Hey Besties! With SO many new decorators after the holiday season, one of the most common topics is seeking help with royal icing piping. So we’re tackling that today with guidance on royal icing consistencies, piping tips and free royal icing piping practice sheets! Per usual, you’ve asked for these and I’m happy to help. For new decorators or those looking to improve their skills, playing and practicing with your icing is one of the smartest things you can do. Without needing any actual cookies, you can grow your skills and quicken your learning curve! Let’s get piping!
My go-to royal icing recipe
If you already have a royal icing recipe you love, I love that for you! But if you need a great recipe that thousands love or if your icing is giving you any grief, I encourage you to try THIS recipe. Bestie, not all royal icing is the same and that’s one of the biggest realizations many make after struggling with a recipe and consistencies for a long time. Even though there is a short list of ingredients, the amounts you use, and the mixing METHOD makes a world of difference. The magic is in the method as I always say.
Royal icing piping consistency
When it comes to cookie decorating, nearly everything comes down to consistencies. Or at least having the right consistency is your first step in achieving the look you want. And when we talk about piping, they key is having a consistency thick enough to hold clean lines for crisp designs.
Generally speaking, if your lines are spreading or pooling more than you’d like, your icing is too thin. Fortunately, you can always add a little powdered sugar to your icing to thicken up your consistency. Honestly, sometimes the difference between perfect consistencies is just one or two sprays or water. I always use a spray bottle when adding water to my icing for the best control over how much I’m adding.
In my consistency guide, you can see exactly what different consistencies look like in the mixing bowl. Pay attention to how quickly or slowly your icing heals itself and also how peaks behave. Mastering your royal icing consistencies is really learning how each consistency behaves and how you can manipulate it to decorate. As you work more with your icing, you’ll learn the feel of your icing by simply stirring it with your spatula in the bowl. This is also why learning consistencies can be the hardest part of decorating! Everyone’s icing is slightly different, so there’s no exact formula to automatically create different consistencies.
You’ll use one batch of icing to create all the different consistencies you need, and you will find the exact consistency that works best for YOU! What works best for one cookier may not be the best for you, so take the time to play with and learn your icing.
With Tips or tipless?
I personally use tipless piping bags for all of my decorating, with the exception of florals when I use decorating tips. Not only do I loathe cleaning piping tips, but I like the freedom tipless decorating gives me to create the hole size I want. And while the majority of cookiers use tipless bags, some prefer to use piping tips! I encourage you to try both to see what you prefer. The good news is that you can use tipless piping bags with or without tips. THESE are the piping bags I use for all of my royal icing decorating.
Royal Icing Piping Guidance
Here my top tips (no pun intended) for learning to successfully pipe beautiful lines!
- Don’t fight the wrong consistency. If your lines are spreading, your icing is too thin. If your lines are easily breaking while piping, your icing may be too thick. Stop and correct your consistency for success.
- The larger your hole (or tip) and thinner your icing, the faster you’re going to need to move your hand to pipe a clean line. Conversely, if your hole or tip is small or icing is thick, you will need to move your hand slower to pipe clean lines. Perfect piping is really a combination of consistency, hole size and hand speed.
- My #1 tip for piping is to LIFT your tip/bag off of your cookie. Many cookiers, especially new decorators tend to keep their bag or tip very close to the cookie. But this will make it much harder to get clean lines. Touch your icing to your cookie and then LIFT! You’re really laying the icing line where you want it.
- Don’t be deceived my decorating videos that make piping look very fast, because videos are almost always sped up. Piping clean lines, especially if they are very thin, is a slower process. Go as slow as you want to get the look you want.
- If you’re getting a blob at the start and end points of your lines, it’s usually caused by too much pressure without movement. When starting a line, let the icing flow without unnecessary pressure. And when you end, let up on any pressure before touching back down on your cookie. Use your scribe to perfect any lines.
Royal Icing Piping Practice sheets
One of the pieces of advice I always give to new decorators or those looking to improve their skills is to take time to play with your icing! You don’t need cookies or to decorate a set to practice. Simply make icing, and play with different consistencies, hole sizes in your bag and different techniques to accelerate your journey. Take notes on what works for you so you can learn and repeat next time. This is why I’ve created these free royal icing piping practice sheets for you! Download, print and slip inside a sheet protector to practice as much as you want. I promise, you will learn so much!
You can download this 2-page set HERE for free. One page focused more on straight lines and corners, whereas the other is curves and round shapes!
And don’t forget that all the free royal icing transfer sheets are great for piping and decorating practice as well! You’ll find the free collection HERE! And if you want to practice to improve writing with royal icing, you’ll find practice sheets specific to different font styles and sizes HERE. You’ve got no shortage of free resources to reach your decorating goals!
Piping practice video
I also make a quick video for you to see me in action using these practice sheets, in case it’s helpful! You can find that video HERE.
Ready to get piping?!
I hope this post all about royal icing piping practice sheets and tips has been helpful! I promise, if you take some time to play with your icing, consistencies and these free practice sheets, your piping will improve! Me and thousands of other Besties would love to see your work and celebrate your decorating success in our group HERE! It’s the happiest corner of the internet!
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