How to Apply Icing to Sugar Skulls

Traditional sugar skulls have bright colors and fun designs made with icing. How you design your sugar skull is up to you, whether you stay with Mexican traditions or make yours more suitable for Halloween. It's easiest to put the icing in a decorator bag with a tip, but a small child can finger paint their sugar skull or use a paintbrush.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Icing
• Decorator bag
• Icing tips
• Bowls
• Paintbrush

1. Mix colors into plain icing. Use bright colors like orange, pink, yellow, green, blue and red for traditional sugar skulls. Stick with orange, black and red if you're decorating for Halloween.
2. Put the icing into decorator bags or plastic bags, and have a variety of decorating tips available. Fill small bowls with icing if small children are helping decorate, and let them use their fingers or a paintbrush to apply the icing.
3. Pipe the icing on the sugar skull, following the contours of the skull. Outline the eyes, mouth and teeth. Use different colors for the outside of the eye and the pupil, and for the mouth and teeth.
4. Decorate the rest of the sugar skull with whatever designs you like. You can pipe dots on the head and sides, draw flowers and vines, make bunches of flowers on the sides, draw squiggly lines or decorate it to look like someone in your family who has passed away.
5. Use icing to stick non-edible items, like sequins or foil, to the sugar skull. Use the icing to decorate around non-edible items, such as outlining a fake gemstone or writing on tin foil.

Tips & Warnings

• If using non-edible items on your sugar skull, do not eat it. Use it for decoration only.