Royal Icing For Statues

• 3 cups confectioners' sugar
• 3 tablespoons meringue powder
• 3 tablespoons water
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

1. Combine all the ingredients using an electric mixer. Beat for several minutes until thoroughly combined.
2. Add icing color until you achieve the desired shade. These were decorated using buttercup yellow form Wilton.
3. Immediately cover the royal icing so it doesn't dry out. Bowls with lids are great to have on hand.
4. Prepare a decorator bag fitted with a #3 tip. Place about 1/3 of the royal icing in the bag. Cover the remaining 2/3 of icing while you pipe the outline of the cookie statues in yellow.
5. Reuse any icing that is left in the bag and combine it with the remaining royal icing that you have covered in the bowl. Add a few drops of water and stir until the icing becomes more fluid. "Flood" or fill the inside of your piped statues with the royal icing.
6. You can sprinkle the tops with gold sanding sugar while the icing is still wet.
7. Or let the icing completely dry for a few hours and then paint them with luster dust to give them a metallic look. Place a small amount of super gold luster dust in a bowl. Add a few drops of clear extract (it evaporates quickly) and mix until the powder dissolves. Paint on the mixture with a brush and let dry.

sugar, meringue powder, water, lemon juice

Taken from www.epicurious.com/recipes/member/views/royal-icing-for-statues-51811531 (may not work)