Click HERE for Part One of the tutorial- the recipe itself, and making royal icing for piping edges!
Once you’ve made royal icing of a firm consistency, you’ve done all the hard work. Now we’re going to concentrate on thinning that icing to the right consistency for flooding your cookies. If you’re already lost or not quite sure what that means, never fear! I’ll do my best to answer to most common questions before we get into the tutorial itself.
What is flooding?
“Flooding” a cookie simply means filling in the area within a piped shape. When you use the same color to outline and fill the cookie, it’ll give you the illusion of a smooth shape that extends to the edges of the cookie without dripping over and looking messy. Flooding is the backbone of sugar cookie decorating, and you’ll use it for almost every design you’ll ever make.
So it’s just watery royal icing?
Yes, essentially. But you’ll want to add just enough water to your icing for it to flow across the cookie without being so watery that it dissolves the edges you piped out with your firm royal icing. It’s something that gets easier to judge the more times you make and work with it.
Do I need any tools to flood cookies?
Yes, there are a few tools that will make your life so much easier. One is a scribe (etching) tool, which will help you push the icing into any tight corners of your design and ensure full coverage of the cookie surface everywhere else. The other is a food grade squeeze bottle. Although you can flood from a pastry/piping bag, I find that the squeeze bottle will give much more control in how fast the icing flows onto the cookie.
Do I do anything different when I want to make colored icing?
You don’t do anything different when it comes to the recipe, but trying to mix two perfectly matching batches of icing is a recipe for disaster. You will want to make sure that your piping icing and flooding icing are the exact same color, and so you’ll need to work from the same bowl for both consistencies. After the icing is at the desired piping consistency, you have added your coloring, and you have scooped what you need into your piping bag, go ahead and add water as described below.
Okay, with the basics out of the way, let’s make some flooding icing! For the sake of this tutorial, we’re going to flood a cookie with the same color icing as we piped with, to create that perfect, clean edge to a cookie that everyone wants. We’ll be working with white because it shows up well in photos, but I’ll get into flooding with a colored icing at the end of the tutorial.
Starting from where we left off in the piping tutorial, you will want to add small amounts of water with a teaspoon until the icing has reached the desired consistency. What I have found works best is to mix in about a half tablespoon of water to start, and then count how long it takes for a line of icing to ‘melt’ back into itself in the bowl. Generally, I like it to disappear in about three seconds.
Check out the quick video below to see what I mean!
You really do want to watch your consistency- too little water will keep your icing from flowing smoothly on the cookie, while too much water will leave you with bubbles and icing that may never completely dry. It’s much less of a hassle to go back and add more water than it is to have to add more confectioner’s sugar, so err on the side of caution when you’re learning what works for you.
Once you’ve got the icing where you want it, grab your squeeze bottle and pour your icing into it. Once the bottle is full, be sure to cap it or tape over the tip so that the icing is protected from any drying out when you’re not using it. And now, armed with your piping bag and squeeze bottle, you’re ready to get flooding!
Click HERE for part three of the tutorial- you’ve got the tools for success, now learn how to use them!