Issues with Black Royal Icing

Hmm, that's really a bit puzzling, but let my do a bit guesswork.

The way you describe it, the black seems to be too brittle. Based on my experience this is mainly caused by 2 things. 1. Too humid, 2. Too many color particles. I don't think that using leftovers is the problem, unless you reuse them for months. But it might also be that the icing has seperated and is not stable enough anymore. On the other hand, you add fresh icing, that should normally take care of that...

I suppose your issue is caused by several things combined. I used to have a lot of problems with black (not smooth enough, lines breaking easy while piping, too much color, color seperated within minutes, etc.) until I switched to coloring it with charcoal powder instead of gel color. Since then I am rather pleased with my black, especially the consistency, and it keeps for days without seperating.

In my experience (I know everyone is different) I think it might be not enough meringue powder to keep it stiff...so it doesn't crush. I have found that sometimes I will make my black thicker because I don't want bleeding and if I don't remember to add more meringue powder, sometimes it will crush because I messed up the powdered sugar to MP ratio...so frustrating sometimes, isn't it?!

I work with pasteurized whites and have never had this problem, so I suspect it is also meringue powder- (and/or humidity-) related. I've seen the same meringue powder-icing get very porous and crumbly under humid conditions, but dry super shiny and smooth under drier conditions. If you're using a lot of black coloring, maybe this has the same effect as excess moisture (delays drying time, causes porosity, etc.)?

Someone made a comment on someone else's issues and mentioned the glycerin in the food coloring. More food coloring = more glycerin in the icing. Which it may just be late night tired eyes, but I swear the icing on black seems more waxy than others?!?

Which coloring do you use in it? I have noticed the same thing to some extent with black, and suspect the food coloring may contribute to it. Not only does it thin the ratio of meringue powder, it usually means more mixing. I am always trying to conserve color by adding a little at a time, which can mean an awful lot of extra mixing with a dark color, lol. I am learning to just go crazy with it and mix less. I personally suspect the extra mixing puts more microscopic air bubbles in the icing, making it fluffier and more brittle.

Have you tried a side-by-side comparison with fresh icing? You may want to make several up with less black, a medium amount of black, and a dark inky black. (Maybe two of the dark, one with lots of extra stirring) Draw a grid on or under parchment with large labled squares, and pipe in each, maybe piping lines as well as shapes. The beauty of this method is that you can turn the icing over after it dries to see underneath, and break it to see the inside.

It would not take much icing, and you could use it as royal icing transfers for later. Just use any extra to outline cookies, then check the parchment and cookies the next day to see if the deeper black made a difference. Don't forget to add in some other color to compare with, and either skip or use white coloring in both, as it changes the texture of the icing as well. Do you use the white in every color other than black? Do anything else different to only the black, such as adding cocoa powder to darken it first? This comparison method is how I discovered the white gel color (Americolor) was thickening my icing, and led to other discoveries as well.

Charcoal icing Laegwen? Is that for the naughty kids? How does it taste?

@Wildflower

Charcoal powder is actually tasteless. It was our local baker who gave me the idea - they sell black rolls, black cheesecake and other things. They taste absolutely like the non-black products. So I asked them what colors they use. I was kind of surprised at first but then gave it a try. It really works fine

I've been having exactly the same problem - but not quite figured it out yet (I've been pastel city the last few weeks). I use pasteurized egg whites in my royal icing and like you, it's only the black that crumbles. I think - not sure - that it might be that I have been adding too much food colouring. I am in a nice dry environment with very little humidity so it's all I can think of. I have been using Wilton and have also tried the Progels black but have now ordered Americolor and will see how that goes. I like Laegwen's idea of charcoal powder - might have to see if I can find some. I think I will try adding much less colour and see how it goes - will let you know if I figure it out - it's really sad isn't it when you see your nice edges all mushing and crumbling. Best of luck getting yours working for you. 

LilleK, I have not tried adding cocoa powder to darken up my icing before coloring it, but a lot of people swear by it. I believe they just replace some of the powdered sugar for it, or maybe use it to thicken the consistency. If it is because of too much coloring, this might help. Good luck!

Chef Allen at Global Sugar Art has put out a new black food coloring that was specifically formulated to his requirements. He claims it is the best out there, but who knows? You can check out his video about it. I am curious to see if anyone tries it, and if they think it really is better. I suspect some brands are the same product with a different package or label, but don't know which ones. Good luck finding one you like!

I’ve finally had some time to try out my Americolor Superblack so I thought I would share with you some of my trouble shooting in the search for non crumbling black.

 

First – here is what was going wrong for me.

While I iced, the black seemed fine, these are some little cookie toppers I made for my daughter’s boyfriend all seems well (scuse how bad they are it was still early cookie decorating days for me)

 

 

 

Then I send them to England, wrapped in cellophane bags and when they arrive…..

 

 

DISASTER – crumbling black all over the shop!

 

Since then I haven’t needed black, so today with a bit of time on my hands I tried to fix all the possible reasons for this happening.

 

This is how I make my royal icing – It’s powdered sugar which I sift, pasteurized egg white, a tablespoon of lemon juice.

I often refrigerate my icing – so I decided to do one batch of black fresh and one batch refrigerated and then allowed to come to room temperature.

 

Batch 1

This is 1 day old refrigerated icing, I used Sweet Sugar Belles advice regarding black – a half cup of icing to 1 teaspoon of Superblack

 

 

As you can see it immediately went a very black colour – which made me wonder whether that was too much -  usually I see a dark grey.

Here are some trial bits and bobs I iced - the consistency is 10-15 seconds

 

Batch 2

This is again 1 day old refrigerated icing this time a half cup of icing and a half teaspoon of superblack

It immediately went a dark grey

Here are some trial icing in this batch the consistency is a bit stiffer than 20 seconds (also wanted to see how the consistency worked)

 

 

Batch 3

This is freshly made icing with a half cup of icing to a half teaspoon of superblack, I then slackened it down to a 10-15 second consistency with a spray bottle.

 

Here is some trial icing in this batch

 

Once dried – all of them were dried initially in front of a fan:

Batch 1 – Previously refridgerated, 1 teaspoon of superblack to ½ cup icing

I can see the sparkly crystals which previously were a sign that this would crumble – definitely a failure

Batch 2 – Previously refridgerated, ½ teaspoon of superblack to ½ cup icing

Again, though not as bad as batch 1 I can see that sparkle which I don’t want to see.

Batch 3 – Fresh unrefrigerated icing ½ teaspoon of superblack to ½ cup icing

 

 

 

Here you can see them next to each other. I have pressed fairly hard on all the icing with my finger and as yet none have crumbled - but will leave them a few days and see if anything changes. I will try doing some actual cookies and then bagging them up once dry and report back again! But it’s looking to me like the unrefrigerated icing with less food colour might be the way forward for me. Hope this helps some of you with these issues – it’s so frustrating when your hard work is suddenly a big mess. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Will be interested to see if things change for you as the icing sits. Nice experiment!

Looking at the picture that you posted of the cookies after they arrived in England, my first question was, did you wrap them in bubble wrap as well or did you just put them in baggies and ship them off? My second question is, how long did you allow the cookies to dry before packaging?

 

I don't use egg whites, I use Meringue powder, so I can't give you any advice. I do use Americolor Black all of the time and use a thicker consistency for the details and don't seem to have a problem.

 

Cool step-by-step demo! 

Thanks Tailored Cookie With these topper pictured they dried overnight certainly at least 12 hours (maybe not long enough?), then were bagged and padded with lots of tissue paper in between each bag - though I also used the same batch of icing on some bunny eyes and they were kept in bags here at home with nothing resting on top and the same happened to them - they looked like they'd been in a scuffle I usually now know if there'll be a problem with crumbling as it kind of takes on a sparkle in the icing which usually spells disaster for me. It sometimes also happens with red. 

 

Thanks so much for trying to help. I luckily have some cookies to make which need black (and thankfully not ones I am selling, they're just for family if all goes wrong) so will hopefully see if they come out better. Otherwise I will just have to say to any potential customers "You like pastel colours right? RIGHT?"

I would try shipping with bubble wrap instead of tissue paper...or at least in addition to it. 12 hours should be plenty of time. Have have the other problem with black during the summer of bleeding...but that's a WHOLE other topic

 

Best of luck with it! I hope you figure out the best way to work with it.

WOW thanks for all this work! I now still have my black crumble fear. I only use fresh icing (no recycling colors) and try to make just a deep charcoal. I still haven't had to ship or make any cookies with significant black sections to try pushing on them.

Re. the packaging.  Sugarbelle has a fantastic tutorial on packaging cookies and it is what I have used for years.  I ship to family all over the country and they never break or have damage to the icing. http://www.sweetsugarbelle.com...12/shipping-cookies/

Just a little update, I have used black in 3 different cookie sets since trying it out with the 1/2 tsp of americolor in a cup of fresh icing and all has been well, no cracking or crumbling at all, so it finally seems to be working. Does point to me that I was putting far too much colouring in - I think it takes a while when you are new to figure out exactly how much darker the icing will dry (even if you have allowed the colours to develop in the wet icing) - and I'm still learning Thanks again for all the advice and help.