May 2026 Cutter Club- Summer Carnival Dreams

There’s just something about the Summer season that instantly feels like Carnival Time to me. The bright colors, the glowing lights at sunset, the smell of popcorn and cotton candy in the air, and the excitement of spending the evening at the local fair, it all feels nostalgic and magical at the same time.

When I started designing this cookie set, I wanted every cookie to capture that playful feeling of summer nights at the carnival. I leaned into soft pastel colors instead of traditional bold carnival shades to give the set a sweeter, more whimsical look while still keeping all the classic fair elements we know and love.

This set is considered an intermediate-level cookie set, but one of the things I love most about it is that many of the dimensional details are actually made using royal icing transfers. Even though the finished cookies look detailed and layered, breaking the decorations into separate elements makes the decorating process much more approachable and manageable.

The set includes the following designs:

• Balloons Bunch
• Carousel
• Concessions Cart
• Ferris Wheel
• Ticket Booth

Each cookie has its own personality while still feeling cohesive as part of the full carnival collection.

For this set, I wanted colors that felt playful, soft, and dreamy, almost like a pastel carnival at golden hour. Instead of using super bright primary colors, I softened each shade slightly using brown tones to create a muted, cohesive palette.

Colors Used

Pink

• Bubblegum Pink by Ann Clark
• Totally Brown by The Cookie Countess

Purple

• Regal Purple by Ann Clark
• Bubblegum Pink by Ann Clark

Teal

• Mermaid Teal by The Cookie Countess
• Totally Brown by The Cookie Countess

Yellow/Gold

• Sunshine Yellow by The Cookie Countess
• Totally Brown by The Cookie Countess

Additional Color

• White

Adding small amounts of brown into the brighter colors helped tone them down and gave the entire set a softer vintage carnival feel. The result was colorful without being overwhelming.

For most of this set, I used a hybrid-flood consistency. This consistency works beautifully for dimensional decorating because it’s thick enough to hold shape while still smoothing out nicely.

Using mostly one consistency also keeps the decorating process simpler and more efficient.

Special Consistencies Used

Stiff Consistency

I used stiff consistency in two places:

• The horse’s mane on the Carousel cookie
• The fluffy cloud on the Ferris Wheel cookie

For the carousel horse’s mane, I used a #16 Ateco star tip to pipe the textured hair and give it that playful carousel-style look.

For the Ferris Wheel cloud, the stiff icing created extra dimension and softness that made the cookie feel more whimsical.

For a better understanding of icing consistencies refer to this blog here. We also have a very thorough online class here.

If you are comfortable cutting and piping/flooding with tipless bags, go for it! If you prefer tips I would recommend a #1 or #1.5 tip for details and outlines , and a #2 or 2.5 for flooding.

Below you will find step by step instructions for all the cookies. Followed by a couple videos on how to decorate them. Feel free to have fun! Use different colors, or different techniques. Let your creativity shine if you want!

This carnival set was such a fun reminder of everything I love about summer, the fairs, the rides, the treats, and the excitement of warm evenings spent making memories.

Even though the set looks detailed, using transfers for many of the decorative elements makes the process much more approachable for intermediate decorators. It’s a great example of how breaking designs into smaller components can help create dimension and detail without making the decorating process overwhelming.

I also loved working with this softer pastel color palette. It gave the set a whimsical, dreamy carnival feel while still keeping all the fun and nostalgia of a classic fairground theme.

I’m excited to continue creating more seasonal and dimensional cookie sets like this one, and I can’t wait to share what’s coming next. More tutorials, techniques, and playful designs are definitely on the way! 

Happy Baking!

xo Hillary