How to Decorate Cookies with Royal Icing – Top 10 Tips
I’ve had many questions regarding decorated cookies since I began 7-ish years ago, so I thought I’d share some of my favorite decorating tips I’ve learned over time. By no means am I an expert, but I hope you find my top 10 suggestions helpful.
There are so many ways of decorating cookies; you can cover them with fondant, rainbow sprinkles, delicious melted chocolate… I could go on, but one of my favorite ways is to flood a cookie with royal icing (flood icing). To basically cover the cookie with a smooth, glossy, sugary coating; piped in such a way that your icing becomes a design – instant sugar art! My tips today refer to decorating cookies with flood icing.
I’ve got an in-depth tutorial here, which goes over how to flood in detail.
How to Flood Cookies with Royal Icing – Top 10 Tips
1. Use a good icing recipe. See here for one of my two faves from cake central user Antonia74. Another favourite is from Peggy Porschen’s book Pretty Party Cakes, but won’t post it here due to copyright infringements.
2. One of the most important things I’ve learned about cookie decorating is that if your icing isn’t at the correct consistency or thickness, the experience can be very frustrating. The trick I use to make sure my icing is just right is called the “10 second rule”.
Drag a butter knife through the surface of your royal icing and count to 10. If the icing surface becomes smooth in anywhere between 5-10 seconds, then your icing is ready to use. If it takes longer than approximately 10 seconds, the icing is too thick. Slowly add more water. If your icing surface smoothes over in less than 5-10 seconds, it is too runny. Mix your icing longer or slowly add more sifted icing sugar to thicken.
3. For tip sizes, my favorite tip is #2; it’s great for outlining and filling in. For larger cookies use tip #3 or #4 and for smaller cookies use tip #1.
4. Seal the top end of your piping bag closed with an elastic band for less mess.
5. Practice piping on your work surface or parchment paper before you begin your cookies, so that your hand gets the feel of it. I usually find I need a few minutes of playing around before my piping improves. Decorate your least favorite cookies or extra cookies first; that way if you make a mistake it won’t matter as much!
6. When you’re outlining the cookie, about a centimeter in begin lifting the piping bag away from the cookie, so that the icing just falls onto the surface. You’ll be able to control your piping easier that way.
7. If your hand is shaky, rest your arm on the edge of your work surface while decorating.
8. After you’ve finished applying the icing to the cookie, shake it gently to help settle the bumps if there are any.
9. If you notice any small air bubbles, pop them with a toothpick or pin right away. If you don’t, the air bubble usually pops on it’s own and leaves a hole in your icing. (See acorn which squirrel is holding in the image above).
10. Let your cookies dry for at least 24 hours before you package them. They won’t get stale as the icing acts as a sealant for freshness.
These are just a few of my favorite tips which would have helped alleviate some frustration had I known them when I first began decorating cookies. If you have any tips which you’d like to share you’re welcome to leave a comment below.
Happy cookie decorating!
xo,
Marian
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these are absolutely adorable!!!
gorgeous cookies, gorgeous tutorial! I’ll link on my edible crafts column tomorrow (ediblecrafts.craftgossip.com). thanks!
Just to add to the tips. I’ve found when working with multiple colors that covering the tips with a damp paper towel helps to keep them from drying out.
Having a toothpick handy for any clogs is also helpful as well as for dragging icing into tighter spots. Couplers are also handing for switching out the tips if they get clogged and can be a time saver.
Oh my goodness! That is perfection! You are really good with new designs. I love it!
do you have to let the first entire cookie color flood dry before applying the next color or design?
Stop already, you are far too talented!
Thank you Marian! I’ll bear in mind all your tips when I try to decorate cookies in R.I.!!
Love,
Donatella
Hi Marian,
I just recently found your website and I just LOVE every cookie I’ve seen so far! It’s wonderfull! I just started decorating myself. I hope I get as good as you one day!
Evelyn
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful……….
I’ve never tried decorating with royal icing before, but these cookies are inspiring!
Thank you for the sweet comments!
Meaghan, thanks for featuring my top 10 list; I’m completely flattered.
Laura, thanks for your great advice!
Great tips!! I just recently started creating cookie bouquets and love decorating with royal icing! Wish you’d been there for me in the beginning, would have staved off many frustrating hours of trial and errors!!
Your cookies are gorgeous!! Thanks for the inspiration!
These are so adorable and lovely! I’m inspired!
Wow, those are some beautifully decorated cookies! I like the orange, green and brown color palette series very much. You are inspired.
Have you seen wagashi? (Japanese confections) There are some beautiful wagashi images in my blog, you might find some inspiration there.
these are gorgeous!! i love the theme of the cookies!!
Thanks for the tips, your blog rocks, thanks
One word for you: AMAZING!
Oh my GOSH – I just discovered your blog and it’s SO cute!!! Totally bookmarking this! These cookies are so awesome – I wish I had this kind of talent!
Your cookies are amazing! great work. Thanks for the tutorial!!
These are fantastic!! You make it look so easy : )
Thanks so much for the lovely comments!!
Allie, sorry I just noticed that you had asked a question. I did let the bottom color dry before I added the next layer. You may not want to wait this long, but I waited 24 hours to ensure they were completely dry. I wanted to avoid any colors bleeding into eachother. Hope that helps!
These are some of the CUTEST cookies I have seen!
I almost said, “oh, how cute” out loud when I saw the owl cookies at the top of the post. Luckily I didn’t, my husband probably would have been confused! I LOVED the cookies! That is some great inspiration!!!
Wow! Marian..thanks so much for sharing! Such tremendous artwork in each piece. Your cookies are seriously beautiful. LOVE LOVE LOVE the owls!
[...] others to adorn cookies), I entirely conclude the well-constructed, beautifully photographed tutorial on flooding found HERE at Sweetopia. Beginners and experts comparison will find this poetic beam [...]
these are so adorable!
Love your work!
)
Thanks for the tips
These are so stinkin’ cute. I have just started with my cookie endeavors. Thanks so much for sharing. Your advice is very valuable.
love the tutorials-btw, the owl cookies are SUPER cute!
Great tutorial Marian. BTW, these are the cutest cookies!!!
Hi Marian! I just discovered your blog. I’m sure you get this all the time, but I’m in awe of your talent… both your artistry AND your photography! Looking forward to reading along
Wow, thanks for the tips! I’ve only used royal icing a few times, but it looks like I’ll have to give it another go now
Your decorated cookies are so sweet and cute! I love the colors you used.
Thanks you so much for stopping by and leaving such nice comments!
Absolutely adorable! Thanks for the tutorial!
sooo…. creative and talented you are! I love your work and your advice is very generos!
thank you for sharing.
ML
I would love to make cookies as beautiful as yours.
Hi Marian,
Once again your cookies are just amazing!!! I would love to make them as cute as yours, how do you do to make the image in the middle so perfect?
Love, love, love them! I’ve decorated with RI before, but always have a hard time with the layering – what happens first? Can you give us some tips on how to do that?
Thanks for everything!
As always, great tips for beautiful cookies. Thank you – your site is becoming one of my top resources.
Yay-these tips are fantastic! I can’t wait for my next decorating session. I’ll be linking as well.
You are definitely an expert! Those cookies are some of the best I’ve ever seen!
[...] How to Decorate Sugar Cookies from [...]
Thanks for all the tips! Can you tell me what the Cream of Tartar does for the icing? I’ve never added it to my Royal Icing. Also, have you ever added glycerin to your icing?
Great site! I’m bookmarking this, too!
I was just thinking to myself, I want to know how to do cookies like that and here is a tutorial to do just that! Thanks very much, I will definitely use this.
Oh MY gosh! Your blog is so darling I could almost start crying! I want to LIVE in there!!! LOVE the owl cookies! You are amazing.
I can’t wait until I have more time to sit down and read it ALL!!! Wow!
So cute and clever. You know I love the squirrel the best, but those owls are amazing!!
Rossana; I don’t know about the image in the middle being perfect (lol), but it does help to use this
Kopy Kake projector
Christy; To layer is start with the basic bottom-most shape and let it dry for about 24 hours. You could apply your second coat of royal icing sooner, however bleeding from one color into the next can occur, especially if you’re using white next to a deep, dark color such as black, red or brown. If you’re decorating your cookies when it’s humid it’s also especially risky.
That’s all I do – start with one layer, let it dry and so on. Some cookies can take a few days, but don’t worry about your cookies drying out because the coating of icing keeps the freshness sealed in.
I hope that helps! If I haven’t answered your question, email me with some more specifics and I’ll be more than happy to answer.
Kelley; Cream of tartar adds stability to the egg white. (Egg white powder is in meringue powder). I remember reading somewhere that it also helps add volume… to help the egg white whip up. I know when I make my gingerbread royal icing, I make it with real egg whites, and I add LOTS of cream of tartar.
I’ve never tried glycerine in my royal icing. I’ve heard it acts similarly to clear corn syrup in the icing… helps add sheen but is somewhat harder to work with. Both glycerine and corn syrup are on my ‘to try’ list! If you’ve played around with it I’d love to hear what you thought if you don’t mind emailing me or leaving a comment here.
To everyone, thank you so much for your encouraging comments and compliments!!
These may be the cutest cookies that I have ever seen!
Hi there,
Your biscuits are amazing and I am just getting into icing biscuits. I love my biscuits crunchie and I have found after I have iced my biscuits and leave them to dry they tend to go soft. Is there a trick that I am missing to keep my biscuits crispie once iced? Any tips would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks Erin and Tina!
Tina, have you tried baking your biscuits just a bit longer?
The longer you bake, the crunchier they get. Also, the icing tends to add moisture and soften the cookies a little, so if you slightly overbake them you should get the result you’re looking for.
It’ll probably take a bit of experimentation with timing.
You’re welcome to email me if you have any more questions as well. Good luck!
awesome! I want to decorate cookies
I hope I can succeed as much as you like..
Marian,
Do you just FREEHAND all these designs? That’s crazy amazing!
Christina Marie; lol – i wish I could freehand all these designs! I get some help with the more detailed ones… Please read 6 comments above this one.
I love your site, and your cookies are beautiful!! On the tummy of your owls, did you pipe the darker blue over the white while the white was still wet? If so, how did you prevent the blue from bleeding? Every time I try the wet-on-wet technique, the top color usually starts to bleed after about 12 hours
Thanks Kristen!
I did pipe the darker blue over the lighter one right away.
One reason why the colors didn’t bleed is because the icings were the same consistency. I’ll explain more in my next post – I’ll do it on ‘bleeding icing’ for you and others who have asked!
Oh my hell, could those cookies be any cuter?! [sigh] I aspire to be you in my decorating! Brilliant design, perfect execution, and oozing with adorableness…you rock!
[...] a dark color onto a light one. A good rule of thumb is to follow the ‘10 second rule’. See #2 of Top 10 Decorating Tips or detailed info. at the cookie tutorial here. To be safest, your icing should gloss over [...]
OMG, how cute are these!!! looove the owls!
you are so sweet to share all your decorating skills. your blog is just simply awesome!! 
[...] pas la pâte Fimo. Les papillons sont confectionnés en glaçage royal, merci à Sweetopia pour les excellents conseils. Alors, comment le [...]
I have had a second go at flooding cookies – I made pink ribbons and pink champagne for Breast cancer awareness month.
Pink Cookies
I had some problems getting the icing consistency right – I think it wasn’t runny enough. And when they dried, they weren’t nice and convex, but a bit bumpy. Would using runnier icing help? I think I need to be braver and make it more runny! I’ll try your 10-second rule next time.
Next time – two colours! And overpiping! (and maybe sparkles…)
Kat, your cookies look great!
The icing looks nice, but if you felt it wasn’t runny enough, for sure, try the 10 second rule.
For the bumpiness, I couldn’t tell in the pictures, but it could be a few things. If they look like tiny bumps it could be small air bubbles. To prevent them, next time when you decorate really look for them and pop ‘em with a pin.
It could also be that the surface of your cookie had bumps on it caused by the leavening agent in the dough. (Usually baking powder). When you take your cookies out of the oven, just pop those bubbles/bumps and/or use a metal spatula to lightly flatten each cookie surface.
Hope that helps!
Have fun decorating!
Thanks for the advice. It’s not air bubbles – I’ll try runnier icing and follow your tips next time,
Kat
I really love all of your creations and I come time and again back to your blog for inspiration as well as your great tips. I did have a question about your icing consistency for flooding. I have noticed when I pipe a border around the edge of my cookies and then flood the inside you can still see the piped border when they dry. it’s as if the border or the flooded icing ins’t the right consistency and they aren’t merging together to create a smooth finish. any thoughts? I’m wondering if maybe the piped border is too thick a/o the flooded icing is too thin. I think I will try your method for making icing and see if that helps. thanks so much!
Liz; A couple of ideas:
Like you said, maybe your border is a wee bit too thick? I like tip #2 for mine.
Also like you said, the icing itself may not be the right consistency… Use the 10 second rule (I mentioned it in my tutorial section here.
The recipe for icing I use is also there if you’d like to try it.
Let me know if you have any more questions!
Marian, you’re cupcakes are adorable! You have much more patience than me, I’ve never tried layering much but after seeing your creations I think I will. I wanted to share a couple of easy tricks that I use…the first is to put a damp paper towel in the bottom of a tall glass to sort of prop my bags of frosting up while decorating, it keeps the frosting from drying and creates less mess (I’ve also found that I can keep the frosting like this overnight and it’s perfectly fine the next day). The second is that I’ve found a good comparison for the consistency of flooding frosting is like honey.
Thanks so much Summer!!
Hey Marian..I love your cookies…they are simply superb.
I have a query did u make the shape of the pictures(OWL)on top of the cookie by hand or u used the templates?
Thank you Roopa! I get inspiration from everywhere and then use a KopyKake drawing projector to help me draw the pictures. I wish I could do it all freehand – I’m not that talented!
Thanks a lot marian….U are talented…..no doubt abtb it … and u are the inspiration for me to try different things….Thanks a lot for sharing
These are phenomenal. I posted them on my blog today and included a link back to you. I will definitely be following your work, and hope that you will check out my site, too.
Hi,
I tried again – had a bit more luck with these. Super-nerdy Watchmen cookies:
Who watches the Watchmen’s cookies?
The trick was even runnier icing, and more of it!
They look great!!!
Hi..your cookies is the finest decorated i ever seen…so detail n clean…i’ve tryed the recipe but the outcome is not as good…its not glossy and smooth as yours n others…was it due to the time of mixing the meringue + water with the sugar??..or the need of putting the sugar bit by bit?…i’m not sure…i heard that glycerine could help..is it true?..TQ
Fazila,
Thank you!
About the glossiness of the icing; it only stays shiny/glossy while it is wet, for example in the picture above showing the round blue cookie just after I’ve piped the icing you can see how glossy it is. If you look at the finished cookie it looks duller.
I haven’t played around with glycerine or corn syrup very much, but I’ve also heard it adds a bit of a shine. When I play around with it more, I’ll share my information.
Smoothness; are you popping the air bubbles just after you pipe your icing?
Are you sifting your icing sugar?
Maybe if you send me a picture of your cookies I can try and help more.
Marian
[...] And last but not least, here are 10 tips for decorating your cookies with royal icing. Click here. [...]
[...] these tips from the Sweetopia blog for help in getting the icing the right [...]
Marian I love your sight & all the advice you share with everyone! Where do you buy the projector? Are they very expensive I’m just starting out.
Marian,
I know someone asked previously in the comments, but I’m a little slow and need some clarification
To get your outline and the center flooding to merge so smoothly and look like there isn’t really a border, do you use the same consistency of RI (using the 5-10 sec. rule) and just switch your tip sizes? Meaning, do you only make one batch of RI for a set of cookies and just switch out tips depending on how thick or thin your need the detail? Or do you sometimes make the RI a little stiffer?
I hope I am not making this too difficult, but I learn best by having things spelled out to me very specifically!
@ Cyndi:
No worries, I do exactly what you explained; I make one batch of RI for a set of cookies and switch the tips depending on how thick or thin I need the detail.
I used to do a stiffer outlining RI when I first began decorating cookies years ago, but found it’s just too time consuming and not really necessary.
Hope that helps and please, ask more questions if you have them!
Marian
[...] you’d like some helpful hints on decorating cookies click here and for one of my favorite icing recipes click [...]
This is helpful but I need to know quickly how to smooth it. You left that out. Like with what typie of utensil or trick to make the icing smooth. Oh well!
Darlene; In #8 I mention to shake it gently to help settle the bumps if there are any.
No tools needed, just hold the cookie and gently shake left to right. The icing should be runny enough that it settles smoothly into place.
Hope that helps!
AMAZING! You’re so creative! the designs really “come out”, its as if they’re printed or something! amazing! so creative&artistic. I’ve never done royal icing on cookies before and with this, i feel like I’m ready to do my first try! Thank you so so so much!
I have a question! I put my royal icing into accordion looking bottles when i decorate my cookies. If I have left over icing and want to save it for another day and leave it in the bottle it does not seem to have the same consistency. It almost seems to seperate. Is there a trick to using left over icing days after it is made and have it be the same consistency as the day you make it? I hope that makes sense and that you might be able to help me.
I love your site and that you are so willing to share with the rest of us your talent!
Hi Kristi,
Ah, the bane of my existance… the royal icing separating. Really I think I need to do a post on it. (Added to my list now).
Yes, the water separates from the icing sugar over time. Even within 12-24 hours. I haven’t timed it exactly, but I know that if I decorate one evening with the icing, I can’t use it the next morning.
No need to throw the icing out though! It just needs to be mixed again.
It definitely is more work to take the icing out, mix it and put it back in the piping bag (or bottles). I’ve tried to skip re-mixing it again, but the results are less than perfect. Sometimes you’ll be piping and a pool of water will come out of the piping tip.
Hope that helps!
Wowee, I just found your blog and am LOVING it and especially your tips on royal icing. This is the best site for cookie decorating I’ve found so far! Hooray!
I plan to post a link to you on my Facebook fan page and also link back to you the next time I do a baking post on my blog. I hope this is okay! Thank you for sharing the lovely photos and tutorials!
Melissa, thanks so much; I’d be honoured!
Marian….this is amazing! Quick question, when you let your cookies dry once decorated with RI, do you just let them dry on the counter uncovered? Or do they have to be kept cool and covered etc?
Thanks again for sharing your talent!!!
Thanks Adela!
Yes, uncovered and room temperature is fine; the cookies don’t dry out in the time span it takes the icing to dry as the layer of RI basically acts somewhat like a sealant.
[...] For in-depth cookie decorating tips see here, and for my top 10 decorating tips see here. [...]