Sometimes the best way to learn something new is to fail at it a few times first!
Whenever I’m making an order of sugar cookies, I like to always make a couple extra so that my first one can be kind of the guinea pig for the design that I’m trying. It always looks good in my head, but execution can prove to be stubborn.
Here are 4 decorating techniques I used in this one order, the mistakes I made, and how to fix them. (Check the video below!)
Technique #1 Flood on Flood
What it is: When you want to put two colors in the “background” of the cookie so that both blend together in an even, flat surface, first take Color #1, in a flood consistency and fill your outlined shape. Next, take Color #2, also in a flood consistency, and while Color #1 is still wet, pipe your desired designs right on top. They will dry together in a level smooth surface.
What I did Wrong: I overfilled the base with Color #1! Too much icing to begin with and when I added the second color, it overflowed the outline.
How I fixed it: As I noticed the royal icing dripping over the side, I used an angled metal spatula to scrape away the parts that overflowed. I kept an eye on them and shift the flow using gravity from time to time, scraping again when necessary. Royal icing dries relatively quickly so it formed a crust after a few minutes.
Technique #2 Bubble Letteers
What it is: Those big, beautiful, bold letters on the cookie that look like they’ve been printed on there! The first step is to draw the outline of the letters with a line consistency icing. Still using the line consistency icing, slightly fill the larger gaps of the letters with a squiggle. After that, fill the large gaps of the letters with flood consistency icing, or slightly thicker than flood.
What Went Wrong: Air bubbles. Often times, air bubbles get trapped in the icing and then create a crater in the middle of your perfect letters as they try to escape.
How I fixed it: Using a toothpick or a scribe, while the flood icing is still wet, poke around in there to get all of the air bubbles out. Fill in a little more if needed, but most likely, you’ll just need to spread it around to the corners.
Technique #3 Swirled/Marbled Icing
What it is: Similar to flood-on-flood technique, I used two different colors of flood consistency, but instead of filling completely with one and then add the other on top, I used one on portions of the cookie, inside the outline, and then added the second color next to it. While they are both still wet, I used an angled tapered metal spatula to swirl the colors togethers.
What Went Wrong: While I was happy with how these turned out, I would have liked to see more marbling effect.
How I think I could fix it: I think, layering the colors side by side in a piping bag may have created more intricate lines between the two sides of color. I think this one would be fun to play around with more, and since the colors are meant to bleed into each other I think it would be a pretty forgiving design if you “mess up.”
Technique #4 Shadowing
What it is: Painting onto a dried base coat of dried royal icing before adding the darker colored lines on top. I used Sweet Sticks Edibleart metallic paint. I dipped my brush into the paint, but then dabbed it off slightly on a paper towel so I didn’t have big defined swipes of paint or “shadow” on the cookie. Then I went over the cookie in the areas that I wanted shadow, almost like applying eye shadow, until I had reached the desired depth of color.
What Went Wrong: I think not having a stencil or specific design of where I wanted the lines to go made my shadows a little less realistic.
How I would fix it: I would most definitely determine where my lines would go before placing the shadows. I think I could also use gel food coloring or even powdered food coloring, with a fluffier brush to create that blended look. (Now I need to go buy myself a makeup brush set for my cakes!)
I hope you enjoyed my little troubleshooting tutorial! Which of these techniques have you tried? Which ones are you struggling with?