Icing Consistency

If the consistency of your icing is not right, your decorations

will not be right either. Just a few drops of liquid can make a great

deal of difference in your decorating results. Many factors can affect

your icing consistency, such as humidity, temperature, ingredients

and equipment. You may need to try using different icing consistencies

when decorating to determine what works for you.

As a general guideline, if you are having trouble creating the decorations

you want and you feel your icing is too thin, add a little more confectioners'

sugar; if you feel your icing is too thick, add a little more liquid.

in royal icing recipes, if adding more than 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

to thicken icing, also add 1-2 additional teaspoons of Meringue Powder.

Options

Stiff icing is used for decorations such as flowers with upright

petals, like roses, carnations and sweet peas. Stiff icing also creates

your figure piping and string work. If icing is not stiff enough, flower petals

will droop. If icing cracks when piped out, icing is probably too stiff.

Add light corn syrup to icing used for string work to give strings

greater elasticity so they will not break.

Medium icing is used for decorations such as stars, borders and

flowers with flat petals. If the icing is too stiff or too thin, you will not

get the uniformity that characterizes these decorations. Medium to

thin icing is used for icing your cake. Add water or milk to your icing

recipe to achieve the correct consistency.

Thin icing is used for decorations such as printing and writing, vines and

leaves. Leaves will be pointier, vines will not break and writing will flow

easily if you add 1-2 teaspoons light corn syrup to each cup of icing.