Someone help me! I'm trying to make a Christmas cake for my staff party on Saturday and I would like to decorate it with royal icing snowflakes but I've tried twice and they have broken without even being touched! How do I make them so that they won't break and be stiff enough to transfer to the cake? Is there a scret I don't know about? HELP!

Are you making them on parchment? If so, switch to wax paper. And, maybe you need to make them a little thicker.

You have to make them very thick. I made mine and then put them in the oven with the light on ONLY over night. The next day I did another coat and let them dry for another 24 hours. Some still broke but most of them did not. I transproted them in a box with tissuse paper and once on site I attached them with royal icing. I hope this helps.

Actually, I like to work with RI on parchment paper, because when they are dry...they will literally just slide right off the paper if you just tilt the paper.

I mean you don't have to touch, pry them up, or anything. If you just tilt the paper, they will go sliding everywhere. It's awesome!

I'm so impatient I always make them with white chocolate, but you still need to do a couple layers to make them nice and sturdy!

You can also make them with SugarVeil and a punch or draw them and they hold up very well

Thanks for the help everyone! I have been using wax paper but have only been doing one thin little coat so I guess my problem is they are not enough close to thick enough. I'll try again with more than one coat and see if I have success. Thanks so much!

Yes, use white chocolate, much less prone to breaking! If you use the compound white chocolate (merckens wafers) you don't have to temper and you'll get more defined lines than with real (cocoa butter based) chocolate.

When using RI, make sure it's freshly made. Rebeaten RI isn't as sturdy.

I made these snowflakes using RI. I find that the stiffer the icing the more sturdy it is. I also found that when I used a bit bigger tip, (2) that they were also much sturdier. I also use wax paper, but for me the trick is to spray the paper with a bit of butter spray, and then wipe off the excess, and they don't stick at all, but be careful moving whatever they are drying on, because they literally slide around on the paper.

http://cakecentral.com/cake-photo_1293640.html

I like using the chocolate the best because they melt in your mouth like the real ones.

Maybe color some sugar blue to sprinkle on some icey accents.