Royal Icing Bunny Slippers

Tonight's post is an homage to "A Christmas Story"; how many of you list that among your favorite holiday films? All you'll need to pipe tiny little bunny slippers just like Ralphie's are stiff consistency royal icing in pink, round tip #12, leaf tip #352, a flower nail, parchment paper squares, a glue stick, a Styrofoam block to rest the nail in, a dusting pouch filled with a 50/50 mix of powdered sugar and cornstarch, round toothpicks, and black food coloring, like AmeriColor's Soft Gel Paste. 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 out a couple of elongated "bean" shapes, curving slightly in the middle and with the ends wider than the center. Touch your fingertip to the dusting pouch and then finesse the icing into shape, if need be. Allow these shapes to firm up for a few minutes.

 Hold the tip at a 45 degree angle and just above and behind one of the ends. Squeeze out a ball of icing, then move the tip along for a few millimeters. Stop pressure and pull the tip away.

 Tap down the peaks with a dusted fingertip. Allow the icing to firm up for a few minutes.

 Hold the #352 tip against the head (with one of the pointy sides facing toward the front of the slipper) and pipe out an ear while moving the tip upward for about half an inch. Stop pressure and pull the tip away. Use a dusted fingertip to adjust the ears so they lop over.

 Pipe the eyes with #3 dots of white icing. Flatten them slightly with a dusted fingertip.

 When the white icing is firm, dab on pupils of black food coloring with the tip of a round toothpick that you've smashed against your countertop.

 Paint on a tiny triangular nose with the other pointy end of the toothpick. Sorry; tomorrow's tutorial won't be for a leg lamp or a Red Ryder BB Gun!

Another Royal Icing Poinsettia

This poinsettia is quite a bit different than the other day's poinsettia, which required a flower former cup. This one is a lot smaller and would be very cute on tiny desserts like petits fours. You'll need stiff consistency royal icing in red or white, a #352 leaf tip, a flower nail, parchment paper squares, a glue stick, a Styrofoam block, a dusting pouch filled with a 50/50 mix of powdered sugar and cornstarch, and yellow ball-shaped cake sprinkles (or be prepared to pipe yellow icing dots with a #2 or #3 round tip). Start by sticking a parchment square to the flower nail with a dab from the glue stick. 

 Hold the #352 tip at a 45 degree angle with one of the pointy ends of the V-shaped tip touching the surface and squeeze out a petal. Squeeze and as the icing fans out to create the wide base of the petal, stop pressure and pull the tip up and away. Rotate the nail and repeat 4 times for 5 petals.

 While the icing is wet, place a few yellow balls in the center, or pipe a few dots. Peel away the parchment when the icing is dry and instantly make any small dessert more festive!

Royal Icing Origami Crane

Tonight's post is a little tricky because it requires the stiffest consistency royal icing imaginable to make all the little parts stand up correctly (otherwise they all flatten out and look like a pile of mush; that's what happened first. I would have posted a photo of my failure, but I destroyed the evidence). You'll need round tip #10, leaf tip #352, oval tip #57, a flower nail, a glue stick, parchment paper squares, a Styrofoam block to rest the nail in, and a dusting pouch filled with a 50/50 mix of powdered sugar and cornstarch. Start by sticking a parchment square to the nail with a dab from the glue stick. 

 Hold the #10 tip just above and at a right angle to the surface. Squeeze out a ball for the body, moving the tip upwards for just under half an inch as you go. Stop pressure and pull the tip away. Touch a fingertip to the dusting pouch and tap down the peak that remains.

 Switch to the #57 tip and pipe the neck and head. Hold the tip almost straight up, pipe so the icing anchors to the body, pull the tip upwards while piping, then stop pressure and pull the tip away after about half an inch. The head might just curve over like this, otherwise coax it gently with a dusted fingertip. If it stands up straight…

 …consider making it the tail, which is the next step.

 Switch to the #352 leaf tip to pipe the wings. Bury the tip in the body at a 45 degree angle, squeeze briefly while moving the tip outward, then stop pressure and pull the tip away. Coax the wings upward, if need be, with a dusted fingertip. This post is dedicated to my friends at The Paper Crane in Half Moon Bay, one of the only reasons to visit Main Street.

Royal Icing Saguaro Cactus Blossom

Tonight's post is the state flower of Arizona, the saguaro cactus blossom. This is an especially interesting flower; it's night-blooming, and is primarily pollinated by bats. Now, before you write to me to tell me how inaccurate my version of this flower is, let me explain that I'm on a road trip and managed to forget quite a few of my tips back home (I can just see where I left them lying out to dry). I'm going to try making this flower again as soon as time allows. To show your love for Arizona by piping saguaro cactus blossoms, you'll need stiff consistency icing in white and light yellow (I only used white, but in some photos this flower appears all white so I guess that's OK), a glue stick, parchment paper squares, a flower nail, a Styrofoam block to rest the nail in, round tip #12, tip #2 (I had to settle for #3, which is rather clunky), leaf tip #352, and a dusting pouch filled with a 50/50 mix of powdered sugar and cornstarch. Start by sticking a parchment square to the flower nail with a dab from the glue stick. 

 Attach the #12 tip to the bag and pipe a flat disc of icing. Hold the tip just above the surface and pipe a circle. Pipe a dab in the hole in the center, then touch a fingertip to the dusting pouch and tap the icing into a smooth disc. Allow it to firm up for a while.

 Switch to the #352 leaf tip. Hold the tip at a 45 degree angle to the disc, and about 1/4" in from the edge of it. Squeeze out a petal that points outward and upward. You can add definition to the petals' points by pinching them with dusted fingertips.

 Pipe a row of petals around the edge of the disc, slightly overlapping each other.

 Switch to the #2 tip, and pipe a ring of dots inside the petals. I used a #3, which produced dots that are just a little too big. Leave a hole in the center. This is also the point at which you'd switch to light yellow icing, if you're so inclined.

 Still using the #2 tip, pipe a few stand-up dots in the center. Hold the tip against the center, squeeze, and pull up a short distance before stopping pressure and pulling away. Allow the flower to dry completely before peeling away the parchment paper. You might also enjoy seeing this cactus I piped earlier this summer.

Royal Icing Mayflowers

Yesterday I piped a peach as a nod of the head to the state of Georgia. I thought I might keep going with piping something to represent each of the 50 states; not only was the peach a lot of fun, but I had my 50,000th page view within a few minutes of posting it! Too weird to be a coincidence! Anyway, picking another state at random, I thought I'd move on to the official state flower of Massachusetts: the mayflower (not the ship). All you'll need to pipe mayflowers are stiff consistency royal icing in white and yellow, leaf tip #352, round tips #12 and #4, parchment paper squares, a flower nail, a Styrofoam block to rest the nail in, a glue stick, and a dusting pouch filled with a 50/50 mix of powdered sugar and cornstarch. Start by sticking a parchment square to the flower nail with a dab from the glue stick. 

Hold the #12 tip just above the surface and squeeze out a half-inch column of icing. Stop pressure and pull the tip away. Touch your fingertips to the dusting pouch and tap the shape to perfect it. Pipe one base for each mayflower and set them aside to firm up for about half an hour.

Pipe five petals using the #352 leaf tip. Hold the tip against the surface at a 45 degree angle, squeeze briefly, then pull the tip away. 

Taper the tip of each petal with your fingertips, if need be. Pipe each of the five petals close to the one next to it.

Angle the petals upwards with your fingertips.

Pipe a #4 dot for the center. The mayflower bears more than a slight resemblance to the stephanotis, doesn't it? 

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.