Royal Icing Rattlesnake

Looking back on some of my earlier tiny royal icing creations, I notice they have one thing in common: they're pretty pretty. It's high time I roughed things up and piped something, well, venomous. What better than a snake (albeit, a teeny-tiny adorable one)? All you need is stiff consistency royal icing in colors of your choosing, a dusting pouch filled with a 50/50 blend of cornstarch and powdered sugar, a black AmeriColor Gourmet Writer, and parchment paper squares. You'll also need round tips #4 and #1.

You'll need a parchment paper square for each snake. Start by piping the body with the #4 tip (everything except for the head). Serpentine the icing in such a way that it touches itself and has more strength; you don't want that skinny body snapping in half when you slide it off the parchment. 

 Allow the body to firm up for a few minutes. Pipe the head as you would a stand-up stamen, blade of grass, or strand of hair; squeeze at the base to build up an anchor of icing, then pull the tip upward. I held it in place for a few seconds before pulling away.

 Touch a finger to the dusting pouch, then nudge the head into the position you'd like.

 While the head is firming up, pipe a few overlapping #1 dots to form the rattles.

When the head is dry, add a couple of dots for eyes with the Gourmet Writer. Use on your next cake that features snips, snails, and puppy dogs' tails.