Marzipan Cake Decorations
Bring art motifs to your party with marzipan cake decorations. This sweetened almond paste is easy to
sculpt into colorful characters or pretty designs. A plain cake can be transformed into a child’s dream or a
seasonal display. Create unique edible sculptures, then grab the toppings off the frosting, and eat them up.
You will need: Marzipan (sweetened almond paste, found in the baking aisle of most markets), food
coloring (gel food colors work very well and come in infinite, pre-mixed colors), sculpting tools (toothpicks,
knives, rollers, tweezers, anything that can be used to make an impression), wax paper
1. Color.
Set out a work surface and cover it with wax
paper. Section the marzipan apart into chunks
to dye. Using just 1 or perhaps 2 drops, work the
food coloring into the paste. This example uses
standard drops of basic colors, mixed to give
a range of hues. Knead until the color is evenly
spread and as dark as needed. Immediately
refrigerate the colored dough on a plate until
chilled through.
2. Shape.
Sculpt the cold marzipan into anything imaginable. Begin with small pieces of art. The almond
paste will be sticky. To minimize this, keep fingers
clean and especially dry. If it begins to stick too
much to the wax paper, return it to the fridge
to chill again. Creating shapes is very much like
working with clay. Imagine the cake decorations
as a flat cover, or as 3-dimensional designs.
Either way, make the main shapes and the details
separately. Pieces can be joined by roughing up
the edges where segments attach, and a tiny,
tiny bit of water can help them stick together.
3. Chill.
Photography by Nat Wilson-Heckathorn
When finished making the decorations,
refrigerate them once again. Then set the
delicious decor atop the cake. Eat!
Brookelynn Morris has an alter ego. Her name is Princess Mountainboard, and she rides with her gang of Wildcats: the
Heartthrob, the Count, the Ninja, and the Mechanic.
