I understand that any baking utensils and equipment that have come in contact with buttercream should not be used when making royal icing and using color flow. Other than using disposables and buying a whole new set of utensils and equipment...has anyone found an effective way to clean their equipment?

Hot water, lots of dishwashing liquid and a good bit of vinegar. That was a tip from my wilton instructor and it worked for me. My royal icing did fine. HTH

Bev

Dawn dish washing liquid and HOT water. That's bowls, mixer bowl, scraper, etc. Plastic...well, it has a "memory", but most things can be used with a good cleaning...

I just throw everything that can go in the dish washer the heat and the detergent will get rid of the greasy residue.

Before i had a dishwasher i just used as hot of water as i could stand and dawn dish detergent. You just want to be sure you have no grease residue, that is what can kill your royal.

If you don't want to use the dw, dilute some vinegar & wipe down everything. Just make sure it's dry before mixing RI. Oh, & try Antonia74's RI recipe, it's the bomb. Hate Wilton's after it

I also use the very HOT water and Dawn dishwashing liquid. Works fine for me.

I was wondering if anyone has used the Saran wrap method for lining the inside of the piping bags when using RI. I thought I read that people use this method for buttercream, but was wondering if it works for RI. Just curious if I could use this method in case there is some grease left inside my piping bags.

I wipe my down with a little lemon or lime juice. The acid in it kills any grease residue.

Judi

Dawn dish detergent is the key. It has to be Dawn, too. I don't know why, but nothing breaks up grease the way Dawn does. We've even used it on motor oil stains with great success!

During the Wilton course, the instructor told us this is how to clean tips, (and boy do you use a lot during the courses!). Place all tips in a large glass bowl, and cover liberally with dishwashing soap. Pour boiling water in the bowl, and leave to sit for a few hours. When you come back, all the grease is at the top, and off the tips. I then rinse everything in the sink, and they are not greasy at all.

This may not seem to frugel, but I bought a big box of disposable decorating bags with a 40% off coupon, and figured each bag cost only 12 cents. I only use disposables with buttercream icing, and rewash them if I have time. For royal icing I use the real bags, and have had the same set for quite a while. I find the royal is very easy to clean. If I am doing a dark colour though, even with royal, I use a 12 cent bag so not to stain my good bags.

I took my first course over 25 years ago prior to kids, and still have the supplies I got then. My tips, couplers and bags are still in great shape.

I don't have a dishwasher. I just wash everything with hot water and dawn and I have never had a problem. Have never wiped anything down with vinager. And in C3 (the old one) GASP, we used crisco on our wax paper when piping the royal icng hearts.

You do want to make sure that your stuff is grease free when making it, but just washing it good is enough. You do not need seperate tips just for royal icing.

For tips, I remove the worst of teh BC with soapy water and then place in a cup of water and nuke it for a minute. Then I leave them in it until they're cool enough to touch.

sweet_2th...
I use the saran wrap method for both. Anything that goes in the bag gets wrapped in saran wrap, unless I am using a disposable bag. Saves on cleanup and very little residue left...
But as for cleaning bowls and stuff, into the dishwasher they go.

I've used Royal Icing all of ONE time so far, but was so pleased with the result that I will be doing it again. My (probably really dumb) question is, what does grease do to RI?

Tasha, the oil in buttercream will keep the royal from setting up and getting hard.

For the tips, I use a 50/50 ratio of vinegar and water, works fine for me. I don't do the hot, hot water thing. Easy to do for tips, etc. and have never had an issue with other items (spatulas) causing problems. I use a glass bowl and my hand mixer when I make royal (which is a pain, but I do it by hand when I make it and never have to deal with the cleaning issue with my stand mixer beater).

Has anyone out there had a problem with their royal not setting up because of buttercream/oil issues?