I had lots of leftover royal icing from my last Valentine’s cupcakes, so I decided to make some more royal icing decorations using these Martha Stewart Valentine stickers as my design.
As I was making these I recieved an email from Bianca, asking me how long I keep the royal icing in the piping bag and how long I keep it in storage.
She’s one of many who’ve asked, so I thought I’d share the info. here.
So how long can one keep royal icing?
Royal Icing:
Before I answer that question, a little about royal icing.
Royal icing is made using either raw egg-whites (traditional), or using dried egg whites or meringue powder.
Although I have not heard of any documented cases of food-borne illness occurring due to eating traditional royal icing (made with egg whites), there is still a possibility that bacteria such as salmonella can be present in anything made with raw eggs. Although many would not be affected by the bacteria, the very young, elderly, pregnant women and those with weaker immune systems might be.
You could use pasteurized egg whites found in cartons at the grocery store, but I’ve found that the icing doesn’t whip up as nicely using them.
Safest and most effective for cookie decorating in my experience has been royal icing made with meringue powder. I’ll be referring to royal icing made with meringue powder from here on in. All of the following information also applies to both tinted and white icing.
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What is Meringue Powder?
*Meringue powder is a fine, white powder made with pasteurized dried egg whites, sugar and gum; used to replace fresh egg whites when making icings and meringues. (*The Prentice Hall Essentials Dictionary of Culinary Arts, Pearson Prentice Hall, 2008). It usually includes vanilla flavouring and is not usually sold in grocery stores but can be found in bulk food stores, baking supply stores or on the internet.
So now that that’s covered:
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How long can one keep royal icing?
Freshest is always best of course, but you can keep your icing for a week or even up to two.
The longer it sits though, the more time it has to separate.
The water and icing sugar separate; after about a week you’ll have to really mix it up again to use it, and it may be difficult to make sure it’s perfectly smooth. -The liquid pools a bit on the surface, leaving the bottom of the container with dry icing.
If you do end up keeping your icing for a few days or more, I’d recommend putting it back in your mixer quickly before you use it, to try and ensure all ‘lumps’ are out. You may also have to add icing sugar to help thicken it, or a little bit of water to thin it out. Whether or not you’ll have to add icing sugar or water depends on a few factors:
Adding icing sugar – Especially if you’re in a humid environment the icing may have absorbed humidity in the air. (Even if it’s in an air-tight container).
Adding water – Mixing the icing really well (especially with a mixer), tends to add volume/air, and thickens it up a bit. It is necessary to mix it really well to get the lumps out though.
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So how long can one keep royal icing in the (piping) bag?
The icing sugar (powdered sugar), and water in the icing begin to separate over time, so if you haven’t used your piping bags for a few hours, you’ll start to see this happen. How fast it separates depends on how runny your icing is. The runnier it is, the faster it will separate. See pic below for example.
You can try and knead the bag a little bit to help the icing combine together again, but it won’t be as effective as taking the icing out of the bag and re-mixing it with a spoon or spatula etc.
If you use the icing that has been sitting in your piping bag for a period of time, you’ll end up with icing that comes out in little pools of water and icing sugar. (See pic below).
Where do you store royal icing?
Icing made with raw egg whites needs to be kept in the fridge, however, icing made with meringue powder can be kept at room temperature. I store mine in air-tight or re-usable yoghurt containers. (Pic below; the dollop of icing on top makes it easy for me to see what color is inside).
To ensure against any crusting, place saran wrap (plastic wrap), on the surface of the icing as well. If some of it has crusted over (if you’ve forgotten to put the lid on the container for example), scoop those bits out; they can’t be used.
How long do royal icing decorations last?
Once the royal icing has dried, the decorations last indefinitley! (forever lol). They don’t spoil but must be stored in a cool, dry place, in an air-tight container. Besides humidity, the only thing to watch out for is breakage. They are fragile and should be stored between parchment paper and bubble wrap inside the air-tight container.
Grease from buttercream, for example, can also affect royal icing over time, but it will take quite a while for the icing to absorb the grease. After I posted these royal icing {LOVE} decorations (below), there were a few questions about grease affecting the royal icing in the comment section.
Since I’m going to be keeping these cupcakes in a display case at school to show students an example of what they will be learning how to make when the new semester begins in a few weeks, I’ll be able to keep tabs on the progress.
So far I’ve had the royal icing toppers in a cupcake for 2 days and there’s no dissolving, but the grease has seeped into the icing. See pic below with today’s date on the phone. 😉
In this case you could only see the discoloration on the back as the front was covered in disco dust.
It’s definitely best not to place your royal icing decorations on your cake, cupcakes etc. too far in advance before you’re serving them. The grease seeped into these royal icing between 24 – 48 hours of being put on the cupcakes. Smaller royal icing decorations would probably be affected sooner, especially if the entire surface area is resting on the buttercream.
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What does royal icing taste like?
Royal icing decorations are edible of course; it’s really just sugar and meringue powder. It’s delicious if you like the taste of pure icing sugar (lol), but in my humble opinion, pairs nicely with cookies especially. It dries fairly hard, but when you bite into it the sensation is kind of like a soft, crunchy texture. If you are unsure about using royal icing, I suggest trying it once to see what it’s like. Here is the recipe I use.*
For a brief visual how-to on making these Valentine cupcake toppers, see below. A more detailed version on making royal icing decorations (also known as transfers, floodwork, runouts etc.), click here.
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How to make these Valentine royal icing decorations:
1. Pipe base colors with royal icing.
2. Add icing details once the first layer has dried.
3. Sprinkle on disco dust if desired.
4. Using a paintbrush (used only for decorating purposes), brush excess disco dust off.
For a more detailed ‘how-to’, click on the image below:
Making the cupcakes:
I’m grateful to Melissa of MyCakeSchool.com for some cool cupcake tips I learned and used after watching some of her videos (Re: paper towel tip – who knew!). She’s got a ton of great advice on decorating.
I wish I had watched one of the videos before I made my royal icing hearts! It mentioned making the tail of your hearts longer, so that when you stick it in the cupcake, you can still see the whole heart.
The cupcakes themselves were dipped in light pink sanding sugar and for those of you who are interested in cake stands, these milk glass ones were from ebay.
The vanilla buttecream and vanilla cupcake recipes can be found here.
These are just some of the main things I’ve learned about royal icing which have worked for me. If you have any tips, questions or comments, please drop me a line below and come join me on facebook here.
Happy decorating!
xo,
Marian
Lexy says
How long can you leave cookies made with egg white royal icing out to dry?
Grace says
Hi Marian,
Love your cookies and cupcake idea,
I tried t make the Love letter following on your tutorial.
Fistly I tried to pipe the outline and try it dry and it cracked to few pieces .
And second try- pipe the outline and flood inside and 4 days after still not completely dry and it hards to peel off.
I am not sure what I done wrong
Please help
Thanks
Grace
marian says
@ Grace: Grace, what surface were they drying on? I like to use a hardcover book, which I tape a piece of white paper and then the transparency on top of. I leave my transfer there for min. 24- 48 hours to dry (depends on size of transfer), and don’t move it at all.
If your outline was cracking (if I’m understanding your question correctly), maybe your icing was too dry. Either that or you moved the paper so the fragile icing cracked.
If your transfer is hard to peel off, did you grease it with a light coating of shortening?
Peel the paper away from the transfer, not the transfer away from the paper. That should help too.
If it’s not drying, do you live in a humid area? It sounds like it. You’ll need to put a dehumidifier and air-conditioner in the same room as the transfer.
Hope that helps!
John Snediker says
Great information, as always! Very happy I can lean on your expertise!
Cheers
xin says
@ Marian (Sweetopia):
Hi Marian, if i leave the cookie with icing decoration on a baking sheet to dry for a few hours, the cookie will become soft and not crunchy isn’t it?
marian says
@ xin: Sorry it took me so long to answer this, I missed this comment somehow!
Leave your cookie out to dry at room temperature and the cookie will not become soft or will not dry out either. The icing acts as a sealant for the cookie to keep freshness in.
Debora says
@ marian:
Hi Marian!
I have the same problem as @xin, because I live in Brazil and here is very hot and humid. I tried to put air conditioning in the room, but if I let the cookies dry for 24 hours, they are inevitably soft … Is there any solution?
marian says
Hi @ Debora: Are you using a dehumidifier as well? The dehumidifier takes the humidity out of the room and the air-conditioner cools the room down because the dehumidifer creates heat.
Debora says
@ marian:
Thank you for the answer! I’ll try the dehumidifier.
Thank you so much for sharing your experiences! Your sweets are amazing and you have many Brazilian fans!
Kristen Wasbotten says
Marian–I pinned these on Pinterest and they’ve already gotten 150 repins. They’re amazing. I’m going to try them in a few weeks. : ) This is my favorite blog ever–you are a genius!
Monica says
I just got into cookie decorating this past year and have learned so much from your website. I’ve been practicing on everyone making cookies for any occasion that came up. Since my cookies have been getting great raves – thanks to you, I put together several cookie party favor auction packages for both of my children’s schools auction fundraisers and everyone loved them. Thank you for all your tutorials, and all the great tips and links you share with all of us!
Marian (Sweetopia) says
@ Monica: Well that’s wonderful! It makes me happy to know that you’re enjoying it too! I’d love to see some photos if you’d like to share on my Facebook page.
@ Debora: Thanks! =)
@ Kristen Wasbotten: Awesome! Have fun baking and decorating and would love to hear how it goes!
Rowaida Flayhan says
Amazing post very inspiring Marian! Thank you Have a wonderful weekend xoxo
Darlene Brown says
Good info. However, I made the mistake of putting royal icing in the fridge and it is not usable. Have you ever converted it into buttercream icing by adding the necessary ingredients and proportions? Would love to so that I don’t have to discard the batch.
Thanks
marian says
HI @ Darlene Brown: It’s still usable for decorating cookies if you’ve put it in the fridge, it just needs more adjusting to achieve the right decorating consistency.
What a great idea… mixing with butter for buttercream – brilliant! I will have to experiment! If you try it out, please let us know how it went!
genyy says
I want to know if I can put royal icing on three milk cake? I need help
Jennifer says
@Marian
Could you buy meringue powder at Michael’s or something because it will take too long for me to get it online.
marian says
HI @ genyy: I’ve never tried it, sorry! Royal icing on cake is an older British tradition, as far as I know. Whipped cream on three milk cake is nice.
Hi @ Jennifer: You sure can. See #26 and #27 here: https://sweetopia.net/2012/03/50-secrets-of-a-cookie-decorator/
Elizabeth says
Hello Marian,
I just love your blog!! Thanks for all the useful info 🙂
I’ve just today converted from bottles to icing bags and was wondering, what do you do when you have a fair amount of icing left in an icing bag at the end of the day? I can’t decide if I should empty all of my leftover colours each into a new plastic wrap and twirl and store? Or leave them in the bags, in the glasses (2 to 3 bags per glass, total of 3 glasses for today) and pop them in the fridge like that… What do you do?? Thanks!
marian says
HI @ Elizabeth: Karen of Karen’s cookies has a cool idea, where she puts her icing in saran wrap, and slides that into the piping bag.
Personally, sometimes it’s quite a long time between decorating stages for me, so I usually need to remix my icing, so I squeeze my icing back into a tupperware container until I need it again. It’s more work, for sure, because the next time decorate you need to fill a piping bag again. That’s why sometimes when I’m just watching TV, I’ll premake piping bags ahead, so they’re just ready to go. Also, I don’t pop them in the fridge because I find the condensation or moisture in the fridge affects the icing. Hope that helps!
Elizabeth says
Yes it does help. Thanks Marian!
Anama says
Me encanta tus trabajos!! felicitaciones!! siempre estoy en contacto!!!
mahnoor khan says
ingredients for icing
5 egg white
1kg powdered sugar
vanilla exract requried
Tina Espinoza says
you can find it at walmart i know i have seen it there besides of course your local baking supply store
Tina Espinoza says
meringue powder that is =)
sharon says
Thank you for sharing….I love that you post pictures and this is excellent!
Lucia Angela Perez says
Hi I’m an artist and I also teach the Wilton cake decorating classes at Michael’s here in El Paso. I love your blog it’s awesome! I have had students ask me about storage and as I am a fairly new instructor I am not sure what to tell them. Thank you for this article it is very helpful. We are working with Royal Icing in course two. please send me a newsletter if you have one. I would love to get more tips from you!
marian says
Gracias, @ Anama!
Thanks for sharing, @ Tina Espinoza!
My pleasure, thank you, @ sharon!
That’s great, @ Lucia Angela Perez. =) For the newsletter, please click on the purple RSS sign, at the top right of the blog – there you can enter your email. All the best!
sarah alexander says
hi Marian,
You are an excellent artist. the cookies you have decorated are just superb. I am baking some cookies for a friend & thought i would try icing them for the first time. I thought it is simple to do the icing till i came across your website. i baked the cookies today & have kept them in an airtight container till i ice them tomorrow. I saw in your tutorial that it takes about 6 to 24hrs for the cookies to dry. My doubt is in these 6 to 24hrs wont the cookies become soggy?? how can i keep them crispy & fresh??please reply asap as i have to give the cookies on sunday.
Thanks,
Sarah
marian says
HI @ sarah alexander: Absolutely, this tutorial video will help:
https://sweetopia.net/2012/01/video-how-to-dry-cookies-decorated-with-royal-icing/
All the best! xo
Shelly Brown says
Hi there I am making a wedding cake covered in fondant and plan on decorating in royal icing flowers – how far in advance can I put the flowers on the cake and what is the best thing to adhere them to the fondant with?
@ marian:
marian says
Hi @ Shelly Brown: While you can make the royal icing flowers eons in advance, it’s best to put them on the cake as last minute as you can. The royal icing will absorb the buttercream’s grease over time. You can adhere them with buttercream if they’re sitting on buttercream, and if they’re sitting on fondant, a really thick, stiff royal icing will do the trick. All the best!
Shelly Brown says
Thank you so much for the prompt response! Greatly appreciated Marian!
@ marian:
sarah alexander says
thanks a lot marian..your blog has helped me a lot in decorating the cookies..though it was a bit hectic as i did everything in a few hours…will definitely keep the schedule in mind next time..cheers
Marina B. says
Ciao!!!
I do not speak English well, so I translate your pages in Google wonderful. I would ask for this recipe to make the royal icing, ingredients and quantities! thank you! marina
Marian (Sweetopia) says
HI @ sarah alexander: I can imagine 😉 Good luck and have fun!
Hello @ Marina B.: Here is the recipe: https://sweetopia.net/2012/01/royal-icing-recipe-free-illustrated-recipe/
You can also find it here: https://sweetopia.net/2009/06/cookie-decorating-tutorial-general-tips-butterfly-cookies/
Dianna says
@ Jennifer:
I just saw your post, new to this website. Have you looked at your local Walmart? They now have a decorating section with Wilton products.
Emily says
Hello Marian,
OMG, i just fall in love with your cupcakes with royal icing decoration, feel want to bite it now. Also thank you for sharing the tutorial here. Its might be very helpful in my very first attempt royal icing experience.
Submit It says
You could use pasteurized egg whites found in cartons at the grocery store, but I’ve found that the icing doesn’t whip up as nicely using them.
Dennise says
Hi I wanted to know where can I fine powered icing sugar and meringue powder I tired Walmart and I didn’t fine any plz help 🙂
steve says
hi marion
i no its a different subject but whats the cheepest and best way to make paints for cakes
thank you steve
marian says
I’d say food coloring gels mixed with water, @ steve. Hope that helps.