how to make marble buttercream frosting cookies easily

How to Easily Make Marble Buttercream Frosting Cookies

Marbled buttercream can take regular sugar cookies to a new level. Here I’ll share how to easily make marble buttercream frosting cookies.

My brother-in-law and sister-in-law recently got married and I was asked to make some buttercream sugar cookies for the wedding reception, to which I happily obliged.

The bride requested florals and either stripes or marble. Since I hadn’t made marble before, I thought this would be a great opportunity to try it out.

I was so happy with the results and even more shocked with how easy it was. You can make marble buttercream sugar cookies super quick, at least compared to other buttercream sugar cookie designs.

marble buttercream frosting cookies with gold

Let’s get started with the tutorial!

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How to Make Marble Buttercream

wedding buttercream sugar cookies marble

I knew for these cookies I did not want to use rolled buttercream, which is a common way to achieve a marbled buttercream.

You can read about my thoughts, and a recipe, for rolled buttercream here.

I also wanted to be able to use piping bags. Piping bags are what I work with best.

That being said, here’s what you’ll want to gather:

I learned this trick for marble buttercream from a YouTube video for cakes and then I figured you can probably apply it to cookies, too.

Then all I had to do was combine it with another technique that I learned from The Hutch Oven/Emily Hutchinson called the frozen flat method described in her book, Creative Cookie Decorating for Everyone.

So, let’s break down the easy steps!

  1. Make your buttercream frosting as usual – you’ll find the recipe in the recipe card below.
  2. Leave the majority of the frosting as is and then scoop out about a 1/6th of the frosting to color.
  3. On a plate or in a bowl, place a large amount of the undyed frosting down followed by a little of the colored frosting. You can either place the colored frosting in an icing bag for more control or dollop a bit onto the plate. white buttercream frostingpreparing marble buttercream
  4. Using an angled flat spatula, fold the frosting together just a bit. marble buttercream frosting cookies
  5. Lay a piece of plastic wrap onto your counter and begin places globs of the marbled frosting onto it. marble buttercream frosting cookiesmarble buttercream frosting cookies
  6. Roll the plastic wrap up into a log and cut one end of it so that you can place it into an icing bag with the Wilton tip #2B in it. marble buttercream frosting cookiesmarble buttercream frosting cookiesmarble buttercream frosting cookies in the piping bag with wilton tip
  7. Place a cookie on your counter and pipe frosting onto it in wavy layers. You will want the smooth side of the tip to be facing up toward you. marble buttercream cookies with a piping bag
  8. Repeat step 7 for a dozen or so cookies. marble buttercream frosting cookies
  9. Line a baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper.
  10. Flip the cookies over onto the parchment paper lined baking sheet and press the cookies down evenly until you can see the frosting on the side. marble buttercream frosting cookies The Hutch Oven frozen flat method
  11. Freeze the cookies for 10 minutes. While the cookies are freezing, you can repeat step 7 for any remaining cookies.
  12. Now for the magical part: Remove the cookies from the freezer and, one at a time, scrape the top icing layers off to reveal the marbling. Some cookies may already have a strong marble and you do not need to scrape any frosting off. marble buttercream frosting cookies
  13. Fix the edges, either by adding scraped frosting to missing areas or using the palette knife to clean up the edges. marble buttercream frosting cookies using a piping bagmarble buttercream frosting cookies

If the cookies are smearing when you are scraping them, rather than showcasing a prominent marble, place them back in the freezer for 10 minutes and try again.

If you want to add a metallic effect or even a strong accent color, use a tiny food safe paintbrush to add more detail.

I decided to add gold to the marble as the wedding venue would be decorated in accents of gold.

To make gold paint, mix gold luster powder with a tiny bit of vanilla extract.

painting the marble buttercream frosting cookies gold

What do you think? Have you tried this method for making marble buttercream frosting cookies before? Let me know in the comments below!

marble buttercream sugar cookies

crusting buttercream icing for sugar cookies

All American Crusting Buttercream Frosting Recipe

I recommend using a crusting buttercream when decorating buttercream sugar cookies. This allows the buttercream to form an outside crust, giving them a bit more protection from getting accidentally squished. This is essential if you plan to transport these cookies from your house to another location or if you want to stack or seal them.
Print Pin Rate
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Crusting All American Buttercream Icing
Prep Time: 1 hour
Mixing Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
Author: Leah Buehler

Equipment

  • Stand Mixer with Paddle Attachment
  • Measuring Spoons & Bowls

Ingredients

  • 1 cup room temperature unsalted butter
  • 1 cup vegetable shortening such as Crisco
  • 2 lbs. plus 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 tsp. clear vanilla extract I use artificial
  • 2-4 tbsp. give or take room temperature whole milk

Instructions

  • In your electric mixer, use the paddle attachment to mix the butter and vegetable shortening together. 
  • Slowly mix in the powdered sugar, only adding as much as your electric mixer can handle at a time.
  • Mix in the vanilla extract and 2 tbsp. of milk. If the mixture is too stiff, add more milk. I prefer a consistency of smooth peanut butter for cookies that have a lot of line work and a slightly stiffer consistency for piping flowers.

Notes

This recipe will store nicely in the fridge for a few weeks in an airtight container. You can also leave your decorated cookies at room temperature for several days, as the frosting will be shelf-stable due to the mixture of sugar and fat.
If you prefer to use all butter rather than using Crisco, you can replace the Crisco with butter in equal amounts.

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marble buttercream for sugar cookies using a piping bag

 

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