Cara,
THANK YOU so much for your in-depth reply! The time and consideration you’ve given
replying is impressive! I really appreciate and look forward to trying out your
suggestions.
Please let me know when you try cookie decorating, and/or feel free to post you pictures
in my facebook group.
Happy decorating,
Marian

I was just surfing the web and have an interest is cookie decorating. I stumbled across this discussion of using royal icing to flood areas with color, and the air bubbles, or indents that occur, especially in small areas. Interestingly enough, I’m also a jewelry maker, and I was just watching a video of an artist using doming expoxy resin to fill an enclosed area which is is the same concept as your overfilling to get a puffy look. The artist commented that while drying for 24 hours(expoxy dries slower than frosting I would assume), he said that air bubbles would sometimes appear and suggested you check often and pop them. He also mentioned something about surface tension, that you shouldn’t force-spread the expoxy to the edges, that it is better to let the epoxy flow naturally to the edge. This helps the surface tension stay intact and gives it the puffy surface.

This, in my opinion, would be a good thing to do while frosting cookies, because if you move the tip all around the cookie to fill it, there is a larger chance that, even though minute, you are probably cathing small bubbles of air that rise to the surface once they sit for a bit. This may be an even bigger problem towards the edges where the outline piping undercuts, being a round little string of icing, and could be why the tinier areas are the worst for bubbles. In these areas the icing has the least amount of room and time to flow on the surface before hitting the mid-point of the round edge, catching the tiny amount of air under the edge. The surface tension on the thicker icing causes the edge of the flowing icing to curve under itself. The curve on the piped edge meets the curve on the flowing icing, trapping air.

I think the suggestion of using thinner icing is a good fix because it flows across the cookie better. But DON’T fill with this completely. I would suggest to make some of the icing very thin, thinner than you want for the finished cookie. This thin frosting will more easily get into that little crevace around the edge. Fill in the area (or possibly just around the edges of each section) with a thin coating, especially letting it flow under the curve of the piped edge, (potentially use a pin or a thin toothpick point to help get the icing under it). Try to fill halfway up the line of piping to the widest part, not trapping any air. Once that is done, and while it is still wet, you can take the thicker frosting and fill in section to the level you desire. I would make two other suggestions…

First, after mixing the frosting, let it sit, covered for 5 minutes to let the air bubbles rise to the surface and pop. You may even want to tap the bowl on the countertop to help force them to rise (like burping a baby). When filling the piping bag, try to add little to no air back into it. You may even want to let the piping bag sit for a few minutes, tip down, to again let the bubbles rise (to the farthest point from where the icing comes out).

Secondly, let the icing flow by itself to the edges, slowly filling from the center point of the section, only adding frosting into that single pool you’ve created. This will trap as little air as possible as it covers. If you do need to move to fill an area in the same section, that has a narrow area which the icing won’t flow through, (like the bunny ears), start a second pool, but watch when the 2 pools meet, and take a pin and gently stir the two areas together, popping any air bubbles. The thick icing should flow fine into thinner icing, covering it, and not creating air pockets. If left to flow on it’s own to the edge, the surface tension will give you the nice puffy effect.

I hope this helps. These cookies are just the cutest! I’m going to try this one of these days.

Cheers, and happy baking!
Cara

That’s so interesting! Thanks for the info; I’m going to have to try that!