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learn to ice
For this week's challenge, we wanted to teach you how to create some of the biscuits from our Letterbox Love collection. Because after all who doesn't love biscuits that are sure to make you smile? This week we'll be showing you how to ice your own unicorn and rainbow biscuits, our bee happy biscuits and we've also put together a special unicorn cupcake recipe too. How to ice your unicorn biscuits: Firstly you'll need to bake your biscuits, using the recipe from lesson one! We recommend drawing out your unicorn shape on to a piece of baking paper if you don't have any unicorn shaped biscuit cutters!
Then you'll need to make flood and line icing following lesson two (line) and lesson three's (flood) recipe. Using gel or paste food colourings, mix a white, black, pink, turquoise, orange and green for your line icing and white for your flood icing. We recommend that you use professional paste or gel food colourings to colour your icing as liquid food colourings tend to change the texture of your icing and make it too runny. Method: ![]()
Step 1: Draw the outline of the body of your unicorn biscuits with your white line icing. This line of icing acts as a ‘wall’ to stop your flood icing running. Leave this outline to dry for about 10 minutes.
Step 2: When your icing outline is dry, flood the body of your unicorns with the white flood icing.
Step 3: Set your oven to its lowest temperature (usually around 50°C) and put the flooded biscuits back on a baking tray and in to your oven for about 30 minutes or until the flood icing has set hard. Don’t worry, your biscuits won’t bake any further – the low temperature of the oven means that when the icing sets the finish is nice and glossy. ![]()
Step 4: Once the unicorns are completely cool you can begin to add the detail. Use the black line icing to give the unicorn an eye and nose, the pink line icing to give him hooves and a mane and the other colours to give him a magical tail.
Step 5: Once you have added all the detail, leave your biscuits to dry at room temperature for about 15 minutes until the icing has completely set. How to ice your rainbow biscuit: Method: ![]()
Step 1: Take your blue line icing and carefully ice along the bottom edge of your biscuit to create the first layer of your rainbow.
Step 2: Repeat step one with the green, orange and pink line icings until your rainbow biscuit is filled with colours.
Step 3: Leave your biscuits to dry at room temperature for around 15 minutes until the icing has completely set. How to make unicorn cupcakes: Method: ![]()
Step 1 – Preheat the oven to 170 C / Gas 3.
Step 2 – Line a cupcake tray with your choice of paper cupcake cases.
Step 3 – Put the butter and sugar into an electric mixer and whizz up until light and fluffy.
Step 4 – Pour in the vanilla essence and then add the eggs one at a time – mix to make a yellow batter.
Step 5 – Add the flour and mix into the wet batter until it is smooth, be careful not to over mix. Stop once in the middle of this and scrape the sides of your bowl down using a spatula.
Step 6 – Scoop roughly 2 tbsp of the mixture into each of your cupcake cases.
Step 7 – Place your tray into the oven on the middle shelf and bake for about 14 minutes. Keep an eye on them – they will be perfectly cooked when they bounce back to the touch and the top of the cupcakes look slightly sticky. If you want to, you can check if they are cooked through by inserting a tooth pick into the middle of the cupcakes, if it comes out clean – they are ready to be taken out of the oven!
Step 8 – Leave your cupcakes on a cooling rack for 30 minutes or until completely cool. ![]()
250g unsalted butter, at room temperature 500g icing sugar (sifted) 2 tbsp milk, at room temperature
Step 1 – For the buttercream icing, beat the butter in a large bowl until soft and pale. About 5 minutes.
Step 2 – Add half of the icing sugar to the butter, and beat until smooth.
Step 3 – Then add the remaining icing sugar with one tablespoon of the milk, adding more milk if necessary, until the mixture is smooth, creamy with no lumps.![]()
Piping bag 500g white fondant icing
Smooth rolling pin
Icing sugar (for dusting)
Circle shaped biscuit cutter (7cm diameter)
Gold edible food paint
Food-safe paint brush
Pink lustre dust
12 x Biscuit horns and 24 x biscuit ears (follow our biscuit recipe here, and biscuit pop instructions here)
Toothpicks (for biscuit pops)
Black, Blue, Hot Pink, Yellow and Green Line icing (follow our instructions here) Method: Step 1 – Now it’s time to decorate your Unicorn Cupcakes. Use your smooth rolling pin to roll out your white fondant to a thickness of about 5mm.
Top tip – You can use a small amount of icing sugar sprinkled on your work top to prevent the fondant icing sticking!
Step 2 – Use your circular cutter to press 12 circles out of your fondant.
Step 3 – Fill your piping bag with your vanilla buttercream and pipe small mounds of buttercream onto the top of each cupcake.
Step 4 – Once you have butter-creamed all of your cupcakes, take each circle of fondant and smooth over the top of the buttercream mound and down to meet the top of the cupcake case. Repeat until all 12 cupcakes have little fondant domes. ![]()
Step 5 – Take your prepared biscuit horns and ears (bake these on to cocktail sticks for the best results) and lay out on your clean work surface. Using your food-safe brush, dip it into your edible gold paint and paint the surface of your iced horns and the centre of the 24 biscuit ears. Leave to dry for 15 minutes.
Step 6 – Time to assemble your cupcakes! Carefully insert a biscuit horn and pair of ears into each of your cupcakes. ![]()
Step 7 – Use your black line icing to pipe the Unicorns’ closed eyes and lashes, and then alternate between your blue, hot pink, yellow and green line icings to pipe the Unicorns’ manes. Leave to dry for 15 minutes. ![]()
Step 8 – Use your (clean and dry!) food safe brush, and lightly dust the cheeks of the Unicorn with pink lustre dust so they look rosy. ![]()
Bee Happy Icing Tutorial We hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s lesson! Don’t forget to share your photos with us using the hashtag #IceolationChallenge
Biscuiteers Ice-olation Challenge Lesson Six, Letterbox Love Week
03 May 2020
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5 Mins
Then you'll need to make flood and line icing following lesson two (line) and lesson three's (flood) recipe. Using gel or paste food colourings, mix a white, black, pink, turquoise, orange and green for your line icing and white for your flood icing. We recommend that you use professional paste or gel food colourings to colour your icing as liquid food colourings tend to change the texture of your icing and make it too runny.
Step 2: When your icing outline is dry, flood the body of your unicorns with the white flood icing.
Step 3: Set your oven to its lowest temperature (usually around 50°C) and put the flooded biscuits back on a baking tray and in to your oven for about 30 minutes or until the flood icing has set hard. Don’t worry, your biscuits won’t bake any further – the low temperature of the oven means that when the icing sets the finish is nice and glossy.
Step 5: Once you have added all the detail, leave your biscuits to dry at room temperature for about 15 minutes until the icing has completely set.
Step 2: Repeat step one with the green, orange and pink line icings until your rainbow biscuit is filled with colours.
Step 3: Leave your biscuits to dry at room temperature for around 15 minutes until the icing has completely set.
ingredients
- - 175g unsalted butter, at room temperature
- - 175g self-raising flour (sifted)
- - 175g caster sugar (sifted)
- - 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- - 3 medium eggs
serves:12
difficulty:easy
30 mins
Step 2 – Line a cupcake tray with your choice of paper cupcake cases.
Step 3 – Put the butter and sugar into an electric mixer and whizz up until light and fluffy.
Step 4 – Pour in the vanilla essence and then add the eggs one at a time – mix to make a yellow batter.
Step 5 – Add the flour and mix into the wet batter until it is smooth, be careful not to over mix. Stop once in the middle of this and scrape the sides of your bowl down using a spatula.
Step 6 – Scoop roughly 2 tbsp of the mixture into each of your cupcake cases.
Step 7 – Place your tray into the oven on the middle shelf and bake for about 14 minutes. Keep an eye on them – they will be perfectly cooked when they bounce back to the touch and the top of the cupcakes look slightly sticky. If you want to, you can check if they are cooked through by inserting a tooth pick into the middle of the cupcakes, if it comes out clean – they are ready to be taken out of the oven!
Step 8 – Leave your cupcakes on a cooling rack for 30 minutes or until completely cool.
For the Vanilla Buttercream:
250g unsalted butter, at room temperature 500g icing sugar (sifted) 2 tbsp milk, at room temperature
Step 1 – For the buttercream icing, beat the butter in a large bowl until soft and pale. About 5 minutes.
Step 2 – Add half of the icing sugar to the butter, and beat until smooth.
Step 3 – Then add the remaining icing sugar with one tablespoon of the milk, adding more milk if necessary, until the mixture is smooth, creamy with no lumps.
For decorating your Unicorn Cupcakes:
Smooth rolling pin
Icing sugar (for dusting)
Circle shaped biscuit cutter (7cm diameter)
Gold edible food paint
Food-safe paint brush
Pink lustre dust
12 x Biscuit horns and 24 x biscuit ears (follow our biscuit recipe here, and biscuit pop instructions here)
Toothpicks (for biscuit pops)
Black, Blue, Hot Pink, Yellow and Green Line icing (follow our instructions here)
Top tip – You can use a small amount of icing sugar sprinkled on your work top to prevent the fondant icing sticking!
Step 2 – Use your circular cutter to press 12 circles out of your fondant.
Step 3 – Fill your piping bag with your vanilla buttercream and pipe small mounds of buttercream onto the top of each cupcake.
Step 6 – Time to assemble your cupcakes! Carefully insert a biscuit horn and pair of ears into each of your cupcakes.