Since featuring stenciled royal icing transfers in my past two tutorials, I have continued to experiment with their applications in 3-D cookie constructions. Stenciled royal icing transfers are rather fragile, but they are less vulnerable to breakage once secured to cookies. The royal icing panes in my previous "3-D Lantern Cookie Redux" tutorial are testament to that fact! In this tutorial, I pushed the limits of transfers a bit further by using them to cover the top of each tier in this year's Christmas tree project. Though each transfer bears the weight of cookies on top, none of the transfers broke, and the overall structure has a more streamlined look than one with cookies on top.
I know, I know, I have already been told that this project looks more like a tower or a cake . . . but I still see a Christmas tree. I also subscribe to the belief that seeing these other possibilities just points to this project's versatility! 😀
- Acetate (or equivalent), for making stencils and for stenciling surfaces
- Tape
- My stencil templates (see "Attachments" under "Files" at the end of this post)
- Sugarcraft knife
- Ruler
- Cake cardboards (or equivalent), for supports while stenciling
- Small offset spatula/spreader tool
- Royal icing for stenciling:
- Red toothpaste-consistency (a tiny bit thicker than piping-consistency)
- 1 (5.0-cm/2-in) star cookie cutter
- My cookie templates with cookie measurements (see "Attachments" under "Files" at the end of this post)
- Zester or Microplane tool, for mitering cookie edges
- Royal icing for decorating cookies:
- White piping-consistency in pastry bag with PME #1 tip (or equivalent), for outlining cookies
- Green and white flood-consistency in pastry bag with PME #2 tip (or equivalent; I used a tipless pastry bag)
- Yellow flood-consistency in pastry bag with PME #2 tip (or equivalent; I used a tipless pastry bag)
- Yellow piping-consistency in pastry bag with PME #1 tip (or equivalent; I used a tipless pastry bag), for piping swags and attaching transfers
- White stiff-consistency in tipless pastry bag (or equivalent), for gluing cookies (and later in pastry bag with PME #42 star tip, or equivalent, for piping tiny shell borders)
- 3 (5.0-cm/2-in; 3.8-cm/1 1/2-in; 2.5-cm/1-in) circle cutters, for scoring iced cookies
- Scribe tool
- 18 (2.0-cm/3/4-in) heart-shaped transfers
- Parchment paper
- Small props (I used espresso cups and a tall circle cutter)
- Small paint brush, for spreading icing along inner prism seams, if necessary
Step 1: Stencil royal icing transfers
In each of my past two tutorials, I used Mylar or parchment paper for making stencils. In this tutorial, I use acetate. As you can see, different materials are certainly possible for this task. Cutting stencils is very easy. For this project, just tape acetate (or one of the other materials I've mentioned) over my stencil templates, and use a sugarcraft knife and ruler to cut out three hexagons. (Note: To make the best use of the material, I cut the smallest hexagon stencil out of the acetate cutout left behind from cutting the largest hexagon stencil - hence the unusual hexagonal shape of that stencil!) The length of the three hexagon's sides are shown in the image below.
Since the stenciling process for this project is exactly the same as for the panes in my past "3-D Lantern Cookie Redux" tutorial, please refer to its Steps 2b to 2j for all of my stenciling tips and tricks.
a. Acetate will also be used for the stenciling surface. Tape a piece of acetate over a cake cardboard (or equivalent); then tape one of the hexagon stencils over the acetate.
b. Using a small offset spatula (or equivalent), apply a small amount of red toothpaste-consistency royal icing to cover the entire stencil opening.
c. Spread the icing over the opening as evenly as you can. The icing should be at least 2 millimeters (1/16 inch) thick, so you may need to apply more icing layers. Just make sure to spread an even top layer. Note: If the blade of your offset spatula does not span the width of the largest hexagon stencil, you may want to choose a tool with a longer blade to minimize visible swipe marks.
d. Take the tape off the stencil, and carefully remove the stencil from the icing. Take care not to bend the acetate while the transfer is drying, or you could break the transfer. Set the stenciled icing aside, still on the acetate, to fully dry. You can use a dehydrator or a fan to accelerate the drying process, but I just let my icing air-dry about 24 hours while I decorated the project's cookies.
e. Repeat Steps 2a to 2d to stencil the other two hexagons. Consider stenciling another spare set, just in case of breakage. For the record, I made a complete set of spare hexagons but I didn't break any of them!
f. To avoid breakage when removing the dry transfers from their acetate, place a hexagon near the edge of your work surface, and gently peel away the acetate from underneath. Do not pull on the transfer, as it is fragile and may break. Rotate the acetate until the transfer is fully released. Repeat to release the two remaining transfers from their acetate.
g. Remember: The glossy side of the transfer that made contact with the acetate will be the side that is exposed in the final 3-D construction.
Step 2: Decorate cookies
- 6 (7.6 x 5.0-cm/3 x 2-in) large rectangles
- 6 (6.5 x 3.8-cm/2 1/2 x 1 1/2-in) medium rectangles
- 6 (5.0 x 2.5-cm/2 x 1-in) small rectangles
- 1 (5.0-cm/2-in) star
Please refer to my cookie templates at the end of this post if you want to make cutting guides. (Note: The stencil and cookie templates are in the same attachment.)
To ensure a super-clean tree construction, file and miter the edges of each rectangle, as explained below.
a. Lightly file the short sides of all three groups of rectangles to make sure that the cookies in each group are the same height, and to make it easier for them to stand vertically (which will, in turn, make the assembly process easier).
b. Next, miter the long sides of all of the rectangles at roughly a 30-degree angle. Mitered edges will allow the cookie pieces to fit more closely together at the corners when assembled into 3-D hexagonal prisms. I usually miter edges when I want to avoid covering seams with lots of royal icing (though I actually covered the seams in this project with small borders anyway). In this case, the main reason for mitering is to make sure that the royal icing transfers fit their respective hexagonal prism tops as perfectly as possible.
c. And here are all of the rectangular cookies, filed and ready to be decorated.
d. Outline all 19 cookies using white piping-consistency royal icing and a PME #1 tip (or equivalent).
e. Using dark green flood-consistency royal icing and a PME #2 tip (or equivalent), flood one of the large rectangles.
f. Just as soon as the dark green icing has settled, pipe dots on top using the white flood-consistency royal icing and a PME #2 tip (or equivalent). I piped nine horizontal rows of staggered wet-on-wet dots on all cookies.
Repeat Steps 2e and 2f for all remaining rectangles. Let the icing dry completely.
g. Flood the star cookie using yellow flood-consistency royal icing and a PME #2 tip (or equivalent). Once the icing is dry, flip over the cookie, and outline and flood the other side too.
h. And here's a visual summary of all of the cookies, flooded, completely dry, and ready for the next step.
i. Use a large (about 5.0-cm/2-in) round cookie cutter and a scribe tool to score two curved lines (by tracing along the cutter edge) into one of the large rectangular cookies. These marks will be used as guides for piping swags on the cookie. Note: Remember that I piped nine rows of staggered wet-on-wet dots. The first curved line that I scored is tangent to the dot in the center of the cookie (fifth row from top). The second line intersects the two dots in the eighth row of dots. But feel free to get creative with the placement of your swags (or other decorations) on these cookies.
j. Score two lines in the same fashion on each of the other five large rectangular cookies.
k. Use yellow piping-consistency royal icing and a PME #1 tip (or equivalent) to pipe a trailing beaded border (swag) over each of the two scored marks on each of the six large rectangular cookies. Let the icing dry, and move to the other rectangular cookies.
l. Repeat Steps 2i to 2k on all of the medium and small rectangular cookies except use a medium (3.8-cm/1 1/2-in) circle cutter to score one line on each medium cookie, and a small (2.5-cm/1-in) circle cutter to score one line on each small cookie. Note: As a reference, the scored lines on the medium and small rectangular cookies touch the central dot in the fifth and fourth rows from the top, respectively. Again, feel free to get creative with your decorations.
m. Gather the 18 (2.0-cm/ 3/4-in) heart-shaped transfers, and use yellow piping-consistency royal icing to pipe a heart in between the two piped garlands on the large rectangular cookies, and centered in the lower sections on the medium and small rectangular cookies. (Of course, you could just pipe a simple yellow dot, as this icing will serve as "glue" and will be covered in the next step! But I was feeling a bit romantic as I was piping, so I ended up with hearts - LOL!)
n. Place a heart transfer on each of the royal icing hearts you just piped.
Step 3: Assemble cookies into 3-D Christmas tree
Here's a visual summary of the decorated cookies, all ready to be assembled into three hexagonal prisms.
Let's start with assembling the largest prism for the bottom of the tree.
a. Place a piece of parchment paper over my largest hexagonal stencil template, and set props all around the hexagon. Again, I used espresso cups, but any other prop of roughly the same size will work. (BTW, my hexagon template will serve as a placement guide during the assembly process.) Be sure to also have a prop nearby to insert inside. Again, I used a tall circle cutter; a small cake ring would work well too.
b. Pipe white stiff-consistency royal icing along a long filed edge of one of the rectangular cookies.
c. Attach this cookie to the long filed edge of another rectangle, following the hexagon guide underneath. Make sure the sides are attached to one another at the angle drawn on template and that they stand straight up. If the consistency of your icing is right, the paired sides will stand without any props. However, as an extra precaution, I propped them with the espresso cups and tall circle cutter that I had at the ready.
d/e. Place the large hexagonal transfer on top of the two cookies to check that the angle at their seam is the same as the angle at the transfer's corner. Make sure that the transfer covers the naked cookie edges too. Remove the transfer, and repeat Steps 3b and 3c, attaching another three cookies one by one. When you get to the last (sixth) cookie, pipe thick white royal icing along both its vertical edges.
f. Set the cookie in the gap in the prism, and gently press it into place against the mitered edges of the surrounding cookies.
g. Now that the prism is closed, place the large royal icing transfer on top again, and check to make sure it covers all of the naked cookie on the prism's top edge.
h. Since the icing "glue"is not yet dry, you have some time to adjust the cookies so that the transfer top fits perfectly. With the cookies realigned (as needed), remove the transfer, let the icing dry completely, and then add more white stiff-consistency icing along the inner seams to make the prism sturdier. (Use a small paint brush, as needed, to spread and gently press the icing into the seams.)
i. Remove the prism from the template by pulling off the parchment paper.
Repeat Steps 3a to 3i to assemble the medium and small prisms.
j. Even though the rectangle edges were mitered and the prism seams were quite clean, I ended up piping a fine trailing beaded border along each seam to add some color to coordinate with the swags and star. For this task, I once again used yellow piping-consistency royal icing with a PME #1 tip (or equivalent).
k. Use white stiff-consistency royal icing to pipe a line of royal icing on the bare cookie edge at the top of a prism.
l. Place the corresponding hexagonal transfer on top, and gently apply a little pressure just to make sure that the transfer makes contact with the "glue" and is level. Any gap between the transfer and the cookies will be covered in the next step.
Repeat Steps 3k and 3l to close the tops of the other two prisms.
m. Using the same white stiff-consistency royal icing, but now in a pastry bag with a PME #42 star tip (or equivalent), pipe a tiny shell border along the edges of each transfer. Angle the tip so that the icing fills any gap between the transfers and their respective cookie prisms, and also covers any remaining bare cookie edges.
n. And, ta-da! Here is a visual summary of the fully assembled prism cookies before stacking them into a 3-D Christmas tree! Now for the really fun part . . .
o. Place the large prism on a plate, and set the medium prism on top of it.
p. Now place the small prism on top of the medium prism.
q. Last but not least, top off the 3-D Christmas tree with the star cookie. (I just set my cookie on top for easy removal for eating, but you could glue it in place with thick royal icing if you want a little more security!)
Here's my final result.
You can also rotate the middle tier to create a slightly different look.
And you can even hide a present under the tree!
Now, please enjoy the usual video of the entire process . . .
That’s all for this month. Spoiler alert: More stenciled transfers await you in next month's tutorial! 😀
Ciao, Manu
Manuela Pezzopane, affectionately called Manu by her friends and family, is the author of the blog feature Made by Manu, where each month she shares the method behind a magical cookie of her own making. In March 2022, Manu also assumed the role of host of our rebranded and reformatted Cookie Connection Challenges: Watch-Learn-Create Series, which debuted in a virtual video format in July 2022. A fan of everything handmade, Manu professes to have tried every possible hobby. However, it wasn’t until the end of 2014, when an American friend invited her to a Christmas cookie exchange, that she first discovered decorated cookies. In 2015, after watching Julia M. Usher's videos and signing up on Cookie Connection, Manu finally attempted her own designs. Since then, cookie decorating has become Manu’s passion, and her mesmerizing video shorts have earned her a large and loyal following throughout the global cookie community. Manu harks from Rome, Italy, where she currently resides. You can email Manu at manubiscottidecorati@gmail.com, follow her on Facebook and Instagram, or explore her past challenges and large library of Made by Manu tutorials here on Cookie Connection.
Photo credit: Manuela Pezzopane
Note: Made by Manu is a Cookie Connection blog feature written by Manuela Pezzopane, where each month she shares the method behind a magical cookie of her own making. This article expresses the views of the author, and not necessarily those of this site, its owners, its administrators, or its employees. To read all of Manuela's past Made by Manu tutorials, click here. And to see all of Cookie Connection's tutorials, click here.
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