Monday, October 8, 2012

Royal Icing Witch Hats

Witch hats are one of the easiest (and in my opinion cutest) things you can pipe for Halloween out of royal icing. The hat band is optional, but you could pipe it in any color you want to coordinate with your cupcake liners, icing, whatever. All you'll need are black stiff consistency royal icing (or another, less iconic, color), round tip #12, a flower nail, parchment paper squares, a glue stick, a Styrofoam block to rest the nail in, and a dusting pouch filled with a 50/50 mix of powdered sugar and cornstarch. If you're going to pipe a hat band, you'll want a contrasting color and an oval tip #55 (I used a #57 which was a little too large). Start by sticking a parchment square to the flower nail with a dab from the glue stick. 
 Hold the #12 tip just above and at a right angle to the surface. Pipe an "O", then pipe a dab in the center. LIberally dust a fingertip by touching it to the dusting pouch, then tap the icing to blend it into a flat disc.
 Hold the tip against the center, squeeze, and move the tip upwards about half an inch. Stop pressure and pull the tip away to form a cone.
 Allow it to firm up for a few minutes, then pipe a hat band if you like. Any flat tip will do, but I used an oval tip to see what it would look like with more depth.
 And then I went with one more ring of green icing, because, well, why not? I think it has a Dr. Seuss quality now! When the icing is dry, peel away the parchment and use the hat to decorate any small dessert. I need to try my hand at making witch cake pops!

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