Royal Icing Oak Leaf

The official state tree of Maryland is the white oak, which can live over 600 years! The leaves of this tree are very easy to pipe, and would look great in a variety of colors for a cake to celebrate any autumn holiday. You'll need stiff consistency royal icing, leaf tip #101 (or #104 for larger leaves), round tip #3, a glue stick, a flower nail, a Styrofoam brick, parchment paper squares, and a dusting pouch filled with a 50/50 mix of cornstarch and powdered sugar. Start by sticking a parchment square to the nail with a dab from the glue stick. 

This really is one of the easiest projects, ever. Lie the #101 tip almost flat against the surface, and pipe a gentle, random zig-zag of icing from one end to the other, at which point you should rotate the nail and repeat down the other side.

Touch a fingertip to the dusting pouch and lightly tap the surface to subtly blend the icing together. Don't flatten it too much; the grooves will represent veins.

Switch to the #3 tip and pipe a short stem. Overlap it just enough to really anchor it so it will be less likely to break off.

 When the white oak reaches 50 years of age, it will start to produce acorns; up to 10,000 annually! So you might want to pipe some to accompany the leaves.