How to Make Trees With Cinnamon Sticks for a Cake

Cinnamon sticks are made from rolled bark that is pressed into shape.

Cinnamon is a common ground spice used in baking and cooking. Cinnamon sticks are also available to the home cook and are made from the bark of the Cinnamon tree, according to McCormick. Cinnamon sticks spice hot drinks and desserts, and you can also make trees with cinnamon sticks to help decorate a cake. Does this Spark an idea?

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Frosted cake
3 cinnamon sticks
2 cups green frosting
Piping bag
Star tip

Instructions

- 1
  
  Stick your cinnamon sticks into your frosted cake approximately a 1/2 inch into the cake. Arrange them in one corner so they look like a small forest of tree trunks. Be sure to place them at least 2 1/2 inches apart to allow for the foliage.
- 2
  
  Place green frosting into a piping bag with a star tip. This will become the leaves of the trees. You can make green frosting from green food coloring and white buttercream frosting. Be sure to use frosting that is quite thick so it will stay on the sticks.
- 3
  
  Twist the end of the piping bag so you push the frosting to the tip of the bag. Hold the tip area of the bag with your left hand and the twisted part with your right hand. This will allow more control over the decorating.
- 4
  
  Squeeze out frosting in the middle of one of the sticks. With one long stroke, squeeze the piping bag to create one upward sweep of foliage. Squeeze another leaf next to the first one in the same upward motion. Continue around the stick to form one row of leaves.
- 5
  
  Add more leaves above your first row, then pipe the next row above. Continue adding leaves until the entire top of the stick has leaves. Squeeze the top of the tree with frosting pointing upward.
- 6
  
  Fill in any areas without frosting with short strokes of foliage, then repeat the frosting for each cinnamon stick.

Tips & Warnings

Sprinkle powdered sugar to create winter cinnamon stick trees.
You can also dip the cinnamon sticks into honey and roll on green colored cereal for another type of tree.
Create palm trees by pressing palm fronds made of fondant onto the tops of the cinnamon sticks.
Do not eat the cinnamon sticks whole.