How to Make Easy Fruit Candy Decorations

Are you as excited as I am about all the Spring and Summer sweets on the horizon? As the strawberry plants in my garden come to life, I can't help but start to ponder what fruity treats will appear on my favorite blogs and Pinterest in the coming months.

Having edible decorations ready at my fingertips makes planning my own creative sweets easy and fun. When Halloween came around I made sure to have plenty of candy eyeballs and candy spiders on hand, and now that fruit-themed treats are popular I am making lots of strawberry and cherry candy decorations.

Step 1: How to Make Sparkly Cherry Candy Decorations

To make cherry candy decorations you will need:

Red Starburst Fruit Chews candies
Green shoe string candy
Red disco dust
Red decorating icing
Meringue powder
Toothpicks

Step 2:

Begin by shaping your red Starbursts into balls for your cherry candy decorations. To make the candy pliable, slightly heat it up in the microwave. If you overheat the candy, it will be too hot and liquidy to work with. I suggest heating each piece of candy for just 5 to 10 seconds on 50% power. After removing the candy from the microwave (and making sure it’s not too hot to touch), rip each piece in half and use your hands to roll them into balls. Let the candy completely cool before moving on to the next step.

Prepare two bowls: one with a small mixture of half water and half meringue powder completely blended and one with a small amount red disco dust. Roll each Starburst ball into the meringue powder and then into the disco dust until it is coated. Set your sparkly cherries aside to completely dry.

Prepare your green shoe string candy by using a sharp knife to slice it into thin stem-shaped pieces.

Use a toothpick to poke a hole in the top of each cherry candy. Fill the hole with red decorating icing, either by putting a blob of icing on a toothpick or by attaching a small decorating tip to the end of the icing tube. While the icing is still wet, insert a cherry stem into the hole. Set your sparkly cherry candy decorations aside to dry completely. The hardened icing will hold the stem in place.

Step 3:

With just a touch of icing, you can now “glue” your sparkly cherry candy decorations to any decorated cookies, cake pops, cupcakes, or other sweet treats you create.

Step 4: How to Make Strawberry Candy Decorations

To make strawberry candy decorations, you will need:

Strawberry Runts candies
Green flower sprinkles
Red decorating icing
White gel food coloring
A small food safe paint brush

Turn your green flower sprinkles into strawberry stems by using a knife to cut off two petals from each sprinkle. Then, use a dab of red decorating icing to attach each stem to the top of a strawberry Runt candy. Paint seeds onto each strawberry using white gel food coloring and a small food safe paint brush.