Cookie Moss Cake

Cookie Moss Cake – how to make edible moss from cookie dough. Top spring and Easter cakes, woodland cakes or a birthday cake for your favorite gardener!

I absolutely love the look of real moss and find myself adding touches of green to every corner of my home.  Maybe it’s because green is a symbol of life and renewal, commonly associated with spring and Easter.  Maybe it’s because I’m obsessed with the modern farmhouse look right now, dreaming of a super white kitchen with calming grey walls and small pops green.  Maybe it’s because I have actual moss sprouting up in my back yard — both in the grass and on this towering oak tree that I can see from my office window.

Whatever the case, moss is popular right now.  Just take a look around your favorite home furnishing store and you’ll see plenty of mossy goodness.  So, I thought it was about time for an edible moss cake!

Now, I’ve actually seen a moss cake or two floating around Pinterest.  While I love the look, they were made with real moss for photo shoot purposes.  They look amazing but the last time I checked, real live moss is not something I want to eat.  But the moss on today’s cake is sweet, crispy and not moss-tasting at all.  That’s because it’s made with sugar cookie dough!

After about five test runs getting this moss exactly the way I wanted it, we had a whole mess of moss cookies sitting around the kitchen.  Ironically, I found it odd that these cookies were not disappearing.  It’s not like Mr. Sellman to leave cookies uneaten for days.  When I asked him about it….. he fessed up that they looked too much like real moss!  That’s when I knew that I had something worth sharing with you guys.  Once Mr. Sellman was assured they were made with sugar cookie dough and only sugar cookie dough, they magically started to disappear.  Because they just taste like sugar cookies!  That’s what I call a win for everyone.

This design works for all skill levels and time schedules.  Make the cake from scratch using one of our recipes, bake it from a mix or simply purchase a plain cake at your favorite bakery.  Then decorate it with the edible moss!

In an effort to keep this project time boxed, I used store bought sugar cookie dough.  Yes, a prepackaged log of cookie dough is transformed into our edible moss topper!  If you have a great cookie recipe that you want to use, go for it.  If you want to get this beauty made and decorated in less time, use premade dough and never look back.

The best part about this cake is that it works for a number of events.  It can easily be the centerpiece of a bridal shower or a Mother’s Day brunch, even an elegant birthday.  And of course it works for Easter!  Just add some fresh tulips, a white ceramic bunny and you have a lovely Easter dessert table.

EDIBLE MOSS CAKE
a DIY by Carrie Sellman

Supplies:

Cake of choice, frosted with white icing
Sugar Cookie Dough  (16 oz)
Moss Green Food Coloring
Offset Spatula
Wooden Spoon
Parchment Paper

Preheat oven to 350.  Line a baking tray with parchment paper and set aside.

Place sugar cookie dough into a mixing bowl.  Add 1/4 teaspoon of the moss green food coloring.

Mix the food coloring into the dough until it is completely combine and solid green.  I found a wooden spoon to work best for this step.  It did turn my wooden spoon green but it cleaned up in the dishwasher.  Just something to keep in mind, if you’re really attached to your wooden spoon.

Take a small clump of cookie dough and spread it thinly onto the parchment paper using an offset spatula.  If you have trouble spreading your dough, rock your spatula back and forth and sort of scrape the dough off the knife and onto the parchment paper.  It’s okay if it is thinner in some areas and thicker in others.  We are going to intentionally leave it uneven.  This is very forgiving and the idea is just to get a thin layer of dough into a rough shape.

Leaving room between each cookie, spread additional cookie dough into various shapes and sizes until your parchment paper is full.  Create big shapes, small shapes, circular shapes and oblong shapes.  Bake at 350 for roughly 12 – 14 minutes depending on the size.  You want the outside edges to be lightly brown, just like a sugar cookie.

Remove from oven and let cookies cool.  They don’t look like much right now, but trust me, we’re almost there.

Flip cookies over to reveal the underside and its moss-like texture.  You should have a little bit of brown around the edges with shades of green throughout.

You could leave them just like this, but this next step makes them even more realistic.

Take one of your cookies and crush it into super fine crumbs.  You can do this with the back of a spoon or by placing it into a sealed ziplock and crushing it with a rolling pin.  Be sure to get the crumbs super fine.

Now sprinkle each cookie with the crumbs.  The crumbs will naturally fall into the little crevices and also sit on top, creating a great moss texture.  It also adds a nice depth of color.

Repeat this process to make additional batches of cookies.  Vary your size and shape so that you have a good mix to use for decoration.  You will have more than enough dough to experiment with a few batches to get the hang of the process.

Once you have all of your moss cookies ready, simply stack them on top of the cake using the larger pieces on bottom and smaller pieces on top.  Try not to turn the cookies over or you’ll lose your crumbs.  I added a small paper butterfly as a finishing touch.

Use any extra moss cookies to decorate cupcakes or simply as a garnish on the plate for serving.

 

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Chocolate Easter Bunny Cake
Easter Nest Cake
Chocolate Daffodil Cake
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