Hey Bestie! I’m so excited to be able to share this post with you and I hope you love it too! In recent months, I’ve started making and using more lace in my cookie designs and I’m officially obsessed. So I’m thrilled to be able to share exactly how to make edible lace to add to your cookies. As always, I really like to test techniques and products before bringing my recommendations to you, to ensure the best results. Doing the legwork for you so you can just skip all the headaches, that’s what Besties do, right? So let’s get right into it!
Edible lace Supplies
Edible lace has become one of my favorite ways to take a basic cookie to stunning and it’s so simple to make. I even consider this very beginner-friendly! I’ve tried a few different materials and troubleshooted different techniques, but I’ve perfected what has worked best for me time and time again. To make it easy, I’ve added an Edible Lace category to my Amazon page where you can find everything HERE, but I’ll break it down below here too.
Edible lace material
I use THESE edible, flexible fabric sheets for the best results. They come in different colors, but I usually just use the white and can color them to any shade I want.
- Edible Fabric Sheet
- Create lace in minutes
Silicone mats for designs
I use THIS set of silicone lace mats for many of my designs and I love the variations included. It’s a fabulous start set of lace mats at a great price.
- Premium Material – Made with food-grade silicone, flexible and durable to use, the best material for making cake decorations.
- Durable to Use – Flexible & sturdy non-stick lace mold for cake decorating with beautiful lace designs, reusable and durable.
- Stunning Silicone Imprint Mould and Sugar Gum Paste Mat – Beautiful intricate fondant impression lace, and detailed drawings for fondant cake decoration, cupcake decor, clay crafting, scrapbook projects decorating etc.
- 4pcs with Different Styles – 4 different styles pink lace molds, more choices for you, choose the style you like and decorate your cake now!
But there are also MANY other impression mats that can be used to create different lace designs, butterflies and other shapes! Your options are pretty endless and so inspiring!
In particular, I love THIS set for not only the lace designs it includes, but also the round designs that are perfect for just adding to cookies without any trimming needed.
- Durable and flexible, create detailed and delicate shapes, the lace decorations release with ease, easy to use and clean. After use molds should be stored in a clean and dry area.
- Made of high quality food grade silicone with soft texture, BPA free, non-toxic and non-odor (Odor-less), silicone molds. Its microwave, oven, freezer and dishwasher safe, low / high temperature: -40 to 230 degree Celsius (-40F to 446F).
I love THIS mat for beautiful and unique snowflake cookies! You’ll definitely be seeing some of these cookies from me this holiday season!
- Flexible & Sturdy Non-Stick lace mold for cake decorating with beautiful lace designs, eco-friendly, reusable and durable.
- The dimensions of lace fondant mat are 15.0 * 11.2 inches (38 * 28.5 cm). Weight: approx 5.9 ounces (168g).
And THESE butterflies?! LOVE!
Offset Spatula or palette knife
And finally, you’ll need a tool for making your lace. I use a palette knife from THIS set and it works beautifully. I use these tools for many things in my cookie decorating and treat making. If you already have an offset spatula, you can use that, but I personally think a palette knife works better for this.
- ARTIST PALETTE KNIFE: 12.75” W x 6” H x 0.5” D, 5 Pieces Set includes 1-each of all 5 Standard Paint knife Styles.Every spatula has one individual package in case the entire safety. This high quality knife has been crafted with the finest stainless blade that resists all wear and corrosion from any media including acrylics
Supplies you likely already have
So you’ve got your edible lace material, an impression mat and a palette knife to make your lace. Beyond these few items, you’ll need some water and parchment paper to make your lace. Sometimes I make my lace on a solid silicone mat, so if you have one of those, you’re golden.
Steps for making edible lace
We’ll start by cutting our sheets into smaller pieces and then soaking them in water for about 30 seconds. You don’t want to leave them in there too long because they’ll simply dissolve or you’ll lose too much of the properties of the ingredients. Once they are soft, remove them and place onto your working surface.
Now you’re going to use your palette knife and work the material into a thick liquid. This can take several minutes of working at it to create a smooth texture without any lumps. I usually have a bottle of water nearby to add a few more drops of water as needed if it seems too thick.
Once ready, you’ll be spreading your mixture in a THIN layer across your mat. You really do want a thin later, the depth of the mat, so once you’ve spread it out, go back over it and clean up all the areas.
I prefer to let my edible lace dry overnight. You can use your dehydrator, but over-drying your lace can create other issues later on. My lace dries perfectly if I just let it airdry.
Once your lace is completely dry, it will not feel tacky at all and will easily release from the mat. You’ll simply gently pull it off!
I store my lace in an airtight container, with parchment paper in between if I have different colors. Once dry, your lace is not sticky or tacky at all, so it should not stick to itself.
Applying Edible lace
You’ve got some options here and sometimes it depends on the actual design for what works best.
- For trimming your lace, I usually find it’s easiest to trim my lace before adding to my cookie. But you’re welcome to trim after applying, you’ll just need to be careful not to mess up the lace or icing (been there)! Use a sharp scissors or pen blade for precise trimming.
- You can apply your lace to crusted royal icing for a beautiful bond. This is actually my favorite way to apply, you just have to be really careful not to mess up your icing or apply too much pressure.
- Add a spritz of water to the back of your lace and apply. Don’t add to much water or your lace is going to get too soft and can tear.
- Use a 2:1 mixture of corn syrup and high-proof alcohol to create a thin glue. This works great as glue but can get sticky and will leave a shiny finish if it makes its way to the front of your lace of icing. Again, a THIN coat brushed on the back of your lace is all you need.
How to make edible lace – demo video!
Let’s see all this in action, right? You’re going to be amazed at how simple this is!
Are you ready to make your own edible lace?!
I hope this was helpful and has inspired you to create some edible lace for your cookies! I have fallen in love with edible lace and am spinning with designs I have planned for the holidays using lace. And think of the wedding designs! EEK!
If you need any more help, you can find me and thousands of fellow Besties HERE. It’s the happiest corner of the internet where you’ll find endless help, support, inspiration and celebration of beautiful bakes. And I’d LOVE to see your cookies there too!
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Love love love your work – some of the most beautiful cookies ever. So glad I found your site – I’m ordering the equipment to make lace on cookies and cakes. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and beautiful skills with us.
Hi I bought the transfer sheets awhile ago but can’t find them! Can you please resend them? Thanks
Just emailed you a link to download again. It shows you’ve download it 18 times already, so I recommend saving it in a place you can find it in the future. 😊
I need information on storage of cookies and or dough. Do you or can you freeze cookies frosted or unfrosted and then frost later? If you freeze how do you package them for the freezer and how long are the good for? Please help.