Okay, here's the link to her recipe: http://cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-1983-0-Antonia74-Royal-Icing.html

Now I'm wondering two things:

A) Can a 2 lb bag of powdered sugar be used or do I have to get out the scale and start weighing 2.25 lbs of powdered sugar?

B) Can this recipe be halved? (I'm thinking 1 lb powdered sugar, 3 TBSP meringue powder, 2/3 C water and 1/2 tsp cream of tartar)?

Thanks in advance!!

Yes, it can be halved. I know I have done that!

I do generally weigh out the powdered sugar but I would think that you could use a little less (2lbs) and it just would not be as stiff/thick. I mean you can add sugar or liquid to adjust the consistency with no problem so it should work. Right? (where's the little smiley with the hands up to say "I dunno" ?)

A: Yes I just dump the entire 2lb bag in. you can always adjust with either more sugar or water.
B: Yes I half all the time when doing smaller batches of cookies

Good! Thanks for the help! I'm going to play with it and make a few notes!

Here in Canada Icing sugar..(Confectioners sugar) is sold at the grocery store in a 1 kg bag which is 2.2lbs.That is probably the reasoning behind her amounts...I just dump the bag in and it turns out perfect everytime..I have however tried to half the recipe and it didn't turn out so good for me...It was too runny and hard to get back to proper consistency...But hey!!! I am am a Goof sometimes..I probably didn't calculate the right numbers to half it!!

Thanks Kiddiekakes! Here in the States the confectioners sugar is sold in 2 lb bags.

Okay I have another question -- has anyone ever put 1 TBSP corn syrup in with the water (substituting 1 TBSP water) when making this recipe? If so how did it turn out?

bob - I have, and it was fine.

In fact, I've substituted up to a 1/2 of the water called for with corn syrup with no problems related to consistency or drying time or crust. I always use a corn syrup/water mix for the liquid as my "modified" version of Antonia74's royal icing.

Thanks Bonnie! How does it dry -- sticky, shiny, hard? I guess I'm wondering what the differences are.

Okay thanks! I'm going to give it a try!

Linda - I started doing it to see if made the dried icing any shinier, because I liked the shiny look of the cookies frosted with glace' icing. I didnt' want to use the glace' recipe because it calls for milk and between food safety concerns (I know, the sugar makes it OK) and several dairy/milk intolerances in my family. I

guess I kept doing it because it is a little less matte, though not as shiny as the cookies posted on here that use glace'.

As I think about it, I've had less trouble with clogged small tips since I started using corn syrup in place of some of the water... I'm not sure why that would be, though....

Hey Antonia, what are your thoughts on all this???

Sorry I'm not Antonia. Hope she'll see the thread.

I've wanted shinny Royal Icing for a long time, and am definitely going to use corn syrup. I've been painting with thinned down piping gel to get some shine.

A) Can a 2 lb bag of powdered sugar be used or do I have to get out the scale and start weighing 2.25 lbs of powdered sugar?


You can certainly use your smaller bag of icing sugar...but be prepared to decrease the amount of water used to thin out the icing at the end.


B) Can this recipe be halved? (I'm thinking 1 lb powdered sugar, 3 TBSP meringue powder, 2/3 C water and 1/2 tsp cream of tartar)?


It can be halved, shouldn't cause any problems for you at all. (I did it a few times today myself, no prob. )

As for the shiny icing, others have indeed added a tablespoon or two of corn syrup and that seems to work well. (I haven't tried it myself as I prefer the matte look. )

The first time I used Antonia's recipe, I got out my scales and weighed and measured. I ended up with a 2lb bag and 1 cup conf. sugar.
It has worked for me.

Helen - please don't take offense because I use a modified version of your recipe... I LOVE your icing and you are one of my cookie heroes!

I'm not offended by that, sillypants!

Goodness, who would be?

Oh, I love Antonia74's RI recipe! One thing of note is that her MP has vanilla already in it, but ours in the U.S. does not, so I add flavoring. I used to use 1 tsp. pure van. extract during the last minute of mixing and if I needed it to be white or in a pastel color, I used ¾ tsp. instead and balanced the color with Americolor Bright White. Now I use Clear Vanilla by Spices Etc. It is all-natural unlike the others I found. Sometimes I do their all-natural Lemon, Orange or Lime to name a few.

Her RI recipe is tops! I couldn't do my cookies without it. I think she is a queen for having shared it with all of us.

I made this for the first time yesterday and added a 1/2 t of orange extract. It was really good! It came out REALLY thick though...i had to thin it before i could pipe it. Is that normal? I may have just added too much powdered sugar though. I have 4lb bags of it and i didn't measure it out, just kind of eyeballed half! Lol!

This may be a dumb question, but when you add water to thin out the RI to spread it on the cookie, how much water do you all generally add? Let's assume that you have a cup of already made Antonia74's awesome RI... : )