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Types of Icings
There are several types of icings that can be used to decorate
cookies. I have 4 different kinds that I use
frequently, and I often mix and match the frostings (for example,
I may glaze with the simple powdered sugar glaze,
and do all of the detail work in Royal, or I may glaze in Royal, but
do some thick piping in the Meringue Powder
Buttercream.) I recommend experimenting with as many icings as
you care to try, and learn about the properties of
each of them. This will help you to understand why you may
want to use one kind over another for specific cookies.
I'll explain a little about each of them, and hopefully that will
give you a good idea as well.This is a cross between royal icing and regular buttercream. It has meringue powder so that it dries well, but it also has shortening in it, so it remains soft on the inside and doesn't dry out the cookie as much. This is the icing that I use the most. I like it because I think it tastes better than royal icing, and I can get almost as much detail with it. This icing, like royal, can be thinned down with water to make a glaze. The icing is stackable, and it can also be shipped, but it takes a little bit longer to dry completely. The biggest downfall of this icing is that it tends to bleed a little bit more than royal. You need to make sure your glaze is dry before adding the detail work. Even taking that into consideration, it is still my favorite to work with. Royal icing is probably the most popular icing that cookie decorators use. It is preferable because it holds up very well if the cookies need to be stacked, shipped, stored, etc.. Royal icing can be made into a very nice glaze and also works great for very fine detail work. The biggest problem with royal icing is that it dries hard as a rock, and also tends to dry out the the cookies more than a buttercream icing would. The drying rock-hard isn't a big deal if you are doing a cookie that has a thin layer of glaze and some basic outlines or decorations (for example, see heart cookies), but if you need a cookie to have thick piping (for example, see Santa's beard or this Wedding Cake cookie). The thick decorations would almost be impossible to eat in royal icing. Dry Fondant Icing
This is a dry powder that you just add water to, and it
can be purchased at cake decorating supply stores. It is very
easy to use, and tastes great. One problem that I have
with it is that I can't get the detail that I like. It
works great as a glaze, and doesn't dry out the cookies,
but if you would like very fine detail work, you'll need to
mix up some royal icing or meringue powder buttercream.
Also, I haven't had any luck freezing cookies with this glaze
on it. The colors run like crazy! I even did some cookies
that had the dry fondant icing as the glaze with royal
icing decorations, and the colors still ran. So I guess the
bottom line is that this works great as a glaze, but do
your details in something else, and use
them right away.
See an example
of cookies done using
this icing.As the name suggests, this is just a glaze. It can't be used for detail work. I like it because it is very simple to make and use, but I really rarely use it. The only time I use it is if I'm doing glaze-only designs (see heart cookies). It doesn't dry out the cookies like royal and it tastes great. I have recently discovered that this icing can be thickened up with additional powdered sugar to make an outline. It works really well, and is SO easy. The only problem I had with it is that the color seems to get a little blotchy and faded after the cookies sit for about a day. But it's great if you need some quick cookies that will be used fairly soon. |
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