Royal Icing Cattails

Yet another project in the "pond" collection (sounds more appetizing than "swamp", right?), to be company for the frog, lily pads, and water lily. All you need to make cattails are Nilla Wafers, a Styrofoam block, a dusting pouch filled with a 50/50 mix of cornstarch and powdered sugar, stiff consistency brown and green royal icing, round tip #8, leaf tip #352, and dry linguine (spaghetti would probably look more realistic, but I didn't have any on hand). 

 Start by piping a line about 2" long on one side of the linguine. Leave about half an inch bare at the end.

Pipe another line on the other side of the linguine directly opposite it. 

Dust your fingertips especially thoroughly against the dusting pouch and pinch the icing together around the linguine. 

 

Re-dust your fingertips and tap along the seam until it disappears. Don't worry about making the cattails look perfect; last I checked, they aren't perfectly cylindrical in nature, either. 

 Stick the cattails into the Styrofoam block to dry.

 Pipe a cluster of stand-up #352 leaves on a Nilla Wafer. Hold the tip against the cookie's surface, squeeze, then pull upwards. Stop pressure and pull the tip away when the icing is able to stand up on its own (or be propped up by one or more of its neighbors).

 Carefully stick the cattails into the cookie. Hold the linguine as close to the base as possible to lessen the probability of snapping it in half.

 Arrange them as you see fit, then when you place the cattail arrangement on a cake, pipe some more leaves around the base for your swamp (er, pond) creatures to hide in.

Royal Icing Water Lily

Here's a water lily to accompany yesterday's royal icing lily pad. It's based on a design I found in the recently re-released book by Wilton, The Uses of the Most Popular Decorating Tips (originally published in 1986). The water lily is piped with a curved ribbon tip; I used a Magic Tip #79.

 You'll also need a parchment square for each water lily, stiff consistency royal icing in yellow, green, and purple (put a tip #2 on the yellow bag and the curved ribbon tip on the green; it'll also be used on the purple), a non-toxic glue stick, a flower nail, a dusting pouch filled with a 50/50 mix of powdered sugar and cornstarch, and a Styrofoam block to rest the nail in.

 Start by attaching a parchment paper square to the nail with a dab from the glue stick.

 Holding the back of the tip flat on the nail, pipe six leaves, radiating out from the center.

 Touch your thumb and index finger to the dusting pouch, and pinch the tip of each leaf to a point.

 Stick the nail in the Styrofoam block, and switch the curved ribbon tip to the bag of purple icing. Pipe six petals so they lay in between the green ones below.

 Pinch the ends to points as you did the leaves.

 Pipe another six shorter petals, again staggering them in between the petals below.

 Pinch the tips into points, and pipe a cluster of yellow stamens in the center. To form them, hold the tip perpendicular to the nail, squeeze a small bead for an anchor, then pull up a short distance before stopping pressure and pulling away.

Royal Icing Lily Pads

I recently found directions in an old Wilton book for piping a water lily, which I'll attempt soon. I thought, however, I'd start with piping some lily pads (and, you know, eventually a teeny-tiny frog and some cattails). All that's needed is a #104 rose tip on a piping bag filled with green stiff-consistency royal icing thinned with piping gel, a flower nail, a non-toxic glue stick, a square of parchment paper for each lily pad, and a dusting pouch filled with a 50/50 mix of powdered sugar and cornstarch.

 Stick a parchment square to the flower nail with a dab from the glue stick.

 Hold the rose tip almost level with the nail, with the wide end in the center.

 Begin piping in a smooth, continuous flow as you turn the nail. Touch a finger to the dusting pouch, then tap out any jagged edges, and the hole in the middle (if one forms).

 I tried a few variations:

 This one has more of a V-shaped split in the center, rather than rounded:

 I tapped the narrow end of a toothpick on the dusting pouch, then laid it gently on the pad to make "veins" on this one:

 For a lily pad with more depth, I gently waved the narrow end of the rose tip up and down to create this slightly ruffled edge while turning the nail:

 This one has an added #2 round tip stem. When the lily pads are completely dry, the parchment paper should peel away cleanly; you can speed up the drying process by placing the lily pads under a desk lamp.