Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

Hi
Can you give me any sort of guidelines as to how long I can keep royal icing made with merriwhite substitute. I am forever making up a small amount just to stack cakes with and stick a few flowers on then throwing the rest away coz I’m not sure how long to keep it for and if it should be refrigerated. Or would you suggest using something else for stacking cakes with?
You are always so helpful so I’m sure you will come up with an answer for me 🙂
Your help would be very much appreciated and save me keep throwing icing away.
Thank you

Hi fancycakes12

Royal icing, whether made with fresh eggs or merriwhite can be stored at a cool room temperature for two weeks. I’ve always been taught never to refrigerate royal icing because the moisture in the fridge will dilute it.
When I used to use Royal Icing all the time, I would make up a medium or large batch and store it in airtight container. From that I would take small amounts for fiddly jobs. The icing must be scrapped right down into the container and the surface sealed with fresh cling film each time to prevent it forming a skin. Wipe the inside sides of the container from any icing residue and cap it off with another piece of cling then close off the container with it’s airtight lid. The icing which is drawn from the main bulk should be kept covered with a moist cloth while it is being worked with. This prevents it crusting and drying out.
Alternatively you can use melted chocolate or ganache for cake stacking. For this job, candy melts work best because there is no need to temper and it sets quickly. Depending on how many cakes you are stacking, melt sufficient for that and any flowers you need to stick on. Melted compound chocolate can also be used, it doesn’t need tempering but takes longer to set and may not be as strong for stacking. Ganache is a great gluing medium. To help you calculate a small batch, take a peek at the chart in my blog here:

Carry on Ganaching! New Charts and Recipes

Click on the covering only option if you just want the ganache for stacking cakes and select from the chart enough for your work.
Please also have a look at royal icing basics here:

Beginners Royal Icing Course

Hope this helps. If you need any more information, you only have to post again. 🙂 x

Wow. You’re a star madeitwithlove.
I knew you’d come up with an answer for me. That is brilliant. Watched a tutorial recently where she used candy melts to stick bows on a cake and thought at the time ‘that’s something new’ . First time I’d heard of it. Now you tell me I can stick my stacked cakes together with it. Great. I’m off out now to get some candymelts 🙂
Thank you so much for all the help and information.
Great stuff
xx

You are very welcome fancycakes12! Use it in the same way as you would the royal icing. x