Create a Stunning Garden With Royal Icing Transfer Flowers!

Hey Besties! You may have picked up a theme lately that we’re all about flowers lately! Spring and summer are around the corner and so many cookiers want amazing floral designs but are intimated to try them! Besties, as always, I’m giving you LOTS of options. Anyone can include amazing flower designs on their cookies and you have a variety of techniques to choose from. Today, I’m excited to share several new royal icing transfer flowers with you! If you’ve made royal icing transfer before, you can simply download these free sheets and get decorating! And if making and using royal icing transfers is new to you, I’m sharing resources and guidance for you to get started! Let’s go!

Intro To Royal Icing Transfers

If transfers are new to you, THIS is a great introductory tutorial to get started! Royal icing transfers are like creating and using giant sprinkles that you create in any design you’d like. You probably don’t even realize that so many of the decorated cookies you see, include royal icing transfers. They can be the centerpiece of your design or simply an added accent. Your options are quite literally, endless.

And while royal icing transfers are fabulous for new decorators, they are a common technique for decorators of all skill levels. They provide a great opportunity for piping practice, creating designs without a projector and add design elements to your cookies with no risk of messing up an actual cookie! You can even create beautiful fonts and numbers without a projector, using royal icing transfers. But today, we’re focusing on royal icing flowers! Let’s cover some of my most helpful tips for making transfers!

Tips For Making Royal Icing Transfers

Making royal transfers is very simple, however, there are several tips and tricks that make them easier and more successful to create and use! I also receive a lot of questions about transfers, so I’ll include those tips here as well.

MAKING TRANSFERS

• What consistency is best for make royal icing transfers? You want to use a thicker consistency when making transfers for several reasons. First, thicker icing is going to make the transfer much more sturdy and less prone to breaking. I use a consistency that globs into the bowl off of the spoon with little to no ribboning off of it. It requires light scribing once I pipe it to perfect the icing. It’s pretty thick! In THIS royal icing consistency guide, you’ll see the exact consistency I use for making transfers!
• What royal icing recipe do you use for transfers? We use the same royal icing recipe for all of our cookie decorating. We never struggle with craters, color bleed or other issues. The magic is in the METHOD of making royal icing. It’s simple but important to follow the instructions. You can find exactly how we make our royal icing HERE.
• What surface is best to make transfers on? I make all my transfers on sheet protectors which allow your transfers to dry in under 24 hours with perfectly flat backs that will sit flush on a flat cookie. Parchment and wax paper will curl from the moisture. And cookiers who use thicker acetate or laminated sheets can sometimes struggle with dry times. If you’re going to use acetate or laminate the sheets, choose the thinnest weight available. THESE are the sheet protectors I use, which are made from Polypropylene, which is a food safe material. Then get wiped clean in-between uses as well. TIP: Companies don’t always use their marketing dollars to promote products as food safe if they aren’t marketing to a demographic that is using their product for food-contacting purposes. I always encourage bakers to familiarize yourself with the most common food-safe materials so you can make informed decisions about the products you use.

Drying Your Royal Icing Transfers

• Can sheet protectors go in the dehydrator to speed up drying? Yes, as long as you are using a food-safe material. When using a dehydrator for cookie decorating, it is used on the lowest temp (mine is 95) so contents hardly even get warm to the touch.
• How long does it take for transfers to fully dry? The answer to this will depend on your icing, your climate and if you use anything to speed up drying, like a dehydrator. Royal icing transfer should always be completely dry within 24 hours. The only time it may take longer than that is if your home is very humid. Otherwise, you may want to consider using a dehydrator or reconsider the surface you’re using to make your transfers on. Our transfers are always completely dry within 18 hours.
• What is the best way to remove transfers to avoid breakage? Royal icing transfer don’t have any flex, so if you try to peel them off the sheet, they will break. It’s always best to curl the sheet away from the back of the transfer to release it. If your transfers are fully dry, they’ll pop right off. If they are sticking, they may not be full dry yet.

STORING TRANSFERS

• The best way to store royal icing transfers? You want to store at room temperature. I use organizers like THESE to store my transfers. Again, these are made from food-safe material.
• How long are royal icing transfers good for? Basically, forever when stored properly. Although, we almost always use ours within a few months and are constantly replenishing.

USING TRANSFERS

• The best way to attach royal icing transfers to cookies? You can add your transfers to dried flood, using tiny dabs of royal icing as glue. Not too much or the transfer won’t be able to sit flush. You can also add to wet flood for a slightly different look. I always recommend letting your wet flood set up for a couple minutes, so the transfers don’t sink too much. In THIS post, I compared what these different options look like so you can decide which you prefer!
• Will transfers bleed? When added to dried flood, there is no chance of color bleed. There is a chance of bleed when added to wet flood. If you are struggling with color bleed in your royal icing, THIS post will help.

Royal Icing Transfer Flowers

Bring on the flowers!!!! I hope you like all of these designs and can put them to good use for your delicious treats! You’ll find a free download link with each design so you can download whichever designs you like best! And I’m including each design on a simple flooded cookie to feature each design!

Disclaimer: I am not a master gardener, so please do not come at me if you disagree with how I’ve named my designs!

Design #1 – Daisy

You can download this royal icing transfer sheet HERE or by clicking on the daisy example photo!

Design #2 – Geranium

You can download this royal icing transfer sheet HERE or by clicking on the geranium example photo!

Design #3 – Pansy

You can download this royal icing transfer sheet HERE or by clicking on the pansy example photo!

Design # 4 – Water Lily

You can download this royal icing transfer sheet HERE or by clicking on the water lily example photo!

Design #5 – Buttercup

You can download this royal icing transfer sheet HERE or by clicking on the buttercup example photo!

Design #6 – Black-Eyed Susan

You can download this royal icing transfer sheet HERE or by clicking on the black-eyed Susan example photo!

Design #7 – Freesia

You can download this royal icing transfer sheet HERE or by clicking on the Freesia example photo!

Design #8 – Pinwheel

You can download this royal icing transfer sheet HERE or by clicking on the pinwheel example photo!

Design #9 – Succulent

You can download this royal icing transfer sheet HERE or by clicking on the succulent example photo!

Time To Create Beautiful Flower Cookies

I hope you love these designs and can put them to good use! Your design options are endless with color options and how you use these. From one bestie to another, enjoy!!

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