How to Decorate a Mermaid Tail Cookie
The mermaid tail is one of our most popular shapes for birthdays and summer get-togethers. It makes a stunning visual impact as part of a dessert spread, and is fairly simple to decorate.
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1
Bake and cool cookies fully before decorating. We recommend Ann’s Signature Sugar Cookie Recipe. This Lemon Cookie Recipe is also a great option—the refreshing lemon flavor is perfect for summertime. Prepare royal icing in the following colors and consistencies:
Learn more about royal icing consistencies here.Outline/Piping Consistency:
Sky Blue
Ocean TealFlood Consistency:
Sky Blue
Bright WhitePro Tip: Do not over-saturate your Sky Blue flood icing. In the final design, it will be adjacent to the white icing. This makes it prone to color bleed, which is when a darker color icing bleeds into a lighter-colored adjacent section. By just using a small drop of Sky Blue food coloring the risk of color bleed is minimized.
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2
Outline the main section of the mermaid tail with teal outline consistency icing.
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3
Don’t outline the fins until the next step. Outlining these two sections separately will create better definition between them.
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Outline the fins of the mermaid tail with teal outline consistency icing. Once complete, you should have two distinct areas outlined with teal icing.
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Using white flood consistency icing, flood the fins of the mermaid tail. Use a scribe tool or toothpick to gently move the icing around, coaxing it to the edges and popping any air bubbles.
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Wait for this area to dry until just crusted over. 30-60 minutes. You can speed up the drying time by placing your cookies under a fan. If you do not wait for this section to dry, you risk it bleeding into the main section of the tail, losing definition.
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8
Once the white fins are crusted over, flood the main part of the tail with light blue icing. Use a scribe tool or toothpick to gently coax the icing to ensure full coverage and to pop any air bubbles.
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9
Using ocean teal outline consistency icing, outline the white fins, and pipe additional details onto the fins.
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To get precise lines, hold your piping bag over the cookie and let the icing fall into place.
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Using ocean teal outline consistency icing, pipe a scalloped pattern. Start at the widest part of the body of the cookie and repeat the pattern as you move down toward the fins.
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Be sure to alternate where the edges of the scalloped pattern falls, as it creates a more visually-pleasing design.
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Again, hold the piping bag slightly over the cookie and let the icing fall into place. This will create more even, consistent lines.
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14
Enjoy this sweet mermaid tail design!
Recipe Video
Enjoy!
Cookies decorated by Julia of Julia’s Cookies