I need help gang! I found a few pictures online that I'm going to print out and do like a transfer, lay paper over it and trace it with the royal icing.... I want to make snow flakes for the cakes for the Daddy Daughter Dance I've volunteered for and someone suggested making them out of royal icing and standing them up in the cake for a more dramtic effect to show off talents..... So now here's the bad part...
I've never used royal icing, never made it, never tried anything with it. So I have a list of questions I hope yall can help me with. 
- How early can I make them?
How do I store them until ready to apply to the cake?
How long do they keep for once stored?
Sorry I'm a beginner and don't know much other then buttercream and basics but am trying to learn and don't have much time to do it in. The DDD is December 9th and I want this to go off without a hitch as I may be getting new customers from these cakes. Thanks in advance everyone!!! Pictures would be helpful.
Also attached are the images I found on the internet that I'll be using unless I find some better ones or unless someone else out there has better "templates" to go by.
Thanks again!
Becky[/list]
Bump as well as another question lol...
The same person the suggested making the snow flakes out of royal icing to stand up in the cake also said something about dusting them with silver stuff... (theme colors are white, pale blue and silver) what "dust" would I buy and can it be mixed in with the royal icing or should I just sprinkle it on them before they are dry?
This is a simple royal icing recipe.
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-1605-3-Royal-Icing-II.html
You can make royal decorations way ahead. Just store them in a shoe box or something. You can keep them for a loooong, looooooong time.
Can't really help with your questions. I've worked a little with royal for piecework, but have not stored it for more than a few days. I believe dry storage at room temp. protected in a sealed container once they are completely dry would be the best.
I'll be watching for answers because I have a snowflake cake due for the end of this month too! My snowflakes will be on wires- never tried that before!
My only suggestions are to make sure you make your snowflakes thick enough to stand up to handling; and if you can, add them once the cake is delivered. Oh and always make at least 1/3 more than you need to allow for breakage. You can always use the extra on another project!
Good luck.
You can keep them for a very very long time. Just keep them in some kind of covered container - no need to regridgerate. Caryl has great advice - make sure you make enough to allow for some breakage. Better to have excess than not enough at the last minute.
There are a few things that you have to keep in mind with royal icing, you can't have any grease touching anything that touches the icing. Royal last forever if stored in a clean dry place. Make several because you will have some breakage.
Royal icing will keep for a very long time. Once you make it, keep it in an airtight container and store it on your countertop, do not refigerate. I've used it up to a month later and its still good.
Once you've made your snowflakes and they've dried completely store them in a container, not airtight, and you can keep those up to a year and they'll still be fine.
The dust you mentioned is called luster dust. You want to mix that with clear alcohol, which will evaporate, and brush it onto the snowflakes. It should be fairly thick to get a really good sparkle.
Don't forget that oil breaks down royal so put the snowflakes on when your setting it up at the location or they may break off where they are pushed into the icing (I learned that the hard way.)
Good luck!
Zoraya
I think I may be able to help, though I'm by no means a royal icing expert. We did a lot of royal stuff in my Wilton1 class.
You can make the snowflakes like a year ahead of time and they would be fine. I still had some of the Royal flowers I made, umm.. 5 YEARS AGO in class in a tupperware container. They looked just the same as when I put them in!
The sparkly dust you're talking about is probably Luster Dust, or pixie dust, they have different varieties. You can get it at cake supply stores and various places online. You paint it on with liquid, I've seen vodka and Everclear as suggestion, but on the Martha Stewart show last night, someone used lemon juice to dip the brush in, then dip in the luster dust, and paint on. (I have not done this yet, but have been taking notes!)
Good luck!
Hi your basically trying to do a Royal Iced Flooding Snowflake, somebody already posted a recipe for the icing so I won't repeat that.
1. Make sure that your tracing paper or acyrillic if you can get it is non stick!
2. Pipe the outline of the snowflake with a No. 1 Tube.
3. Water down your icing slightly and then flood inside your outlines. If you have any bubbles, prick them with a pin this will leave the flooding more even.
4. Leave to dry.
5. Magic Sparkles or Disco Sparkles is what I would use here to make them shine, I'd wipe very lightly over the dried snowflake with a damp paintbrush (dipped in some sort of white alcohol, vodka, bacardi or something, damp but not wet) Then shake the sparkles on and they will stick no problem. I think Wilton do a version of the Sparkles.
Just two things if your going to make them stand up, remember one side will look lovely and rounded, ie finished off and other side will be flat, may not look as pretty, so make sure the cake can only be seen from one side or stick them together back to back.
And if you need 3 snowflakes make 5. Royal Icing is quite brittle to work with and breaks easily.
Heres a good link to a website that describes it in detail. You can make lovely pictures with Flooding in Royal Icing exactly the same way as you do BC Transfers.
http://www.baking911.com/decorating/cakes_royalicing.htm
I've done a number of wedding cakes with a snowflake theme ... seems older Brides who want to get married are not put off by having a winter wedding and here in Michigan, showflakes can reign like nobody's business! 
So here goes:
Royal icing is a mixture of powdered sugar and egg whites. Check the recipe section here, you should find a recipe that you can use. I cheat ... my local cake supply shop sells a pre-mixed version that you just add water to (5 Tblsp. per package), whip until stiff, and you're ready to go!
How I do it:
Take you patterns ... use as many as you can find so they're all different. Make them in different sizes, too. The more variance, the better! I actually have a file folder with lots of snowflake images that I've used in the past. Tape the images to a FLAT SURFACE ... this is very important! You don't want any "wave" or "ripple" in your surface. Lay a piece of wax paper over top of the image and pipe your royal icing on the wax paper, following the image you taped down initially. You want to use a still royal for this. Be as neat and precise as you can be for the best effect.
To get that "icy" look to them, you can sprinkle with colored sanding sugars or decorative sugars (again, CK Products has some great colors ... silver, icy blue, white are all good), OR use edible glitter in your selected color(s). Make sure you sprinkle while the icing is still damp or it won't stick (duh! 
).
To dry, you can either leave your snowflakes on a flat surface, or you can curve them by laying over an empty egg carton, or inside the "bowls" of the carton. This will create movement in your design.
MAKE LOTS OF EXTRAS ... these can break pretty easily! You will discover that just the act of removing the wax paper can be an exercise in extreme frustration, but that's okay. I have found that the broken ones can be used along a top edge ... it makes the snowflake look as if it just stuck itself into the icing "right there" and is a little magical.
To remove the paper, you need a steady hand and some patience. After removing the paper from the DRIED snowflakes, you can trace over the back sides of the snowflakes using additional royal icing. This will make them sturdier. Again, if you used dusting/sanding/decorative sugars on the front side, I would match the color up and do the same on the back side. Allow to dry completely.
It shouldn't take more than a day or two for them to dry, depending on how solid your design is ... the more "lacy" your design, the less time it will take to dry.
To store/transport: I usually lay these in a plastic storage box that has a removable lid. I buy rolls and rolls of the "grippy" stuff you use to line shelves with, and cut that to the size of the bottom of the box. Put a piece of "grippy" down first, then place your snowflakes on top in a single layer. Now, if you choose, you can lay a sheet of parchment on top of that to give a layer of extra padding. Repeat the process, but don't go too high ... too much weight on the top will break pieces on the bottom. Better to have lots of boxes with a few unbroken pieces in them than one or two boxes with lots of little broken pieces! 
There are some very nice cakes on this site in the gallery that have snowflakes on them. As I am at work right now, I cannot send you a photo of some of mine, but I will try to remember to post later this evening.
You should have PLENTY of time to get this all done before your dance in December. Don't be afraid of Royal Icing ... yes, it's a pretty sturdy product, but it can be fairly fragile. You CAN do this technique! It's really very easy! It's time consuming, but very rewarding!
And, honestly, just between us ..... I love it when the customer "gushes" over one of my cakes! It's almost as good as getting paid! 
Good luck with this, and I hope that you post photos so we can see your work!!!
Odessa
p.s. if you need any further tips or hints, or if I haven't explained something well enough, just PM me and I'd be happy to walk you through it!
I still have some of the royal icing flowers I made when I took the Wilton II course, and that was 2 years ago! They are in a rubbermaid container and still look like they did the day I made them. There is one trick to the royal icing-you have to make sure that everything you use is grease free. Your mixing bowl, paddle, decorating bags (I always try to use disposables for royal), tips, all of it. The grease from the buttercream will cause the royal to breakdown so you want to either boil your tips and things or just run them through the dishwasher before you use them. As for the dust, luster dust can be found at most cake supply stores as well as online. You just use a new paintbrush and dust it on after the snowflakes are dry.
He Everyone,
I've been practicing with Antonia's icing for snowflakes. I like it way more than regular Royal. Anyway, I've found that using a #3 tip works pretty well and the icing needs to be fairly stiff. They can be piped directly on parchment paper and after drying be removed easily. This icing sets up very quickly. You might want to make a few in advance just for practice. I sprinkled mine with cake sprinkles and they came out fairly nice. It just take some practice. They can be kept in a box for weeks!!! No stencil used just freehand. Used an eight point star pattern with small v's on each line. You can refer to the Wilton website for the snowflake cake for more info on this. Good luck !!
WOW CCer's that is alot of info and help! Now we want our pay off...Post a pic of this cake when your done! We want to ohhhh and awwwwh over your creation!!!
LOL thank you all so VERY VERY much!!! You ALL have wonderful tips for me and I wish I could show you just how thankful I am for having such great friends here on CC
I'm going to attempt them this week coming and I will post pics of my progress, I will also post pics of the finished cake! How could I deny you that lol.
Also this Antonia's recipe? What is it? Royal? Buttercream? What? lol
Antonia's recipe can be found on this site. It is used a lot for cookie decorating in fact just about every cookie I see in the gallery has Antonia's icing on it. It is very similar to Royal - it is not a buttercream. I just like it much better than Royal.
Go here for Antonia's recipe:
http://cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-1983-Royal-Icing-for-Decorated-Cookies.html
Best of luck to you!
Odessa
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