Royal Icing powder for piping, HOW?

pinkpinkfizz

Hi,
I am making 2 cakes. One for my daughter's 6th birthday and one for my Twin boys confirmation on sunday. I have the cakes made and buttercreamed the fillings, I have used ready to roll fondant to cover the cakes and they are now sitting waiting for the detailing to be added. Previoulsy I have just used buttercream to pipe details but would like something a bit firmer this time, as both cakes will be seen by lots of people!

here's my question; I have bought the silver spoon royal icing powder, but on the back of the packet it only has directions for covering a cake, not piping. How do I make it up for piping? Is it just a case of mixing it up quite thick?

Please help,
Thanks

lurkey*is*here

I would have stuck with the butter cream to decorate its easier to work with than Royal icing
sorry Im not sure what the icing powder is like I usually make my own royal icing

Magpye

In the past for decorating I have just made up a thick paste from icing sugar and water, which dries hard and brittle and I found was good for detail. I would imagine you could mix up the royal icing powder to a stiff paste for piping also although it may be prone to drying out a bit quicker so I would make up small batches in the colours you need as and when you will be decorating with them.

siren13577

To make royal icing for piping try this recipe:

2 egg whites,
1ml/1/4 tsp lemon juice
500g/1lb icing sugar (doesn't have to be royal icing)
5ml/1tsp glycerine

Measure out lemon juice and add to bowl with egg whites, sift some of icing sugar and mix together with wooden spoon, keep gradually adding icing sugar until you have the consistency of thick cream and beat well. Use a number one or two tube depending on the thickness of piping you want. If you want to colour the icing try to use the paste as the liquid food colouring might make it too sloppy but you can always add more icing sugar slowly to get the consistency you need if you're in a rush.
Good luck and I hth, hope you have a lovely time with your family.