Hi All,
I never had an issue before...but I used the Wilton recipe for royal. It is not setting up stiff like normal....
I whisked the meringue powder & water for a 30 seconds, then added p. sugar. It turned out creamier than normal. Sort of like Antonia's. Her recipe does taste better, but I had a "set up" issue with hers and was afraid to continue using it.
Now....it may be weather. It's been rainy and damp here. I made pumpkins almost a full 24 hours ago & they are firm. But, if I stacked or dropped one on top of the other I'd have a ding. Is this what humidity does?
I'm not freaking....if worse comes to worse, I won't stack or I'll make a little box for each one. I just would like to learn a little more to try to avoid these issues in the future. Do I need longer dry time in humid weather???
Thanks a ton!
It very well could be that humidity is the culprit.... the only other thing that comes to my mind is if you used a whole lot of coloring. Sometimes that effects the icing's ability to dry.
You said that you "whisked it". Did you use a whisk or your mixer? If you used your mixer did you mix it for a good 5 minutes or more? You have to mix it really well and for a period of time. It will go from creamy smooth to a nice thick icing that you can thin with a little water. Also do not ever use plastic. Only metal or glass bowls and tools that have been cleaned really well. Plastic can hold on to grease and grease breaks down the royal icing. Hope this helps.
I thought about it more - and maybe it WAS the color. The 2 white cookies I flooded before I did the rest of the batch orange dried fine. No worries. I also did the stems in green & some swirly vine things...they seemed okay. So, maybe it was too much orange?
I will try Antonia's recipe again. I did like it very much. The taste was great & the texture was so much better than Wilton. But, I ran into an issue with dry time. This was my very first issue. So, instead of trying to figure it out at length, I just switched back to Wilton. It ended up that the icing never got firm at all with that last batch of Antonia's icing. Even when I picked up the cookie, my finger would smudge the side. It sort of was like pressed eye shadow. Very wierd. I must have done something..but who knows what...
But, back to my current issue: they were absolutely fine to bag. I even "almost" dropped one and caught it. No dings. That was after 2 days though. Normally it only would take 1 day to secure "no worry" status.
Yup, I whisked the meringue powder and warm water for about 30 seconds. THEN, added the p. sugar, and mixed in my KA for 10 minutes on low. I tried it this way because Antonia's turns out so creamy & I thought it might make a difference. It did. The Wilton recipe did have that creamy texture to it that Antonia's does. BUT, maybe I did something in the process? Perhaps whisking air into the water/meringue powder did something? Not sure. I thought about adding a bit of cream of tartar. But, I wasn't sure why I would be doing it. I don't really know what the cream of tartar is for.
As for colors - I'm thinking I should try Americolor. Maybe that brand is better than wilton gel. Maybe I only have to add a little? The little cake supply has a ton of Americolors to try. I will give it a whirl...
But, no horrible tragedy ocurred. It has been rainy here for days. So - maybe I'll invest in a heat lamp. I read somewhere that it helped another lady.
If anyone has any more ideas...I'd love to learn about them. Thanks everyone for chiming in!
I find that Americolor is a more "true" color, so I need to add less than if I'm using Wilton coloring.
I do suggest you give Antonia74's recipe another try. I use it and I love it!!
Thanks bonniebakes....I loved it too. But, I guess I got a little freaked out when I had that "issue". Maybe I should make it a practice to wash my tools an extra time before mixing.
It also might be that my "flooding" consistancy isn't terribly runny. Maybe I'll try to find some tutorials. I know about the 7 or 10 second rule. And, I thought I'd been doing that part of it fine...but I'll double check it with some tutorials.
After that, it has to be the color. I've always found that I can't get the colors I want. I just thought it was lack of experience. But, maybe Americolor is the answer. The local cake supply seems to have a bazillion little "pots" of color. I never really took a close look. I may be able to visualize cookie designs better knowing I can just pick a color like a crayon. Instead of figuring out how to achieve the color I want.
I will give it a shot next time I'm there. Thanks for the input! I appreciate all the replies!
Hi Ladies, try wiping your tools, bowls etc down with a mix of 50/50 vinegar and water, it works a treat removing the grease residue that can stop RI from setting properly.
I also have a dehumidifier to take the moisture out of the air and use that when I need to boost my drying time.
Good luck.
Grozzie11 - thanks for the dehumidifier tip. I think I've heard that before...but that's another great tool to have on hand.
Most times you'll hear the star of those cake shows talking about it's not so much the cake techniques and knowing how to do things properly. It's about knowing how to fix a problem.
I'll know what to try next time for sure! Just a few more bits of info in my arsenal! It all helps. Thanks a ton...
Pleasure, glad its another idea. I LUV this forum.!!!
Everyone is always so helpful and full of ideas.
luv it luv it luv it. thanks all
I'm having kind of the same problem here, but my cookies are turning up "dusty and dull" the RI looks dry but is crumbly when I touch it. Is not wet but powdery is the humidity to blame or am I doing something wrong? I use the wilton recipe and was doing a large batch of red using americolor. I did wash my utensils several times.
Any help will be very, very appreciated 
DeLis - that sounds exactly like what my problem was. When I picked the cookie up & my finger lightly touched the icing...it crumbled away. Sort of like pressed eye shadow. It was the wierdest thing ever.
I thought it was something I did when I used Antonia's royal icing. This was only the 3rd time I had used it and thought I just messed something up. But, I have made the recipe again since then with no problem.
It seems...it's either the amount of red you used...although people tend to recommend americolor because they get a more true color and have to use less. ORRRR, it was the humidity. Or, maybe a little of both.
When I had my problem it had been rainy for several days. It makes you nervous to try it again.....
DeLis - that sounds exactly like what my problem was. When I picked the cookie up & my finger lightly touched the icing...it crumbled away. Sort of like pressed eye shadow. It was the wierdest thing ever.
I thought it was something I did when I used Antonia's royal icing. This was only the 3rd time I had used it and thought I just messed something up. But, I have made the recipe again since then with no problem.
It seems...it's either the amount of red you used...although people tend to recommend americolor because they get a more true color and have to use less. ORRRR, it was the humidity. Or, maybe a little of both.
When I had my problem it had been rainy for several days. It makes you nervous to try it again.....
Lots of people like Antonia's RI because it gets firm enough to package and stack cookies. However, it doesn't crack apart...sort of crunch like other recipes when you bite the cookie. It is easy to make & the only thing extra compared to the Wilton recipe is cream of tartar. Just in my experience...I have found that mixing flavors is really tasty. Like butter & vanilla. Or, almond & vanilla. Those two combo's are my favorite. Others have used coconut & peppermint. Those with a chocolate cut out cookie would be fabulous.
If you get to liking royal icing and want to try something else for icing to mix it up, you should try a marshmellow fondant recipe. Or, a chocolate marshmellow fondant recipe. Those icings are easy to make & are soft. I like those icings on cut outs because you can imprint designs, or even cut out embellishments for a layered look & they have sort of the same "chew" as a cookie. So, the texture is good.
There's tons of options. I think drakegore often uses modeling chocolate for her "add on" embellishments. Very neat techniques on here. Oh! - I believe she uses glace. That's yet another icing option. I'm not sure what the recipe is called here on CC or who it's by. But, glace will work sort of like royal icing. You won't be able to get super fine details from what I understand....but the taste is great and it's a softer icing than royal. Check out drakegore's designs if you haven't already...they are really superb. Those are the things that can be done with glace.
I started with Wilton Royal. I tried Antonia74's royal. I like it better than Wilton. I've also used MMF & chocolate MMF. I have yet to try glace. If your just starting - Antonia's is a great place to begin!
I been playing around with my icing today and I just did another try with the same RI batch that didn't work before but this time just a small amount like I usually do, about 1/2 cup. I colored it red (americolor) I added water to used it to flow the cookie and it work. It still very humid out side, it's raining so I guess the weather wasn't affecting mine after all but the size of the batch that I was doing.
I was using about 3 cups of RI and coloring red all at the same time, may so much color and water added at the same time made the icing not to set? The cookies that I made three days ago are dry now and I can stack them but if I bite on one of them the icing will crumble all over, so I can sell them like that.
@ EvMarie, were you making a big batch of icing or was it small?
Ohhhh, I was making a big batch. I used orange & turquoise when I had the problem. I used a whole 2 pound bag plus a cup or two. So, it was huge. Yup, used a lot of color too.
I forgot, I also made a batch of Wilton that didn't set up like normal a few weeks ago. I needed an extra day of drying & they were fine to package. But, not as firm as normal. I used a "load" of orange again. But, not near the issue like last time.
I've been using Wilton gel colors. I guess the americolor is better & then on top of that I guess there's ways to color icing better. For instance...for red, some people start with pink? And, then another color...then add red? And, the same for black. There's a progression that makes it easier to get the color you want & add less. I'm not well versed in that area. But, that's another tidbit of info for your arsenal.
I'm betting it's the amount of color. And, the humidity just added insult to injury. It's a bummer when these issues come up. Rips the rug out from under ya' for sure.
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