Royal Icing

5 from 1 vote

This classic and simple royal icing recipe is a cookie decorating staple with a smooth consistency that sets quickly without hardening too much. Made with meringue powder it has a delicious taste and a smooth texture that's perfect for flooding and piping cookies.

Prep Time10

Total Time10

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: royal icing, royal icing recipe, The Best Royal Icing Recipe

Servings: cups

Author: Aimee Mars

Ingredients

4 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons meringue powder
9-10 tablespoons room temperature water
gel food coloring, optional

Instructions

Sift the 4 cups powdered sugar first by measuring it out and pouring it through a sifter or by pouring it into a fine-mesh sieve and shaking it through.
Using an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or a handheld mixer whisk the sifted sugar, 3 tablespoons meringue powder, and 9-10 tablespoons room temperature water until the icing slowly drips down and smooths out on it's own.
If the icing is too thick add more water 1 tablespoon at a time. If it's too thin add more powdered sugar 1 tablespoon at a time until the desired consistency is reached.
Add gel food coloring, as needed to reach the desired colors.

Notes

This royal icing sets or hardens on the iced cookies in about 2 hours' time when sitting on the counter. To speed this up place the iced cookies in the refrigerator.

To keep the icing from hardening while you're decorating a bunch of cookies lay a damp paper towel over the top of the bowl until you're ready to use the remainder.

Nutrition

QR code

Scan this QR code with your phone's camera to view this recipe on your mobile device.

Royal Icing https://neuro-daily.report/royal-icing-recipe/%3C/p%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cscript%3Ewindow.wprm_recipes = {"recipe-122188":{"type":"food","name":"Royal Icing","slug":"wprm-royal-icing","image_url":"https:\/\/therecipecritic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/IMG_3371.jpg","rating":{"count":1,"total":5,"average":5,"type":{"comment":1,"no_comment":0,"user":0},"user":0},"ingredients":[{"uid":0,"amount":"4","unit":"cups","name":"powdered sugar","notes":"","unit_id":122216,"id":827,"conversion_item_snapshot":{"amount":"4","unit":"cups","timestamp":1779871674000},"type":"ingredient","unit_systems":{"unit-system-1":{"amount":"4","unit":"cups","unitParsed":"cups"}}},{"uid":1,"amount":"3","unit":"tablespoons","name":"meringue powder","notes":"","unit_id":122223,"id":120909,"conversion_item_snapshot":{"amount":"3","unit":"tablespoons","timestamp":1779871674000},"type":"ingredient","unit_systems":{"unit-system-1":{"amount":"3","unit":"tablespoons","unitParsed":"tablespoons"}}},{"uid":2,"amount":"9-10","unit":"tablespoons","name":"room temperature water","notes":"","unit_id":122223,"id":132717,"conversion_item_snapshot":{"amount":"9-10","unit":"tablespoons","timestamp":1779871674000},"type":"ingredient","unit_systems":{"unit-system-1":{"amount":"9-10","unit":"tablespoons","unitParsed":"tablespoons"}}},{"uid":3,"amount":"","unit":"","name":"gel food coloring,","notes":"optional","id":120910,"conversion_item_snapshot":{"amount":"","unit":"","timestamp":1779871674000},"type":"ingredient","unit_systems":{"unit-system-1":{"amount":"","unit":"","unitParsed":""}}}],"originalServings":"3","originalServingsParsed":3,"currentServings":"3","currentServingsParsed":3,"currentServingsFormatted":"3","currentServingsMultiplier":1,"originalSystem":1,"currentSystem":1,"favorite":false,"unitSystems":[1],"originalAdvancedServings":{"shape":"round","unit":"inch","diameter":0,"width":0,"length":0,"height":0},"currentAdvancedServings":{"shape":"round","unit":"inch","diameter":0,"width":0,"length":0,"height":0},"collection":{"servingsUnit":"cups","servingsUnitRaw":"cups","originalServings":"3","originalServingsParsed":3,"type":"recipe","recipeId":122188,"name":"Royal Icing","image":"https:\/\/therecipecritic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/IMG_3371-300x300.jpg","servings":3,"parent_id":"122098","parent_url":"https:\/\/therecipecritic.com\/royal-icing-recipe\/","cachedAt":1779871674,"modifiedAt":1767106283}}}