, I was quartering it.
For some reason when I measured the sugar, I weighed out 4 ounces instead of 8. UGH.
First clue something was wrong: it took FOREVER to form a stiff peak,
Second: it felt thicker when I gave it a stir with a rubber spatula,
Third: the piping consistency icing was looser than normal,
Fourth: even after adding water to thin it, the icing felt "fluffy."
First clue something was wrong: it took FOREVER to form a stiff peak,
Second: it felt thicker when I gave it a stir with a rubber spatula,
Third: the piping consistency icing was looser than normal,
Fourth: even after adding water to thin it, the icing felt "fluffy."
After all of that...I STILL USED IT!!!! What was I thinking?!?!?
I knew it wasn't right and the next morning, I got confirmation. My royal icing had not hardened. It was tacky to the touch and covered in tiny bubbles.
It felt like the consistency of marshmallow cream. Maybe I should have used it to make fudge.
Here's the good news: if you have the time, you can still recover.
If you've covered the entire cookie, scrape all of the icing off. After scraping, you can wipe the cookie with a damp paper towel and dry it for a totally clean slate.
Start with a fresh batch of icing and go again. No one will be the wiser.
The moral of the story is: if it looks wrong in the beginning, it probably is!
Have you ever experienced this issue when decorating cookies?
I just had a flop too:) Melted my chocolate of a bain-marie..a splash a minute drop of water splashed into my perfectly melted glossy chocolate.Immediate reaction is as always..it seizes of course:(
ReplyDeleteI used it anyway..football cookies;)
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I've seen the same problem when over-mixing the icing and when using too much color. Red is notorious for doing this because it's so easy to over-saturate with color.
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Thank you for the tips! Is there anyway to fix overmixed royal icing? Can I add more powdered sugar to the royal icing? I don't want to throw it away.
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