Consider the possibilities:

Spell out names and messages

Use as roof tiles, brick or stone.

They can be jewelry, gemstones or pendants on a necklace.

Eyes, nose or mouth for critter cakes

They can make colorful borders .

Create rainbows, flowers, butterflys or other designs and patterns with them.

Have additional uses for Jelly Beans?  Let us know!

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St. Patrick’s Day is March 17th and this week I’ll be sharing some ideas for tasty treats to celebrate.  Here’s a very quick and simple cake decorated with green sugar and sprinkles.

You will  need  a shamrock cookie cutter for a “stencil”.  If you can’t find find a shamrock cookie cutter, try using a heart shaped cookie cutter to create each leaf of the clover or create your own stencil from cardboard or a file folder.  If you make your own stencil you may need to coat the underside with a thin layer of vegetable shortening so it won’t stick.  Also, I used a small artist paintbrush to spread the crystals, or you could use a toothpick.  I made a 8 in. round cake, but you could stencil the clover(s) on any size or shape cake.

I thought confetti cake would be a good choice since rainbows are associated with the holiday.  I went with a white icing, green dessert crystals and shamrock sprinkles.

After icing the cake smooth I refridgerated it for 20 minutes to make sure frosting would be firm.  Then I placed the cookie cutter in the center of the cake and poured the green sugar crystals into the center.  Think less is more when you start this process because if you end up with too many crystals they will pour over when you lift your cookie cutter.

Using a clean dry paintbrush or toothpick, gently spread the crystals from the middle towards the edge of the cookie cutter.  When you lift your stencil you will have a sugary sweet shamrock!

To complete the cake I sprinkled sugar around the top edge and poured the shamrock sprinkles around the bottom edge.  To create a cleaner edge, I slid my icing spatula under the sprinkles, pressed them into the base of the cake and then brushed away the excess.

I hope you liked this easy to make cake and it inspires you to come up with your own simple cake decorating ideas!

I used the sandwich cutter that I bought for my son’s peanut butter and jellys and cut out hearts from the cake dome.  You can ice them, add sprinkles and your kids will think you made them minicakes.

Another easy cake decorating idea that came to mind… why not use this technique to create a 3D element for a cake.  It’s something I might experiment with and I’ll share the results when I do.  Of course if you bake level cakes you’ll be out of luck.