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Cake Decorating Rice Krispies

Sculpted or shaped cakes can seem quite intimidating. However, with the help of cake decorating rice krispies these decorative cakes come together a lot more easily than you’d think.

A batch of these rice krispies can bring a challenging cake shape to life while making the process so much more manageable.

image of cake decorating rice krispies made with crispy rice cereal and marshmallows but no butter

I’ve used this technique on several of my animal cakes, including my elephant cake and my Patrick Star cake and it’s a total game changer.

These krispies allow you to creatively and easily shape any cake.

I highly recommend using them for larger shaped cake, especially when you want to avoid weighing down your cake with loads of additional cake or frosting.

What Makes These Cake Decorating Rice Krispies Different than Regular Rice Krispies?

These cake decorating recipe krispies don’t include one very important ingredient the most regular rice krispie treats have – butter!

By omitting the butter, these rice krispie treats set quite firmly once they’ve cooled. This allows you to compress the into whatever shape you need, and easily frost them.

image of an elephant cake made with buttercream and rice krispie treats

What Type of Cereal Should I Use?

Any type of puffed rice cereal will work in this recipe!

I usually use classic rice krispies, but sometimes I use cocoa krispies or even strawberry rice krispies to make whatever cake flavor I’m making.

I don’t recommend using different types of cereal that have a different shape because they’ll be harder to shape smoothly.

What Type of Marshmallows Should I Use?

I find mini marshmallows melt down the most quickly and easily. However, you can use full-sized marshmallows if needed!

Tips for Making the Best Cake Decorating Rice Krispies

  • Be sure to grease your hands with non-stick spray before handling the rice krispies. This will make them much easier to shape.
  • Don’t overheat your marshmallows! Heat them just until they’re soft and fluffy, otherwise you can burn your hands when you try to handle the rice krispies.
  • Firmly press the rice krispies together to compact them into a firm shape. This will make them easier to frost.
  • As you shape your rice krispie shapes, hold them against or next to your cake to make sure they’re the right size and shape.
  • The ideal time to make these is once you’ve crumb coated your cake. This way you can shape them and add them to your cake while you’re still warm and flexible.
  • Press the rice krispie shapes against your chilled cake when they’re still a bit warm to help them easily adhere to your cake.

Cake Decorating Rice Krispies Recipe Yield

This recipe makes about 4 cups of rice krispies.

This recipe can easily be halved or doubled to decrease or increase the yield as needed.

For my elephant cake I used about 4 cups of these cake decorating rice krispies.

My Patrick Star cake was slightly larger, and I ended up using about 6 cups of these rice krispies to make his legs.

image of cake decorating rice krispies added to a patrick star cake to make his arms and legs

Let Me Know What You Think!

If you try this recipe for cake decorating rice krispies, I’d love to hear what you think of it! Let me know your thoughts by sharing a comment and rating below.

Don’t forget to tag me @chelsweets and use #chelsweets so that I can see your amazing creations on social media!

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Bailey

Tuesday 6th of September 2022

Can you cover rice crispy treats on a cake with buttercream instead of fodant or modelling chocolate?

Chelsweets

Sunday 11th of September 2022

Hi Bailey,

Totally! That's what I normally do on my animal cakes :) It works great and tastes great!!

Christie Maliyackel

Thursday 25th of August 2022

This worked great! I’m using the same technique this weekend… is it okay to fully frost the cake before adding on the rice krispy treats (rather than just the crumb coat) or will that mess anything up?

Chelsweets

Sunday 28th of August 2022

Hi Christie,

Yay!! You can totally frost the cake fully, then add the rice krispies. I usually just do the crumb coat because I usually find it easier to smooth the second coat of frosting over both the krispies and the cake. But it's all about preference, and that should work just fine. Happy baking!

Rachel

Monday 25th of July 2022

Hello, thanks so much for the recipe. Do you think this would stay fresh enough to eat after 5-7 days if it's covered with ganache? I made a different recipe previously and they went very soft after a day and were not pleasant to eat. They were made and then covered in buttercream for 1 day prior to serving.

Chelsweets

Sunday 31st of July 2022

Hi Rachel,

I haven't eaten this recipe after that long of a duration, but it will definitely stay firm for 5-7 days if covered in ganache! I would think the ganache would prevent them from going stale too, but I'm not sure. I'm sorry I can't be of more help! Please let me know how it turns out if you do make it that far in advance <3

Lisa

Friday 17th of June 2022

Hi - so the recipe ingredients say 6c cereal, but the instructions say 5c. Could you clarify?

Chelsweets

Sunday 19th of June 2022

Hi Lisa,

I am so sorry for any confusion!! It should be 6 cups of rice krispies. I've updated the instructions to match the ingredients section of the recipe card. The ratio in general should be 2 parts marshmallows, 3 parts cereal. Hope that helps, happy baking!

Kell

Saturday 21st of May 2022

The weights are really off with the rice cereal if got?? 1cup is 90g not 6 cups?? Is that going to through off my project?

Jamie

Wednesday 24th of August 2022

@Chelsweets, I’ll go by the cups to check but did want to call out that the box of Rice Krispies in the US is 1.5 cups = 40g which would be 160g (not 90) for 6 cups. You listed 15g per cup but it’s closer to 26.66g per cup.

Chelsweets

Sunday 29th of May 2022

Hi Kell! 1 US cup of puffed rice cereal (like rice krispies) is 15g. What type of rice cereal are you using? Are you accidentally including the weight of the cup measure?

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