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Art Deco Cookie Decorating Tutorial With Royal Icing

Art Deco Cookie Decorating Tutorial

I first used this low-tech tissue paper method to transfer a design onto a cookie when I created these New York City skyline cookies. I still don’t own a cake projector, so I used this method again for this Art Deco cookie decorating tutorial!

Gray, black, and silver art deco cookies

Here’s what you’ll need for this art deco cookie tutorial

These supplies are available in my Amazon Store unless otherwise noted.

  • 3×3″ square cookies (get my recipe in the tutorial shop)
  • Flood consistency royal icing in gray
  • Medium consistency royal icing in black
  • Black food coloring
  • Scribe tool
  • Decorating bags
  • Decorating tips 1 and 3
  • Template (below)
  • Tissue paper
  • Edible ink marker
  • Silver pearl dust
  • Thin artist brush
  • Strong vodka or grain alcohol for painting (read this post to learn more about painting with pearl or luster dust on royal icing)
  • Small dish or paint palette for mixing pearl dust and vodka

Instructions

Step 1

Ice the square cookies in gray flood consistency royal icing and a decorating tip 3. Use the scribe tool to help shape the icing. Allow the icing to dry completely (overnight is best).

See my Ultimate Guide To Royal Icing to learn all about icing consistencies.

Step 2

Trace the template onto a piece of tissue paper using an edible ink marker. Right click on the template to save it to your computer and print it out.

art deco template for transferring onto an iced cookie.
template, tissue paper with traced template, and a blank iced cookie in gray icing

Step 3

Place the tissue paper over the cookie and tape the paper to the work surface.

Step 4

Trace the design again with the edible ink marker. Make sure to put some pressure on it so that it bleeds through the paper.

Cookie with the tissue paper over it and an edible ink marker tracing the design

It won’t be perfect, but you’ll have a basic outline of the design to use as a guide while you pipe.

Cookie with the design transferred onto it.

Step 5

Pipe over the outline of the design using black medium consistency royal icing and a decorating tip 1. Let the icing dry for about 30 minutes. Put the cookie in front of a fan if possible.

decorating tip piping black icing over the design
decorating tip piping black icing over the design

Step 7

Mix a little bit of black gel paste food coloring with a few drops of vodka or grain alcohol to form a paint.

A thin brush mixing black food coloring with vodka in a well of a paint palette.

Step 8

Paint the designs with a thin brush.

Applying the paint between the two lines of the border of the cookie with a thin brush

Step 9

Mix silver pearl dust with a few drops of vodka or grain alcohol.

A thin brush mixing silver pearl dust with vodka in a well of a paint palette.

Step 10

Paint the black piped icing with the silver paint.

Applying the silver pearl dust paint to the piped black lines on the cookie.

I hope this Art Deco cookie tutorial inspired you to create your own! Click on the images below for more cookie decorating tutorials.

cookies wrapped in cello bags next to a heat sealer
How To Pack Cookies For Shipping
Cookies on a platter decorated to look like lilacs and an eyelet lace vase.
How To Decorate Lilac Cookies With Royal Icing
Cookie on a platter decorated to look like a ginger jar with a bouquet of hydrangeas
Hand Painted Hydrangea Cookie

Amber Spiegel, founder of SweetAmbs, is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and the author of Cookie Art: Sweet Designs for Special Occasions. Amber has over 12 years of cookie decorating experience and has traveled the world teaching others how to decorate beautiful cookies on their own.

View all posts by Amber
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