I’ve had many questions regarding decorated cookies since I began 7-ish years ago, so I thought I’d share some of my favorite decorating tips I’ve learned over time. By no means am I an expert, but I hope you find my top 10 suggestions helpful.
There are so many ways of decorating cookies; you can cover them with fondant, rainbow sprinkles, delicious melted chocolate… I could go on, but one of my favorite ways is to flood a cookie with royal icing (flood icing). To basically cover the cookie with a smooth, glossy, sugary coating; piped in such a way that your icing becomes a design – instant sugar art! My tips today refer to decorating cookies with flood icing.
I’ve got an in-depth tutorial here, which goes over how to flood in detail.
How to Flood Cookies with Royal Icing – Top 10 Tips
1. Use a good icing recipe. See here for one of my two faves from cake central user Antonia74. Another favourite is from Peggy Porschen’s book Pretty Party Cakes, but won’t post it here due to copyright infringements.
2. One of the most important things I’ve learned about cookie decorating is that if your icing isn’t at the correct consistency or thickness, the experience can be very frustrating. The trick I use to make sure my icing is just right is called the “10 second rule“.
Drag a butter knife through the surface of your royal icing and count to 10. If the icing surface becomes smooth in anywhere between 5-10 seconds, then your icing is ready to use. If it takes longer than approximately 10 seconds, the icing is too thick. Slowly add more water. If your icing surface smoothes over in less than 5-10 seconds, it is too runny. Mix your icing longer or slowly add more sifted icing sugar to thicken.
3. For tip sizes, my favorite tip is #2; it’s great for outlining and filling in. For larger cookies use tip #3 or #4 and for smaller cookies use tip #1.
4. Seal the top end of your piping bag closed with an elastic band for less mess.
5. Practice piping on your work surface or parchment paper before you begin your cookies, so that your hand gets the feel of it. I usually find I need a few minutes of playing around before my piping improves. Decorate your least favorite cookies or extra cookies first; that way if you make a mistake it won’t matter as much!
6. When you’re outlining the cookie, about a centimeter in begin lifting the piping bag away from the cookie, so that the icing just falls onto the surface. You’ll be able to control your piping easier that way.
7. If your hand is shaky, rest your arm on the edge of your work surface while decorating.
8. After you’ve finished applying the icing to the cookie, shake it gently to help settle the bumps if there are any.
9. If you notice any small air bubbles, pop them with a toothpick or pin right away. If you don’t, the air bubble usually pops on it’s own and leaves a hole in your icing. (See acorn which squirrel is holding in the image above).
10. Let your cookies dry for at least 24 hours before you package them. They won’t get stale as the icing acts as a sealant for freshness.
These are just a few of my favorite tips which would have helped alleviate some frustration had I known them when I first began decorating cookies. If you have any tips which you’d like to share you’re welcome to leave a comment below.
Happy cookie decorating!
xo,
Marian
p.s. In case you missed it, f you’d like a tutorial on how to make the owl cookies, you can find it here.
Tina says
Hi there,
Your biscuits are amazing and I am just getting into icing biscuits. I love my biscuits crunchie and I have found after I have iced my biscuits and leave them to dry they tend to go soft. Is there a trick that I am missing to keep my biscuits crispie once iced? Any tips would be greatly appreciated.
Marian says
Thanks Erin and Tina!
Tina, have you tried baking your biscuits just a bit longer?
The longer you bake, the crunchier they get. Also, the icing tends to add moisture and soften the cookies a little, so if you slightly overbake them you should get the result you’re looking for.
It’ll probably take a bit of experimentation with timing.
You’re welcome to email me if you have any more questions as well. Good luck!
zarpandit says
awesome! I want to decorate cookies 😀 I hope I can succeed as much as you like..
Christina Marie says
Marian,
Do you just FREEHAND all these designs? That’s crazy amazing!
Marian says
Christina Marie; lol – i wish I could freehand all these designs! I get some help with the more detailed ones… Please read 6 comments above this one. 🙂
kristen says
I love your site, and your cookies are beautiful!! On the tummy of your owls, did you pipe the darker blue over the white while the white was still wet? If so, how did you prevent the blue from bleeding? Every time I try the wet-on-wet technique, the top color usually starts to bleed after about 12 hours 🙁
Marian says
Thanks Kristen!
I did pipe the darker blue over the lighter one right away.
One reason why the colors didn’t bleed is because the icings were the same consistency. I’ll explain more in my next post – I’ll do it on ‘bleeding icing’ for you and others who have asked!
kelly says
Oh my hell, could those cookies be any cuter?! [sigh] I aspire to be you in my decorating! Brilliant design, perfect execution, and oozing with adorableness…you rock!
åsa - hello sugar says
OMG, how cute are these!!! looove the owls! 🙂 you are so sweet to share all your decorating skills. your blog is just simply awesome!! 🙂
Kat says
I have had a second go at flooding cookies – I made pink ribbons and pink champagne for Breast cancer awareness month.
Pink Cookies
I had some problems getting the icing consistency right – I think it wasn’t runny enough. And when they dried, they weren’t nice and convex, but a bit bumpy. Would using runnier icing help? I think I need to be braver and make it more runny! I’ll try your 10-second rule next time.
Next time – two colours! And overpiping! (and maybe sparkles…)
Marian says
Kat, your cookies look great!
The icing looks nice, but if you felt it wasn’t runny enough, for sure, try the 10 second rule.
For the bumpiness, I couldn’t tell in the pictures, but it could be a few things. If they look like tiny bumps it could be small air bubbles. To prevent them, next time when you decorate really look for them and pop ’em with a pin.
It could also be that the surface of your cookie had bumps on it caused by the leavening agent in the dough. (Usually baking powder). When you take your cookies out of the oven, just pop those bubbles/bumps and/or use a metal spatula to lightly flatten each cookie surface.
Hope that helps!
Have fun decorating!
Kat says
Thanks for the advice. It’s not air bubbles – I’ll try runnier icing and follow your tips next time,
Kat
Liz says
I really love all of your creations and I come time and again back to your blog for inspiration as well as your great tips. I did have a question about your icing consistency for flooding. I have noticed when I pipe a border around the edge of my cookies and then flood the inside you can still see the piped border when they dry. it’s as if the border or the flooded icing ins’t the right consistency and they aren’t merging together to create a smooth finish. any thoughts? I’m wondering if maybe the piped border is too thick a/o the flooded icing is too thin. I think I will try your method for making icing and see if that helps. thanks so much!
Marian says
Liz; A couple of ideas:
Like you said, maybe your border is a wee bit too thick? I like tip #2 for mine.
Also like you said, the icing itself may not be the right consistency… Use the 10 second rule (I mentioned it in my tutorial section here.
The recipe for icing I use is also there if you’d like to try it.
Let me know if you have any more questions!
summer says
Marian, you’re cupcakes are adorable! You have much more patience than me, I’ve never tried layering much but after seeing your creations I think I will. I wanted to share a couple of easy tricks that I use…the first is to put a damp paper towel in the bottom of a tall glass to sort of prop my bags of frosting up while decorating, it keeps the frosting from drying and creates less mess (I’ve also found that I can keep the frosting like this overnight and it’s perfectly fine the next day). The second is that I’ve found a good comparison for the consistency of flooding frosting is like honey.
Marian says
Thanks so much Summer!!
Roopa says
Hey Marian..I love your cookies…they are simply superb.
I have a query did u make the shape of the pictures(OWL)on top of the cookie by hand or u used the templates?
Marian says
Thank you Roopa! I get inspiration from everywhere and then use a KopyKake drawing projector to help me draw the pictures. I wish I could do it all freehand – I’m not that talented!
Roopa says
Thanks a lot marian….U are talented…..no doubt abtb it … and u are the inspiration for me to try different things….Thanks a lot for sharing 🙂
Shauna Young Dessert Tables says
These are phenomenal. I posted them on my blog today and included a link back to you. I will definitely be following your work, and hope that you will check out my site, too.
Kat says
Hi,
I tried again – had a bit more luck with these. Super-nerdy Watchmen cookies:
Who watches the Watchmen’s cookies?
The trick was even runnier icing, and more of it!
Marian says
They look great!!!
Fazila says
Hi..your cookies is the finest decorated i ever seen…so detail n clean…i’ve tryed the recipe but the outcome is not as good…its not glossy and smooth as yours n others…was it due to the time of mixing the meringue + water with the sugar??..or the need of putting the sugar bit by bit?…i’m not sure…i heard that glycerine could help..is it true?..TQ
Marian says
Fazila,
Thank you!
About the glossiness of the icing; it only stays shiny/glossy while it is wet, for example in the picture above showing the round blue cookie just after I’ve piped the icing you can see how glossy it is. If you look at the finished cookie it looks duller.
I haven’t played around with glycerine or corn syrup very much, but I’ve also heard it adds a bit of a shine. When I play around with it more, I’ll share my information.
Smoothness; are you popping the air bubbles just after you pipe your icing?
Are you sifting your icing sugar?
Maybe if you send me a picture of your cookies I can try and help more.
Marian
marcy wearmouth says
Marian I love your sight & all the advice you share with everyone! Where do you buy the projector? Are they very expensive I’m just starting out.
Cyndi says
Marian,
I know someone asked previously in the comments, but I’m a little slow and need some clarification 😉
To get your outline and the center flooding to merge so smoothly and look like there isn’t really a border, do you use the same consistency of RI (using the 5-10 sec. rule) and just switch your tip sizes? Meaning, do you only make one batch of RI for a set of cookies and just switch out tips depending on how thick or thin your need the detail? Or do you sometimes make the RI a little stiffer?
I hope I am not making this too difficult, but I learn best by having things spelled out to me very specifically!
Marian says
@ Cyndi:
No worries, I do exactly what you explained; I make one batch of RI for a set of cookies and switch the tips depending on how thick or thin I need the detail.
I used to do a stiffer outlining RI when I first began decorating cookies years ago, but found it’s just too time consuming and not really necessary.
Hope that helps and please, ask more questions if you have them!
🙂 Marian
Darlene says
This is helpful but I need to know quickly how to smooth it. You left that out. Like with what typie of utensil or trick to make the icing smooth. Oh well!
Marian says
Darlene; In #8 I mention to shake it gently to help settle the bumps if there are any.
No tools needed, just hold the cookie and gently shake left to right. The icing should be runny enough that it settles smoothly into place.
Hope that helps!
meg says
AMAZING! You’re so creative! the designs really “come out”, its as if they’re printed or something! amazing! so creative&artistic. I’ve never done royal icing on cookies before and with this, i feel like I’m ready to do my first try! Thank you so so so much!
kristi says
I have a question! I put my royal icing into accordion looking bottles when i decorate my cookies. If I have left over icing and want to save it for another day and leave it in the bottle it does not seem to have the same consistency. It almost seems to seperate. Is there a trick to using left over icing days after it is made and have it be the same consistency as the day you make it? I hope that makes sense and that you might be able to help me. :)I love your site and that you are so willing to share with the rest of us your talent!
Marian says
Hi Kristi,
Ah, the bane of my existance… the royal icing separating. Really I think I need to do a post on it. (Added to my list now).
Yes, the water separates from the icing sugar over time. Even within 12-24 hours. I haven’t timed it exactly, but I know that if I decorate one evening with the icing, I can’t use it the next morning.
No need to throw the icing out though! It just needs to be mixed again.
It definitely is more work to take the icing out, mix it and put it back in the piping bag (or bottles). I’ve tried to skip re-mixing it again, but the results are less than perfect. Sometimes you’ll be piping and a pool of water will come out of the piping tip.
Hope that helps!
Melissa says
Wowee, I just found your blog and am LOVING it and especially your tips on royal icing. This is the best site for cookie decorating I’ve found so far! Hooray!
I plan to post a link to you on my Facebook fan page and also link back to you the next time I do a baking post on my blog. I hope this is okay! Thank you for sharing the lovely photos and tutorials!
Marian says
Melissa, thanks so much; I’d be honoured!
Adela says
Marian….this is amazing! Quick question, when you let your cookies dry once decorated with RI, do you just let them dry on the counter uncovered? Or do they have to be kept cool and covered etc?
Thanks again for sharing your talent!!!
Marian says
Thanks Adela!
Yes, uncovered and room temperature is fine; the cookies don’t dry out in the time span it takes the icing to dry as the layer of RI basically acts somewhat like a sealant.
Nancy says
I know this is a really stupid question, but i just had to make sure. Does the surface have to be flat when using royal icing.
You see, I’m making a spiderman cake for my little cousin, and I’ve bought a spiderman cake tin (Wilton), which says I should use buttercream. However i don’t like the look of buttercream rough surface where as royal comes out smooth.
I was just wandering, to some extent, can the royal icing be used on a slightly raised uneven level or would I just be causing complete utter mess for myself.
Marian says
Never a stupid question Nancy!
The royal icing does pick up the surface underneath; so if it’s not flat, it will somewhat pick up the imperfections.
The taste and texture is different too… You should know that royal icing dries quite hard and brittle. In terms of taste, it’s sweet, but usually people like the taste of what’s underneath it better… the icing just complements the cookie (for example).
I hope I’ve understood your question properly… let me know if you have any more questions!
Ashley says
Oh wow I think these might be the most awesomely decorated cookies ever in existence, seriously. I am in love with those owls.
gaia says
Thanks for your tip!
You are too good !I need more tutorial and lessons!
Have a great weekend!
Sana says
how many days in advance can i mae/decorate cookies if the baby shower is on sunday afternoon.. coz i need to divide my time to cake and food 🙂
please Anybody help me
Marian says
Sana, you can begin today (or tomorrow lol). You can make them a few days to a few weeks in advance. (As long as you bag/seal them when they’re dry). Some people say even a month ahead, but freshest is best of course.