We’re now onto week three of our ‘Intro to Royal Icing’ tutorial series which we hope you find easy to follow and pretty darn useful. Working with royal icing seems daunting, but with a straightforward recipe and some patience and practice it needn’t be! For our first tutorial of the collection we showed you how to pipe delicate pearl borders and we shared our go-to recipe for royal icing, then last week we featured a how to on making a parchment paper cornet/cone and how to pipe polka dots, this week we’re going to show you how to use stencils and royal icing to apply some fabulous designs onto your cakes and cupcakes!

How to use stencils with royal icing

You’ll need…

• A flat and clean stencil
• Cake, cookie or flat fondant disc to top a cupcake (fondant/sugarpaste covered is best)
• Royal icing (find our recipe here) the consistency of toothpaste
• Spatula
• Trex or Crisco (optional)

Step 1: One of the first steps (if obvious) is to make sure that your stencil is the appropriate size for the surface you wish to decorate! Also, it’s best if your stencil is flat so look after them to avoid kinks, bends or folds. If you’re a fresh faced beginner it’s best to steer clear of over-complicated stencil designs until you’re more proficient!

Step 2: Apply the stencil to the surface (some people paint Trex or Crisco onto the side of the stencil that will touch the cake to help stick it on, some utilise pins instead, and some have someone generous enough to lend their steady hands for a few moments), hold down steadily yet lightly before you apply your royal icing. 

Step 3: With a good spatula (we recommend a cranked or angled spatula for good control). Whilst holding the stencil steady apply some royal icing and use the spatula to smooth over the stencil. Scrape excess royal icing away with the spatula and when ready slowly peel the stencil away. Remember to always work pragmatically… clean and wipe your stencil between each cookie or side of a cake to avoid blurred or indecipherable designs. Impatience will lead to mess! 

Once you become more confident with this technique adding stencil designs to your cakes and cookies with royal icing will be a fantastic and fast way to add detail! Now that our ‘Into to Royal Icing’ series is over why not keep test your new-found skills on a batch of cookies or cupcakes? Stop by next week to find out what our next collection of tutorials will be!