Did you know you can make chocolate royal icing? Yes, you can and it’s just as easy as making your typical “vanilla” royal icing.

Start by adding your meringue powder to the powdered sugar and then quickly whisk together. Then add your water and mix together just like you are making your traditional royal icing.

I like to mix the royal icing for a full one to two minutes before adding the cocoa powder because overmixing the cocoa powder could throw off the consistency of the icing.

Once the royal icing is nice and thick and airy, then I sift the cocoa powder in before mixing it into the royal icing. This ensures there are no large clumps of cocoa powder in the resulting icing.

I also like to add about 1 tbsp of corn syrup so that the icing still has a nice sheen once it’s dry. I’ve noticed that adding cocoa powder can sometimes leave the dried icing very matte or with an uneven finish.

After that, the chocolate royal icing can be used just like your traditional royal icing! It can be thinned down to flood consistency or it can be used to write or make intricate designs in a piping consistency.

Coloring

What I love about having chocolate royal icing as an option is that it’s a natural way to color your icing brown or even as a good base for black royal icing so that you don’t have to use as much food coloring.

Yes, you can color this icing, but of course, it will add a brown tint to whatever color you are trying to make. It works best with darker colors.

The icing may take a little longer to dry, so setting the cookies in front of a fan to dry will help.

Storage

Also, the icing can be stored in the fridge for one to two weeks in an air-tight container, or even longer in the freezer. Just remember to let come up to room temperature and stir well before using it again.

Looking for a plain royal icing recipe, here’s my go-to.

Chocolate Royal Icing

Ingredients

1 pound (about 4 cups) powdered sugar
1 ounce (about 3 tbsp) meringue powder
2 fl. ounces (1/4 cup) water, plus more for thinning
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tbsp corn syrup

Method

In a large bowl, whisk together powdered sugar and meringue powder for a few seconds.
Then pour in the water a little at a time while slowly mixing with a hand or stand mixer. Once all the water has been added and the icing has come together, increase speed to medium and mix for about one to two minutes until the icing is thick and airy.
Add the corn syrup and sift in the cocoa powder. Then continue to mix for another 30 seconds until all the cocoa powder is incorporated.
The icing should be a thick, stiff consistency icing. Add more water to thin down to a piping or flood consistency. Icing can be colored using food coloring.
Store in an air-tight container until ready to use.