How to Make Frosting Letters That Glitter

Glitter adds a little pizzazz to cake writing.

Do you ever wonder how professional cake decorators get frosting to glitter? It's a much easier process than you probably think. Edible glitter can make an ordinary homemade cake look professional. Whether you use store bought frosting or make your own, you can have glitter letters in under ten minutes. Edible glitter, pastry bags and icing tip sets are available at grocery stores, craft stores, online and anywhere that sells cake decorating products, so you can find them easily.

Things You'll Need

• Frosting
• Edible glitter
• Pastry bag
• Icing tip
• Icing tip anchor set
• Scissors
• Toothpick

Instructions

1. Mix frosting in a bowl. The amount of frosting you use will determine the size of bowl you need. Be sure the bowl is big enough that you can stir the frosting vigorously without overflowing.

2. Add a little edible glitter to the frosting and stir. The amount of glitter you use will also depend on how much frosting you use. Start by just adding a little and see how it looks, then you can keep adding more until you achieve the effect you want.

3. Put the icing tip anchor in the pastry bag, place the icing tip on top of the anchor and bag, and screw on the top of the anchor set. Make sure the anchor set and tip are tight so frosting doesn't leak out of the bag. If you have reusable bags, there should be a hole in the narrow end of the bag for the anchor and tip. If you use disposable bags, you may have to cut the narrow end of the bag in order to fit the anchor tip.

4. Fill half the pastry bag with frosting and twist the end of the bag to push the frosting to the tip. Squeeze the bag gently, pushing a small amount of frosting back into your bowl. This gets out any air that could bubble the frosting while you write.

5. Hold the pastry bag with the tip about 1 centimeter from the cake and squeeze the top of the bag as you write. Write slowly and carefully. You can use this method for writing in cursive or print on a cake or cookie.

Tips & Warnings

• Icing tips with small round holes are preferable for writing, but you can use any tip you want. Take a toothpick and sketch out what you want to write and where on the base layer of frosting, then trace over it with the glitter frosting. This helps you keep the writing centered on the cake. Be sure to read the instructions that come with your pastry bag and icing tips if you've never used them before.

• Writing with pastry bags and icing tips takes practice. You can always scrape off the writing and try again if you don't like how it turns out.

References

• "The Well-Decorated Cake"; Toba Garrett; 2003
• "Cake Decorating Tricks: Clever Ideas for Creating Fantastic Cakes"; Sue McMahon; 2009