Hip Hop is back, 90s style!
Well, maybe not, but the cookies and cake I made this week are definitely a trip back to the 90s!
I was in grade school in the early 90s, and high school at the end, but I never really got into hip hop. I went from soft rock with some minor boy band influences to country music and mainstream “popular” bands, like Blink 182.
“All the Small Things” was the theme song of my first car.
(shrug)
It’s really not that surprising when I think about it. I have always been pretty straight-laced.
I mean, I couldn’t just make cassette tape cookies, I had to look up the dimensions of an actual cassette tape and use a ruler to cut out the perfect size cookies.
The nice part about the roll-out cookie recipe I use (Wilton’s) is great because it doesn’t puff up a lot or expand very much in the oven. I can be confident that the cookie size going in is very close to the cookie size coming out.
Icing cookies can be extremely time consuming when several colors are involved. So, I always look for ways to work smarter, not harder, while still creating a great finished product.
Let’s break down the cookie:
- Body
- Viewing window
- Winding wheels
- Label
Cassettes have a viewing window to see how far the tape is advanced and two wheels to wind the tape.
Since those elements are set into the body of the cassette, I wanted to use a technique that would really add dimension to the cookie.
I also decided that I would print out edible labels instead of trying to ice all the details I wanted on each label.
I searched online and found a template for the labels. Using photoshop, I was then able to create the labels I wanted to put on the cookies.
To use the dimensional technique for the tape and wheels, I had to make a stencil. I used the label template to make sure everything was in the right place.
I then very carefully cut out the details with a craft knife.
Laying the stencil on the cookies, I made sure I had it lined up correctly before I used stiff royal icing to stencil on the cookies.
(What I Learned: When stenciling white on a cookie, add some white food color to the freshly made royal icing. If not, I get the pleasure of hand painting all the wheels with white Poppy Paint once the royal icing absorbs butter from the cookies.)
In no time, I had 24 cookies all ready for the next step.
For the next cookie phase, I needed black icing in both outline and 15-second consistencies and charcoal icing in flood consistency. (Anne Yorks also has a couple of great classes on Bluprint that talk about icing consistencies.)
Since I did not want to have visible edges on the cookies, I only used the outline consistency icing to create borders around the wheels and the viewing window.
The thinner, 15-second icing was the perfect consistency to outline and fill the rest of the cookie without worrying I would have icing run off the edges. I then piped the screws in the corners with the gray flood icing.
A little shake to settle the icing, and it was on to the next cookie.
Now I had two levels of icing, a standard icing thickness and one just barely raised above the cookie surface.
I let the cookies dry overnight.
Before I started affixing the labels to the cookies, I had to make myself a quick breakfast of orange scones. (The recipe can be found here.)
Boy, were they good! 😉
I cut out the labels with the craft knife and my food-only scissors. Once cut, I used piping gel to attach the labels to the cookies. I then piped lines on each side of the cookie near the base.
The final step was adding the trapezoidal area of raised plastic, along with the details, found at the bottom of the cassette
I wish I knew where a cassette was lying around so I could compare one to the final product, but I think the different icing levels take the cookie from cute to 90s cool.
For the cake I had to graffiti a brick wall with “Happy Birthday”.
There was no easy way to write on this cake, and you know how much I struggle with that! (If not, you can read all about it here.)
The 90s may not be here to stay, but it was fun getting a chance to reminisce.
Rock on!
Oh… I guess I should say “Rap on!”
–Angie
If you are looking for other helpful cookie tips and tricks, check out my tips page!
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