Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Cookie Decorating Tutorial

This week I am making bicycle cookies - lots and lots of bicycle cookies. Those of you that know me, know that, in addition to being an obsessed "cookier", I am also a cyclist and have many cycling friends. Last year I was a hard-core cyclist putting over 9,000 miles on my bicycle and participating in many cycling events, one of which was riding my pretty pink bike for 400 miles in 26 hours. This year, we've had too many family commitments and events, but many of my friends are still going strong with the really big cycling events. A few of my friends are even competing in the Furnace Creek 508. Yep, you guessed it. They are going to ride their bicycles for 508 miles with 35,000 feet of climbing. Painful! One of these crazy friends is Bob, who asked me to make these bicycle cookies for him.

I've received many emails from bakers wanting videos and tutorials, so here we go. I've decided to give the cookie a white background so that none of the cookie would be "naked". Since the entire background is one color, I outlined the cookie with a little bit thicker white icing in a bag and tip and then filled the rest of the cookie using a knife to spread the white icing onto the cookie. If it's a smaller section of cookie, I almost always use a bag and tip, but if I'm icing the bottom layer of a large cookie all one color, I usually use this knife method. You'll probably need to turn your speakers up. I can by pretty quiet - hubby says I mumble ;-)


Here they are before the bottom layer of icing. 
Tomorrow, if my son has time to assist as a videographer, I will show you how to use a Kopykake Projector as I've had lots of questions about that too. I will continue the decorating of these bicycle cookies. Stay tuned...

Oh and by the way, if you haven't seen Karen's video on easy clean-up with icing bags, you just have to watch this: http://www.karenscookies.net/Cookie-Decorating-Video-Color-Mixing-Bag-Filling_ep_74-1.html it is such an incredible time saver!

Me and my baby girl, Mellissa, after the 107-mile LiveStrong Challenge last month in memory of my father and for those battling Cancer.

8 comments:

  1. I'm a newbie to cookies and have never seen that many. :) It was great to see how you work/play.
    My neighbor started biking this year and she is up to around 50 miles. Your mileage is amazing.
    Would love one of those projectors but I've got way too many hobbies going. LOL.
    Thanks, I LOVE videos,
    Susie

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  2. @susies1955 Thanks Susie! I'm glad that you like the videos and find them helpful. I feel like such a dork making them, but my son is so great at helping out! :-)

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  3. What a great tutorial, Cristin! Loved seeing a different method of filling in - I never would have thought to use a knife but now I will definitely try it when I have large areas to cover. It looks like it takes less time than piping it all in. I also think I need one of those lazy-susans and cupcake apron! lol You and your son did a great job and I'm looking forward to the one on the KopyKat!! :)

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  4. @KaraThanks Kara. The lazy-susan/cake turner thingy has been heaven. It makes things so much easier when you don't want to touch the edges of your cookies while decorating. The apron is from an adorable Etsy shop: www.etsy.com/shop/sweetapronzcupcakes. I've ordered a few aprons from her because they are so cute and she's wonderful to work with.

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  5. I look foward to seeing how these cookies turn out. I like the idea of using the lazy susan turntable. I must get one of those!

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  6. @AnneThanks Anne and others - you can get the Wilton turntable here on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Wilton-Trim-N-Turn-Ultra-Rotating-Stand/dp/B0016BPTSU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1314214828&sr=8-1. There is also a shorter one here: http://www.amazon.com/Wilton-Trim-Turn-Plus-Turntable/dp/B0012Q5QIM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1314214828&sr=8-2. I have both and have found that the taller one is nicer on my back and shoulders while decorating for a really long time. These are both available on Ebay too.

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  7. Your friends are amazing to doing this bike trek and you are awesome for making 100 of these very large bike cookies.
    Watching the video, I was amazed to see that you fill (all these cookies) by using a knife. I know that it has been the way you always fill them but still, with the amount that you have to fill, the bottles would make the job go so much quicker. I'm not trying to tell you what you should do by any means, just that I'm amazed you have that much patience. Great video and your son did a great job as your videographer. Can't wait for your next post!

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  8. @The Vanilla Bean Baker Yes, Paula, after making 100 of these cookies, I realized that I should at least try the bottle method. You know... old dogs and all ;-) one day I will learn new tricks!

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Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment! I love hearing from you! Cristin