Are you tired of tutorials about stenciled royal icing transfers? Well, please don't be, because I’ve got one more! I shared my first stenciled royal icing transfer tutorial five years ago and, with this tutorial, I'm coming full circle.
In my first tutorial, I showed how to make edible wax seals to go on envelope cookies. Let me recap that simple seal technique. First, I stenciled royal icing hearts (and circles) onto acetate; then I let the icing dry completely. I removed the transfers from the acetate and piped rings over the “shadows” left by the transfers on the acetate. These icing rings were essentially the royal icing-equivalent of puddles of wax. I pushed the transfers into the icing rings to create the final seals. Last but not least, I personalized the seals by piping lettering on them (pictured left, below).
The possibilities for customizing these seals are almost endless! You can also stencil on the transfers, as I demonstrated last year in my kickoff video for Watch-Learn-Create Challenge #57 (pictured center), or you can use an edible ink printer to print letters or other images on them (pictured right). I don't think you can tell from these photos that the seals are made of royal icing. Do you?!
So . . . how am I coming full circle in this tutorial? I'm going to draw on the embossed royal icing transfer techniques in last month's tutorial (and which I first saw @Julia M. Usher do*) to emboss grids onto the transfers. The embossed grid reminds me of a trellis, so I thought I’d apply rose transfers and some leaves to create special seals that can be used for Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, and other occasions. Alternatively, the grid can be used as a piping guide to create a needlepoint effect, shown in the other two seals below. As I often say, let your creativity take the lead!
- Parchment paper, for stencil material (or acetate or Mylar, if you prefer to make fewer stencils as explained in Step 1)
- 1-in/2.5-cm round craft punch (or sugarcraft knife)
- SugarVeil® Needlepoint Mat, for stenciling surface, or any textured silicone mat(s) used to make edible lace (see @Julia M. Usher's discount code for SugarVeil® products at the end of this post)
- Small offset spatula
- Royal Icing:
- White toothpaste-consistency on the thicker side, for embossed royal icing transfer(s)
- Pink toothpaste-consistency in pastry bag, for royal icing ring(s) that simulate puddle(s) of wax
- Green piping-consistency in pastry bag coupled with tiny leaf tip (or tipless piping bag with V-shaped notch cut in tip), for attaching royal icing rose transfer(s) and piping leaves
- Paper and pencil
- Acetate, for piping surface for icing ring(s)
- Scribe tool with soft end (optional)
- Small rose royal icing transfer(s)
- Envelope cookies or any cookie(s) of your choice, to be decorated with finished seals
Step 1: Make stencils
Making the stencils for this tutorial couldn't be easier! After choosing your desired stencil material (parchment paper, acetate, or Mylar), use the (1-inch/2.5-cm) round craft punch to cut a few circles into the material. As you may recall from my past tutorials, parchment paper and acetate will be easier to punch than Mylar, but parchment paper stencils aren't as durable. They will only be good for a few uses before the icing starts to dampen and misshape them. That said, if you plan to make many seals, acetate or Mylar would be safer bets!
In the following photos, I show a Mylar stencil, but in the video at the end of this tutorial, I use a parchment paper stencil - twice! When I first shared this stencil-making technique five years ago, I cut heart shapes into a parchment paper strip using a sugarcraft knife, so if you don't have or can't find a round craft punch, no worries! Feel free to substitute other cutting tools that you already have or can easily find. Other stencil shapes work great for this project too, as you'll see with my postage stamp transfer at the end of this tutorial.
Step 2: Stencil circle transfer(s)
a. Place the stencil over the silicone mat. (Again, I used a SugarVeil® Needlepoint Mat, but other textured silicone mats work well too.)
b. Using an offset spatula, start by pushing the white toothpaste-consistency royal icing into the mat crevices. Make sure that all of the crevices are entirely filled, so that the mat design reveals cleanly and fully after the icing has dried and the mat is removed.
c. Now spread another layer of the same icing over the opening. Never mind if the top layer is uneven, because the embossed underside of the circle will be upright in the final design. However, mine turned out pretty smooth, thanks to the practice I gained in my previous four transfer tutorials! 😀 Tip: You'll get the smoothest results if you swipe with the broad underside of the blade against the mat (rather than the blade edge).
d. Carefully remove the stencil, taking care not to disrupt the wet icing.
Repeat Steps 2a to 2d to stencil as many circles as you like.
e. Let the transfer(s) dry completely. The mat is so small that you can even toss it into a dehydrator to expedite the drying process. However, if you plan to move the mat, use a support (such as a cake cardboard or small tray) underneath it to avoid breaking the transfer(s) while drying. Drying time can vary quite a lot with ambient conditions and the depth of the crevices/pattern in your silicone mat. This transfer is pretty small compared to the large ones in my previous tutorials that I let air-dry for 24 hours. So in this case, air-drying overnight (with no dehydrator) was more than enough (though I do live in a fairly arid climate).
f. To remove the dry transfer(s) from the mat, place the mat near the edge of your work surface and peel away the mat from underneath the transfer(s) as I usually do. Or pinch the mat from its sides as shown below.
g. Because these transfers are small, pinching worked fine in this case (the transfers easily released and fell into my hand). However, with larger transfers, gradually peeling away the mat is likely to result in less breakage.
Step 3: Pipe royal icing ring(s) aka "wax puddle(s)", and assemble seal(s)
Transfers that are stenciled on acetate usually leave a "footprint" or "shadow" of their shape on the acetate once the transfers are removed. In my previous royal icing wax seal tutorial, I took advantage of this shadow and used it as a piping guide to create the royal icing ring for the "wax puddle" beneath the seal. However, since the transfers made in Step 2 were stenciled on a silicone mat, there are no shadows to use as piping guides, so we need to start by creating some!
a. Place the stencil on a piece of paper, and trace along the edges of the circles with pencil.
b. Place a small sheet of acetate over the paper.
c. Use pink toothpaste-consistency royal icing to pipe a ring around the edge of one of the guides traced in the last step.
d. Place a circle transfer, embossed side up, on top of the icing ring.
e. Carefully push the transfer into the icing. To avoid breakage, use your finger or the soft gummy end of a scribe tool to press. Be patient, and make sure to apply even, but gentle pressure across the entire surface of the transfer. Let the pink icing dry completely.
Repeat Steps 3a to 3e to assemble as many seals as you like.
f. Place the dry seal(s), still on the acetate, near the edge of your work surface, and carefully peel away the acetate from underneath. Your royal icing seal(s) is (are) now ready to be decorated in the next step!
Note: In retrospect, it's better remove the transfer(s) from the acetate after the next step, once the decorations are fully dry. It's easier to attach the decorations if the transfers are secured to the acetate and not freely moving around.
Step 4: Decorate seal(s)
a. Use green piping-consistency royal icing in a pastry bag coupled with a small leaf tip (or a tipless bag with a V-shaped notch cut in the end) to pipe a dot in the center of a seal. The same icing and bag will be used to pipe leaves in Step 4c, so hold onto it!
b. Set a small royal icing rose transfer on the icing piped in the last step to attach the rose to the seal.
c. Place the tip of the piping bag at the base of the rose, and pipe one or more leaves around it.
Repeat Steps 4a to 4c to decorate as many seals as you like.
d/e. The seal(s) is (are) now ready to be placed on cookies! You'll find directions for making my envelope cookie in my previous "Royal Icing Wax Seals, Love Letter Cookies . . . and a Pinwheel!" tutorial, but cookies of any other shape can be used too.
And now for some variations!
To embellish my letter cookie (pictured left, above), I stenciled a square transfer to make a postage stamp, and piped "XO" in the embossed grid.
And, as you can see in these photos and another at the top of this post, I also made a couple of round needlepoint variations - one with my first initial and another with a heart!
Finally, here's a close-up of an open envelope cookie composition comprised of a square cookie, four triangle cookies, and a wafer paper "love" note, and topped, of course, with my rose transfer!
I leave you with the usual video recap. Enjoy!
Love, Manu
P.S. Don't forget that you can get 10% off all SugarVeil® mats and other products at any time if you SHOP HERE using code JULIA! Thank you, @Julia M. Usher, for sharing these special savings with us! [EDITOR'S NOTE: My pleasure! And, in full disclosure-mode, that "SHOP HERE" link is my affiliate link. All affiliate earnings help pay for the upkeep of this site. ~JMU]
* Credit: Last but not least, please know that @Julia M. Usher pioneered this embossing technique years ago, first by using silicone mats and molds with cookie dough and then with royal icing. I would like to credit her for being a constant inspiration. Make sure to check out her "Dimensional Mixed Media Cookie" tutorial, a treasure trove of texturing and embossing techniques! [EDITOR'S NOTE: Thanks again for the shout-out, Manu! Pssst . . . In the VIP session of my upcoming Zoom class, I'm also using my embossed royal icing technique, along with YOUR stenciling approach to get cleaner edges, to make large heart-shaped transfers (see below). I'll be using these pieces on larger heart cookies textured with other techniques. So, long story short, there are many applications of these methods! Pssst, once again - my class is still 15% off through January 31! ~JMU]
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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