This awesome tutorial comes has been created for Kiwicakes by Lisa at The Whole Cake & Caboodle
Step1 These are the cutters I used but you can use
similar substitutes. The round shape is a 5.5cm circle from the round nesting
cookie cutters set. The bat and ghost are from the Halloween mini cookie cutter
set. The tombstone is actually the centre of the handbag cookie cutter which
comes in two pieces but you could use a small rectangle shape also. The square
can be substituted for rounds, rectangles, or any shape you like or hand cut
something if needed. Bake the amount you need. Everything is baked exactly as
its cut by the cookie cutter - except the round shape which has a small portion cut off the base, with a knife to
allow it to stand. There is no exact amount that you need to trim but about 1 cm
up from the base of the circle works well
Step 2 Make a sugar syrup at a ratio of half sugar/half
water. I used 1/4 cup water and 1/4 cup of sugar which will give you more than
enough for dozens of complete cookies. This was then microwaved for about 2-3
minutes (or until boiled and dissolved), you may need to stir this during this
time to mix in the sugar. If you wish you can also use piping gel as a
glue
Step 3 Cover the moon and ghosts with white fondant
rolled to the thickness you desire. I use thickness guides to ensure its even
but you can always use kebab sticks or ice block sticks as well (new ones of
course!)
To adhere the fondant to the cookie brush the cookie
lightly with sugar syrup. You should see a glisten as it sits on the surface.
Step 4 Once you have covered the moons turn them over and trim off the excess fondant from the base
Step 5 Mix a small amount of black into some white
fondant lightly in a pulling twisting motion. This makes it mottled and gives a
marbled effect to use on the tombstones
Step 6 Cut out required amount of tombstones, you can
use the jagged edges of the rolled fondant to give a worn look to the tombstones
or add your own cuts
Step 7 Either leave blank the tombstones blank or write words or
names on with a food pen.Or stamp the tombstones with letters to spell out
"HELP" or "RIP" or whatever takes your fancy. The press set I used here is the tiny
alphabet message press set and you need to remember to put each one in backwards
as shown so that it stamps correctly
Step 8 Using the sugar syrup glue ghost cookies to
tombstones either in front, or behind, or in whatever position takes your fancy.
Support them for an hour and they will stick well together. This can be done
while you are making the rest of the cookies.
Step 9 Dust the edges of the moons if you desire. I used
a smidgeon of black dust and a mix of a thin coat of yellow and then a touch of blue.
Some were dusted also with a pearl white for shimmer.
Step 10 Glue bats to the moons in a pleasing position
and glue black fondant to them. They look just as good plain or you can add
detail as follows. Eyes can be marked on the bats with the end of a paintbrush
as can the mouths on the ghosts. The bats eyes can then be further filled with small
white fondant balls or piped with white royal icing. The wings of the bat were
also marked to give more detail. You can also handpaint smaller bat shapes to
give the illusion of a group in flight
Step 11 Eyeballs can be dotted in on both the bats and
ghosts using a marker pen or a spot of black gel colouring on the tend of a
toothpick. This gives a nice dot shape. You need to let the royal icing dry
first in the bats eyes before marking the eyeball/pupil
Step 12 Take your base cookie and some fondant. Any colour can be used but I
have used chocolate brown both for the taste and to simulate dirt. You need
enough to provide a base for either the moon or tombstone cookie to sit in so
judge according to the size of that cookie. Of course you can always use more and
cover the whole cookie if you wish! Glue this in a blob to the cookie It needs
to have a little depth of about 0.5-1.0 cm for support depending upon how much
fondant you want to use.
Step 13 Take your tombstone or moon cookie and press the
base into the chocolate fondant. This creates a pattern of the shape where your
cookie will sit. Indent this with a tool to create a deeper trench almost to the
base of the cookie for the moon or tombstone to sit in like so
Step 14 Use a touch of sugar glue in the trench (don't
drown it though!!) and push the required cookie in. It should sit straight and
be well supported but if it doesn’t feel secure or wobbles then gently push the
fondant at the front and back up against the cookie or add some extra fondant
balls to create a higher ground support. Glue all your cookies together in
groups you are happy with. There should be room for at least two items on one
base cookie if needed
Step 15 Mix up some green royal icing or you can use
butter cream if you wish. I have used a leaf green gel colour with a few drops of brown
to make it more khaki coloured, but use whatever colour you wish. A lime green
looks very Halloween like!
Step 16 Randomly pipe grass using a small grass tip over
the base cookie. It doesn't need to cover the whole cookie and doesn't need to
cover the chocolate fondant either. Make long tufts in places or just small
patches scattered. The royal icing when dry will help to further support the
upright cookie if it is against this but isn't overly necessary as the chocolate
fondant will give it more than enough support when dry. I made some zombie hands
out of some fondant to break through the ground. I also scattered a few bones
sprinkles.
Step 17 Use small cookies in amongst finished
3 dimensional scenes to create a great Halloween display, have a frightfully fun
time.
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