These cookies are designed to be holiday showstoppers, decorated on every surface with colorful icing, sanding sugar, and candies. Each cookie begins with the same sugar cookie dough and a printable ...

Cake with red and pink flowers made using the back of a spoon. - Samantha Wesoloski / 500px/Getty You don't need a fancy instrument to decorate cakes and cupcakes with elegant, handmade icing petals.

Royal icing is the go-to stuff for picture-perfect sugar cookies, because it makes a neat, hard and glossy finish that professional bakers and home chefs love. This icing is rich and thick and may ...