Decorate Or Write On Hard Candy

by Maria Elia Flores
(Mission, TX)

Letter on Lollipop before it disappeared!

Letter on Lollipop before it disappeared!

How can I decorate or write on hard candy?



I have made hard candy suckers and I want to personalize them before I wrap them.


I have tried gel piping, and it looks wonderful...until I wrap it and it sticks to the bag. :(


Is there any other way? I tried making shapes with powdered sugar but it seemed to melt or fade away.


Please help!









Hi Maria,

Writing on hard candy lollipops can be pretty tricky. I've searched and searched for a foolproof method to decorate or write on hard candy, but haven't come up with anything I can say with absolute certainty.


I know writing on suckers can be done, because I've seen the results with my own eyes when I was a kid. It was some type of edible paint (not too tasty if I recall).


I haven't been too successful locating edible paint, but edible glitter is one idea that might just work. Here's a source for edible glitter at Candyland Crafts. They also have a range of Food Writers and Gels which I know you already tried the gels, but maybe one of the pens or icing writers might work.


The only other solution I can think of is to use fondant or royal icing. Either of those would probably work. You can make homemade fondant with one of these fondant recipes or you can buy some ready-made and just shape it in the letters you need.


Royal icing may be your best
bet. It dries to a firm finish, so it shouldn't be bothered by your wrappers like the gel would.


You can buy a royal icing mixture and just add water (and any flavor/color you want), or you can make your own.


Here's a pretty basic Royal Icing recipe:

  • 2 egg whites
  • 2 teaspoons of lemon juice
  • 3 cups of powdered sugar (icing sugar)

  1. Start by sifting the powdered sugar for the best results.
  2. All you need to do is whisk together the egg whites and lemon juice in a mixer and then gradually add the powdered sugar until you get a nice smooth icing.



If you pipe the royal icing onto your suckers, let them set until the icing has become firm before you put the wrappers on.


If you don't have a piping bag, you can just put some of the royal icing into a Ziploc bag and snip off a tiny bit of the corner and that should work just fine.


I think if I were going to try to decorate or write on hard candy suckers, I'd probably try the royal icing method myself.


Thanks so much for the great photos. When you're all finished, take some more and enter your heart shaped lollipops in our Valentines Day Ideas Contest. There are going to be some great prizes given away and so far the entries are only trickling in. You have a great chance of being a winner!


Hope this helps!
Angie


Comments for Decorate Or Write On Hard Candy

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May 15, 2016
my mom's suckers NEW
by: Marsha Rader

My mother made hard candy suckers when I was little for my classmates for both Christmas and Valentines day. She would use a template and trace the outline of xmas trees and hearts on foil which she would then outline with royal icing. The sucker stick would be trapped under the edge of the royal icing. She would then pour the hard candy into the royal icing outline and after it hardened for just a bit, she would write the names of my classmates on the hearts. For the xmas trees, she would make a zigzag pattern with more royal icing and toss on some round cake sprinkles to make it look like the balls and garland on trees. After they had totally cooled, she would peel the foil off and put them in baggies with twist ties around the stick. They were always the hit of our school parties. I would have loved to carry on the tradition of doing this, but now you can't hardly send anything home made to school.

Nov 03, 2012
Decorating hard candy NEW
by: Anonymous

I have searched up and down for options to decorate hard candy and I have finally found something that actually works. I use isomalt. There is an isomalt gun that you can buy and there are isomalt sticks that go in the gun to heat them to a consistency that is similar to the hard candy before you pour it into the molds. You just ude the gun to decorate the suckers. The reason why you can do this is that the isomalt can be reheated so when you put the isomelt in the designs of the mold and then pour the hard candy over the isomalt it just reheats without cracking like the hard cansy would. You can buy the isomalt sticks in many flavors. I hope this helps.

Feb 14, 2012
Royal Icing on Lollipops NEW
by: Angie

Hi Maria,

So sorry to hear that the royal icing wouldn't stick to your lollipops. Yes, if they were oily I could see that being a problem.

I assume you tried wiping them well to remove any oily residue before trying to get the icing to stick?

Does anyone else have any tips for Maria?

Feb 13, 2012
thank you NEW
by: Maria Flores

Thank you for your advise it did not work too well for me....I used the icing but it would not sick to the lollypop .... could be that I hae sprayed the mold with cooking spray .... The mass produced lolly pops have it... I wish I could figure it out...but thank you for taking time to help me out

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