Instructions

1. Keep a picture posted of the animal print you are recreating to guide you as you pipe the shapes.

2. Frost the cake or other item's surface in the background color. Use an off-set spatula to frost a cake or a knife to frost smaller items.

3. Place a decorating tip on a piping bag for each color of detail frosting. Fill each bag with one color of frosting. Twist each bag just above the frosting, to keep it from squeezing out the top when you pipe the design.

4. Hold a piping bag with black frosting above an edge of decorating surface, to begin a zebra detail. Pipe a line with two curves several inches toward the center. Begin a second line where the previous line ended. Make a point where the two lines meet. Follow the first line and mirror its curves. End the second line roughly 1/2 inch away from where the first line began.

5. Pipe a brown or black, uneven blotch shape, to begin a leopard detail. Pipe a similar uneven shape coming off of the first one. The size of the blotches should be relative to the size of the entire surface. Make the details small enough that you can pipe at least six spots on the surface.

6. Fill in each shape with the same frosting color you used to make the outline.

7. Dip your finger into cornstarch, to dust your finger tip. Pat the top of the detail shape gently with your finger. This will smooth and matte the frosting, so it blends in with the background evenly. Dip your finger back into the cornstarch, to dust it again, after every four or five pats.

8. Continue creating the pattern across the surface.