I’m about 125 cookies into my journey with Freddie, Primera’s frosting machine that floods cookies with royal icing, and let me tell you: nailing the icing consistency is everything.

I recently ran Freddie through his first real order (you can read about that adventure here), and one of the biggest takeaways was just how much the icing matters. Primera originally suggested a 15-second flood consistency, and the manual even included a royal icing recipe with ¾ cup water for ⅓ cup meringue powder and 2 lbs powdered sugar. Any seasoned cookier knows that’s thin.

I use Genie’s Dream meringue powder and their standard recipe (minus corn syrup - more on that later), which calls for ½ cup of water to create stiff royal icing that can be thinned. For my first Freddie run, I went with the recommended 15-second consistency—and struggled. During the icing calibration, Freddie kept telling me the icing was too thin. I eventually got it to work by tweaking the outline and flood pressures and increasing the distance-to-edge, but it was a clunky and time consuming process.

That’s when I started asking questions.

  • How exactly is Primera timing “15 seconds”? Spatula test? Drip test? Waiting until fully incorporated or just mostly? (I asked Mitch, Primera’s Freddie trainer, and he said “good questions.”)

  • How do I adjust for the fact that Freddie’s icing tube hole is so large compared to what I’d ever cut for a piping bag? (According to Mitch, new tip sizes are under consideration!)

  • What does “outline pressure 30” even translate to in hand piping?

  • And finally—Freddie won’t even run if the icing is too thick, so if I want to use him to just outline cookies, I can’t use my usual toothpaste consistency.

At that point, I connected with another Freddie owner through the Sugar Cookie Marketing Facebook group. She had more experience and found her sweet spot at around 30 seconds. A call with Mitch confirmed that recommendations are shifting to a 20-35 second range. That’s a big spread, but as every cookier knows, environment makes a difference—icing in DC behaves differently than icing in Florida or Arizona.

Finding My Sweet Spot: 25 Seconds

The next time I made icing, I aimed for 25 seconds—just shy of the other user’s sweet spot. I also changed how I tested: instead of dropping a super thin line, I made the line closer in width to what Freddie actually lays down. Then I counted until it was almost incorporated, just needing a little shake of encouragement (like Freddie’s own “icing dance”). 

For the first time ever, Freddie calibrated without a single error message. No outline or flood pressure tweaks. I may have done a little happy dance. I immediately filmed my bowl of icing for reference—my new visual standard for “Freddie-ready” icing. I also tracked my water additions carefully the next time I made icing:

  • 40 oz stiff royal icing (straight from the mixer)

  • 17 tsp water (added one at a time)

  • Two generous squirts of white food coloring (I was icing cookies to be printed with Eddie, so white was non-negotiable for color accuracy)

That combo calibrated perfectly. Twice. These are now my magic Freddie ratios.

The Corn Syrup Question

Here’s the next challenge: deciding whether to reintroduce corn syrup. When I first got Eddie (my edible ink printer), I removed corn syrup from my icing based on advice from other users. Corn syrup helps keep a soft bite, but it also adds moisture—the enemy of Eddie prints. Smudges and smears are a common complaint in the Eddie Facebook group, and I’ve avoided them by keeping my icing thin (6–8 seconds), flat, and well-dried (2 days, with a fan for the first few hours).

Now that Freddie’s pushing me toward a 25-second consistency, I’m worried about crunchy icing that will detract from my soft cookies. Reintroducing corn syrup might balance that out. Other Eddie owners still use it successfully, so I know it’s possible—it’ll just take testing in my specific environment.

Wrapping It Up

If you’re a fellow Freddie owner, here’s what I’ve learned so far:

  • Forget the 15-second recommendation—aim for 20–35 seconds and test what works for you.

  • Test icing in a way that mirrors Freddie’s actual line width and settling.

  • Document everything—videos of icing consistency, water ratios, and adjustments will save you later.

  • Don’t be afraid to experiment. Every environment is different.

I feel like I’ve finally cracked the code on Freddie’s icing consistency, and I’m excited to keep testing and refining. Next stop: figuring out the right balance of corn syrup, Freddie, and Eddie. Because at the end of the day, consistency is key—and I think I’m finally getting there.

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