Flood Cookies Like a Pro | Royal Icing Made Easy

In this tutorial: What You'll Need · The Flood Icing Recipe · Outlining and Flooding a Cookie · Decorating the Stocking · Adding Ornaments to the Tree · Tips for Success

Cookie flood icing creates a smooth, glossy finish that dries hard enough to stack and package — making decorated cookies perfect for holiday gifts. In this tutorial, Chef Alan Tetreault of Global Sugar Art demonstrates the flood technique on Christmas cookies, covering everything from mixing the icing to adding decorative details like holly leaves, sparkly stars, and piped ornaments.

What You'll Need

• Cookie cutters — American-made aluminum cutters in Christmas shapes (tree, stocking, gingerbread man, light bulb, etc.); available at Global Sugar Art
• Flood icing — a homemade confectioner's sugar glaze (recipe below)
• Royal icing — for outlining and adding raised details like ornament dots
• Decorating bags and tips — a #3 or #4 tip for outlining, a #5 or #6 tip for flooding
• Food colorings — green, red, white, black, and any accent colors desired
• Disco Dust or Twinkle Dust — for sparkle effects on the star
• Edible glitter — an alternative sparkle option
• Candy beads — red candy beads by CK Products for holly berries
• Pearlized snowflake sprinkles — for stocking decoration
• Confetti sprinkles — colored confettis for gingerbread man buttons
• Toothpicks — for spreading icing into corners and creating holly leaf designs
• Tweezers — for placing sprinkles on wet icing without smudging
• Paper towels — for keeping tip ends clean between piping
• Soft round brush — for applying dust and glitter

The Flood Icing Recipe

▶ Watch this section (1:07)

Chef Alan shares a homemade flood icing recipe from Angelia, the lead cake decorator at Global Sugar Art. This icing dries with a beautiful shine and holds up well for packaging and gifting.

• 2 cups confectioner's sugar
• 4 teaspoons whole milk
• 4 teaspoons light corn syrup (such as Karo brand)
• 1 teaspoon clear almond extract
• 1–1.5 teaspoons Allen's Bridal Blend flavoring

Mix the ingredients together, then transfer the icing into decorating bags fitted with the appropriate tips.

Outlining and Flooding a Cookie

▶ Watch this section (2:31)

The flood technique uses two types of icing working together: royal icing creates a border that acts as a dam, and the thinner flood icing fills the interior for a smooth, glossy surface.

↪ Step 1 — Outline with Royal Icing

1. Fit a decorating bag with a #3 or #4 tip and fill with royal icing in the desired color.
2. Pipe an outline around the entire edge of the cookie.
3. Lift the icing as you pipe — touch the surface, then lift the tip and let the icing fall into a straight line. Anchor at each turning point, then lift again.

↪ Step 2 — Flood the Interior

▶ Watch this section (3:39)

1. Switch to a #5 or #6 tip loaded with the flood icing.
2. Pipe around the inside edge first, letting the royal icing border prevent overflow.
3. Fill back and forth across the interior — no need to press hard.
4. Let the icing sit for a few seconds to begin spreading on its own.
5. Use a toothpick to push icing into corners and drag it over any open spots.

Decorating the Stocking Cookie

▶ Watch this section (6:24)

1. Identify the stocking sections — determine where the cuff (top) and body meet.
2. Outline the body in red royal icing, leaving space at the top for the white cuff.
3. Flood the red section with red flood icing, using a toothpick to remove air bubbles.
4. Outline and flood the white cuff at the top, piping right up against the red border for a clean division.

↪ Adding Holly and Snowflakes

▶ Watch this section (9:18)

While the white cuff icing is still fresh:

1. Place three red candy beads in a small cluster for holly berries.
2. Pipe two small green dots near the berries using green flood icing.
3. Use a toothpick to drag from the center of each green dot outward — this creates the look of holly leaves.
4. Use tweezers to place pearlized snowflake sprinkles onto the red section.

Adding Ornaments to the Tree Cookie

▶ Watch this section (11:23)

After outlining and flooding the tree in green and adding a yellow star at the top:

1. Let the green flood icing dry for 5–10 minutes before adding any details on top.
2. Use royal icing (not flood icing) to pipe small colored dots sporadically across the tree — these are the ornaments.
3. Add dots in a few colors plus white for variety.

↪ Adding Sparkle to the Star

▶ Watch this section (5:44)

1. While the star's flood icing is still wet, dip a soft round brush into Disco Dust, Twinkle Dust, or edible glitter.
2. Tap the brush over the star — do not brush it across the icing. Tapping lets the dust land precisely without disturbing the wet surface.

Tips for Success

• 💡 Start thicker, adjust thinner. It is better to begin with icing that is slightly too thick and add a little corn syrup to thin it out. Icing that is too thin will run over the royal icing borders or slide off the cookie entirely.
• 💡 Keep paper towels handy. Wipe the tip of the decorating bag frequently to prevent dried icing from clogging the opening or creating uneven lines.
• 💡 Get creative with the toothpick drag technique. For Christmas light bulb cookies, flood in blue, add a dot of white flood icing while still wet, and drag downward with a toothpick to create a reflection effect.
• 💡 Personalize your cookies. Once the base icing has dried, royal icing can be used to pipe names or messages directly onto the cookie surface.
• 💡 These cookies keep well. Once fully dried overnight, decorated cookies can be stacked in a tin or sealed container. The icing retains its shine and the cookies stay fresh for days — making them ideal for gift-giving.

This tutorial is part of Global Sugar Art's library of free cake decorating videos by Chef Alan Tetreault. Browse all tutorials →