How To Make Royal Icing {Meringue Powder}

Learn how to make easy royal icing recipe with meringue powder that dries hard, making it easy to stack cookies. Perfect for piping and decorating cut out sugar cookies, especially during Christmas holidays.

*Thank you Rodelle for sponsoring today's post so that I can share this recipe with all of you. As always, all opinions are mine.*

When I first started cake decorating, I didn't know how to make royal icing or what the heck it was used for. Well, imagine my surprise when I decorated a dozen cupcakes with this icing, resulting in such weirdly hard tops. Thankfully, I have learned a lot since then and today, I am sharing everything I know and answering the most common questions I have gotten over the years.

This icing is a perfect for the Christmas holiday season. Once the icing dries hard, you can stack them, pack them and ship them to family friends. Use them to decorate my Easy Cut Out Chocolate Sugar Cookies and these Easy Cut Out Sugar Cookies.

Jump to:

• Key ingredients
• Variations
• How to make easy royal icing recipe with meringue powder?
• Tips and techniques
• Recipe FAQs
• Storage
• Soft frosting recipes these won't dry and harden
• Recipe

Key ingredients

• Meringue powder- Helps to stabilize the mixture.
• Powdered sugar- Sweetens and thickens the icing.
• Water- Helps to get the right consistency.
• Corn syrup- This gives a nice finished shine to the frosting.
• Vanilla extract- Adds a nice, warm flavor.

I am really fond of Rodelle extracts and use it a lot in my baking and especially frostings. I truly believe that your recipe is only as good as the ingredients you use and Rodelle products are high quality with strong flavor and aroma. My classic, old fashioned recipe uses vanilla extract but Rodelle has so many other amazing extracts that you can try as well. Thanksgiving is the perfect time to use their pumpkin spice extract, which smells heavenly! You can also add some turmeric for a yellow tinge.

Variations

• Add some color- This icing should be colored with gel food coloring. Liquid food coloring is not recommended since that can change consistency of the icing. For black icing, use black gel color but it's very important to let the icing sit for a about 6 hours and allow the color to develop and deepen. The same issue is with Black Buttercream Frosting ,too. It takes time for the color to truly deepen.
• Make outline icing- Add more powdered sugar to make a thicker consistency (like toothpaste) to pipe outlines on cookies and make decorative flowers.
• Make flood icing- By adding in some water for a thinner consistency (like corn syrup) in order to fill the inside of the cookie.
• Use to make decorative flowers- These will dry hard and can be stored for months in a cardboard box at room temperature, away from moisture, humidity and sunlight. Here is a tutorial on How to Make Easy Icing Flowers. They can be used to decorate cakes and cupcakes.
• Use to make transfers- This is a cake and cookie decorating technique in which you pipe the design on a sheet of wax paper and let the icing dry. Once the design is dry, you can carefully peel it off from the wax paper and stick it onto your cookies, cakes or cupcakes.
• "Glue" together gingerbread houses- This icing works as a great glue for sticking all the gingerbread cookie pieces together but the amount of icing needed truly depends on how big your gingerbread house is. For basic small gingerbread houses, my small batch icing recipe that I am sharing today is more than enough. I have a very detailed Tutorial For Making Gingerbread House that you should check out, too.

How to make easy royal icing recipe with meringue powder?

Tips and techniques

• Yes, this icing is safe to eat- Some people are concerned about the use of egg whites and meringue powder but since they are pasteurized, they are safe for consumption.
• Make icing thinner or thicker- By adding water or powdered sugar a little at a time.
• This icing dries hard- So if you want a soft frosting, use buttercream because it is very soft and creamy and used for filling and frosting cakes and cupcakes.
• There is no need to add glycerine, lemon juice, or cream of tartar- Because my recipe works perfectly as is. It is tasty, hardens well, and is stable.
• You need an electric mixer to make this recipe- Because it needs to be beaten until stiff peaks form and you definitely can't just use a whisk to do that.
• If adding food coloring- Keep in mind that the colors will deepen as they sit.
• Remember that in this recipe- A little water goes a long way.
• If using at a later time- You will need to whip the icing again due to separation.
• This is a smaller batch- It makes about 1 ½ cups icing but can easily be doubled or tripled.
• Use clear vanilla extract- For a whiter icing that is not darkened by the usual brown colored extract.

Recipe FAQs

Storage

• Freeze- Place in a Ziploc bag or sealed container for up to 1 month. Thaw in the fridge and re-mix.
• Refrigerate- Store in a sealed container for up to 1 week. May need some stirring before using.
• Room temperature- Store in an air-tight sealed container (I like to cover the container in saran wrap too) for 2-3 days away from humidity and sunlight. If exposed to air, it dries very quickly.
• Make ahead- This can be made in advance, but be sure it is well covered and mix if separation occurs. See instructions above.

Soft frosting recipes these won't dry and harden

• Classic American buttercream frosting
• Best cream cheese frosting
• Seven minute frosting
• Cooked buttercream icing (with flour)
• Chocolate Buttercream Frosting (Ermine)

Recipe