Royal Icing Turtle

This is my first attempt at piping an animal with a little more height. It's not quite a giraffe, but the turtle is definitely jacked up a bit because it's made from two parts stacked on top of each other. All you’ll need to pipe turtles are parchment paper squares, a dusting pouch filled with a 50/50 blend of cornstarch and powdered sugar, a piping bag filled with stiff consistency royal icing and fitted with a round #12 tip, a round #3 tip, a #5 tip, and a black Gourmet Writer by AmeriColor. Start by piping a ball with the #12 tip. Hold the tip just above a parchment paper square, squeeze firmly, and when the icing resembles a nickel-sized gumball, pull the tip away.

If a peak remains, tap a fingertip against the dusting pouch, and tap it down. 

 Now you’ll want to make the shape more oval than round, and with a higher ridge in the middle.

 Tap your finger against the dusting pouch, and using the first inch or so of your finger tap along the sides of the ball until it starts to look more like a turtle’s shell.  

 Set the shells aside to dry, and pipe the bodies. Hold the #12 tip just above the surface of another parchment paper square, and squeeze while moving the tip along for about 3/4" to form an oval. Stop pressure, pull the tip away, and tap down any remaining peak.

 Switch to the #3 tip and pipe some tails. Touch the tip to one end of the oval, squeeze briefly, and pull away while rapidly stopping and decreasing pressure to form the tail.

 Switch to the #5 tip and pipe the head. It's similar to the tail, but pull the tip upwards so your turtle will be peering skyward. As you stop pressure and pull the tip away, a peak will probably form. You'll want to tap it flat with a fingertip.

 Allow the turtle's body to dry.

 When the icing is firm enough, draw some tiny dots with the Gourmet Writer for eyes.

 Squeeze some icing in the center of the body, and place the shell on it. As you can see, I dressed this shell up with some flattened #5 dots; simply pipe the dots, then flatten them with a fingertip. I'm sure you can come up with all sorts of whimsical (and not necessarily natural) color combinations!

Royal Icing Hedgehog

Ever since reading Miss Jaster's Garden, I've been fascinated by hedgehogs. I know I'll probably never have one lurking in my garden, so piping them out of royal icing will have to do for now. As with many other royal icing critters, all that's needed are a Styrofoam block, parchment paper squares, a flower nail, a glue stick, a black Gourmet Writer by AmeriColor (or black royal icing and a round #1 tip to pipe the features), a piping bag filled with stiff consistency brown royal icing and fitted with a round #12 tip, a dusting pouch filled with a 50/50 mix of powdered sugar and cornstarch, and a round #3 tip. 

 Start by sticking a parchment square to the flower nail with a dab from the glue stick.

 Pipe the body with the #12 tip. Start by piping a ball, then as the ball forms pull the tip to one side and decrease pressure. Draw the tip sharply upwards as you stop the pressure altogether to form the upturned nose. Allow the body to dry for 20 minutes or so.

 Switch to the #3 tip to pipe the quills, ears, and feet. I started piping the quills at the back. Hold the tip against the body’s surface, squeeze to anchor the icing, then pull away as you decrease and stop the pressure. Don't worry if the quills aren't perfect; hedgehogs aren't perfect, either. If you do pipe one that doesn't look quite right, touch your fingertips to the dusting pouch and pluck it off.

After piping quills for a while, I thought I should pipe the ears, so I'd know when to stop piping quills. The ears are nothing more than balls (also piped with the #2 tip) that I flattened with a dusted fingertip.

I continued piping quills up to the edge of the ears, and then piped a couple of little tip #2 feet (pretty much just short little quill-like shapes).

I used the black Gourmet Writer to draw dots for the eyes and nose. This is definitely a royal icing animal I would be hesitant to serve up; not only is it too cute to eat, biting into it would probably be a rather painful experience.

Royal Icing Bunnies

I wish I would have thought about piping bunnies last Easter! Oh well; I guess I'm planning ahead for next year. For now they can be company for the mice. To pipe a bunch of bunnies you'll need stiff consistency royal icing in white, deep pink, and light pink (or whatever color you want the bunnies to be), a dusting pouch filled with a 50/50 blend of powdered sugar and cornstarch, a parchment paper square for each bunny, round tips #12, #1, and #4, and oval tips #57 and #55 (by Ateco), and a black Gourmet Writer by AmeriColor. 

Using the #12 tip, pipe an egg for the body. If a peak remains like this when you stop the pressure and pull the tip away, touch a fingertip to the dusting pouch and tap the peak down. Allow the body to firm up for about 15 minutes, so it doesn't collapse under the weight of the…

 …head. Pipe a ball, and tap the peak down.

 It should be smooth and round. You could gently taper it with your fingertips, if you like; that would probably make it look more like a real rabbit.

 Switch the tip to the larger oval (#57) and pipe some ears, when the heads have had a chance to firm up. Some of the bunnies wound up being lops, and some are whatever the opposite of lops are.

 Switch to the small oval # 55, and pipe some hind legs. These are pretty minimalist, but I think anyone looking at them will get the idea that they're legs. Again, tap out any peaks left by the tip that look out of place.

Use the same tip to pipe some tiny little forelegs, as well. 

 Switch to the white icing and pipe some little #4 ball tails.

 For the faces, I piped #1 dot noses with deep pink icing so the nose would have some depth, and then drew in their eyes with the tip of a Gourmet Writer. The final step is to build a house out of fondant and recreate scenes from the woefully-ignored creature feature "Night of the Lepus."