In the spirit of keeping this thread on track, please let's keep discussion here to the royal icing issues you have solved, and ones that remain unsolved.
Let's answer the "experiences with royal icing mixes" question in the new forum topic that can be found in the link two posts up, or here: http://cookieconnection.juliau...with-royal-icing-mix
Thanks!
Hi Wildflower! I don't wipe my bowls/utensils with vinegar. It didn't look like Haniela (in her vids when she mentions vinegar) washed/rinsed after wiping with vinegar. She only wiped the mixer bowl with vinegar.
Yes, plastic is porous but I have not incurred my icing cracking... (I get craters now and then - lol.) I use Wilton.
Maybe the RI ratios are off and that caused cracking. As for coloring - it will darken as it sits/dries and can continue to darken. All products don't contain the same ingredients. (Hope I said that right. 
And some colors, to me, seem to make the icing thicken. I seem to have that problem with Duff's. Maybe I'm wrong... But, the combination of colored products (gel/liquid/concentrated (Wilton garden set) in an unbalanced icing ratio may factor into cracking.
Reading this thread has me worried that some icing problems will come to roost with me. I haven't had problems to speak of but sometimes colors are just a little south of what I want. I always use Wilton Merangue powder, I mix both ameri gels and Wilton gels together with no adverse result. I beat my base icing for around 5 minutes and keep it in the frig when not in use. One trick I really like is to put icing in a double bag. I place a scoop of icing in plastic wrap twist the ends, clip one, then I place that in my piping bag. It stays fresh, and last much longer- have fun in the kitchen!
I am currently experiencing a problem with my royal icing coming out with little tiny hard clumps in it. I did just recently buy a big 50lb bag of powdered sugar and it’ was not 100% completely sealed when I closed it up after the first time I used it so maybe that is the issue. I have my R.I. recipe down packed and I am trying to figure out why this is happening all of a sudden! Could that possibly be an issue that anyone has had?
Or maybe my bowl was not completely dry before adding the dry ingredients?!
I’m LOST
Katy Guidry posted:I am currently experiencing a problem with my royal icing coming out with little tiny hard clumps in it. I did just recently buy a big 50lb bag of powdered sugar and it’ was not 100% completely sealed when I closed it up after the first time I used it so maybe that is the issue. I have my R.I. recipe down packed and I am trying to figure out why this is happening all of a sudden! Could that possibly be an issue that anyone has had?
Or maybe my bowl was not completely dry before adding the dry ingredients?!
I’m LOST
Check your powdered sugar. Is it lumpy to start? Or if you use meringue powder, perhaps that's changed, and it's got a coarser feel to it. I'd just inspect my ingredients and do some controlled experiments (swapping in different powdered sugar, for instance) until you find the culprit. It's got to be either the sugar or the meringue powder, as they are the only two ingredients that might not fully dissolve - unless you've changed the quantity of liquid added or how long you're mixing.
Katy Guidry posted:It does look lumpy to start! Should I sift it?
I would certainly try that and see if it makes a difference. Did you also change brands of powdered sugar? It could be that you got a more coarsely (<10X) processed sugar, which is contributing grit. Most major brands of powdered sugar in the US are 10X (finely processed and good for use in royal icing), but perhaps you got something that wasn't. In that case, sifting may not help unless you have a very, very fine-meshed sieve.
Hi all! Well, I do have a problem where a fix-it seems to be a mystery, or maybe I haven't searched hard enough?
I was making RI for the 4th of July cookies, and in my frustration to make a bold red (waiting hrs between mixing in more food coloring hoping that it darkened to what I needed), I accidentally put one tiny drop of red candy coloring (oil! Noooo!😱)... It wasn't until I started mixing that I could see something was terribly wrong. It began to separate (it looked like it was "seizing" as it would in the chocolate world) and with panicked mixing it came together again, but it was then very loose and runny. I didn't try to mess around with it any further, atleast it was finally the right color. 😅 I had to use it, and it had all the troubles of any runny icing (bleeding, hard to work with), however it did dry hard. (Not rock-hard, which is normal as my icings are stackable but not crackable on cookies) My question is... When this terrible oil mistake happens, is there a quick fix to remedy it? Or is it normally always destined for the trash bin?
Added note, as it might affect the answers, this batch (all colors) was made with raw egg whites.. and the usual p/c sugar, cream of tartar, artificial flavorings, water.. and the other colors did turn out fine. (Fyi, I do regularly mix liquid and gel food colorings with no adverse effects. Currently using Wilton, Americolor, McCormick, and India Tree)
DonnasDoggies posted:Hi all! Well, I do have a problem where a fix-it seems to be a mystery, or maybe I haven't searched hard enough?
I was making RI for the 4th of July cookies, and in my frustration to make a bold red (waiting hrs between mixing in more food coloring hoping that it darkened to what I needed), I accidentally put one tiny drop of red candy coloring (oil! Noooo!😱)... It wasn't until I started mixing that I could see something was terribly wrong. It began to separate (it looked like it was "seizing" as it would in the chocolate world) and with panicked mixing it came together again, but it was then very loose and runny. I didn't try to mess around with it any further, atleast it was finally the right color. 😅 I had to use it, and it had all the troubles of any runny icing (bleeding, hard to work with), however it did dry hard. (Not rock-hard, which is normal as my icings are stackable but not crackable on cookies) My question is... When this terrible oil mistake happens, is there a quick fix to remedy it? Or is it normally always destined for the trash bin?
Added note, as it might affect the answers, this batch (all colors) was made with raw egg whites.. and the usual p/c sugar, cream of tartar, artificial flavorings, water.. and the other colors did turn out fine. (Fyi, I do regularly mix liquid and gel food colorings with no adverse effects. Currently using Wilton, Americolor, McCormick, and India Tree)
Hi! I can’t claim to have any experience with this one, as I’ve only ever used oil-based candy colorings with chocolate. But I’m not surprised to hear you had the troubles you had (delayed drying, bleeding, not coming together easily, etc.) with it in a water-based icing, as the two typically don’t mix well. All I might suggest is adding more powdered sugar (and perhaps even cornstarch) to thicken the icing back up and to accelerate drying time. Please let us know how this “fix” works out if you have any of the icing left to experiment with! Thanks!
