Aerolatte Cappuccino Art Stencils

When I first saw the Aerolatte Cappuccino Art Stencils, my first thought was ...
Cupcakes!

Seriously. If you're not into tall frostings, or you're covering your cupcakes with a poured ganache or you feel like your smooth frosting needs a little bit of glittery sugar design ... why not use a stencil?

I mean, seriously,

What I liked is that these weren't really coffee-motif stencils (although I'm not sure that you'd stencil a coffee bean on top of your latte) but they're a little more all-purpose, with a leaf, snowflake, swirl, winky face, heart, and star. So they're just as good for cupcakes, cookies (oooh, sugar cookies!), and cakes as they are for drinks.

The stencils are made from a fairly thick plastic and come in a metal case so you can keep them all together. Just hold the stencil over whatever you're decorating and sprinkle the sugar, cinnamon, or whatever on top of the item. Simple.

They're probably dishwasher safe, but this is one of those moments when I have to say - why bother? You're probably not dripping goopy stuff through the stencil - so they're simple to wash by hand. Or just rinse.

Although I haven't tried it (yet) I'm thinking these might also be fun to use along with a food-safe airbrush. Normally when you're using an airbrush with a stencil for regular painting, you attach the stencil to the item being painted, which might be iffy when we're talking about spraying food coloring onto frosting. Holding the stencil away from would make the designs less distinct, with fuzzy edges. But then again, we're talking about cake, not about labeling containers of plutonium. If the star looks more like a breezy flower, it's not going to be terrible.

Who's it for: People who need stencils rather than free-handing designs.

Pros: Easy to clean, easy to store.

Cons: They're small, so you'll have to remember where you put them - they could disappear into the bottom of a drawer easily.

Wishes: It would be nice if there were multiple sets - seasonal, holiday, etc.

Source: I received this from the manufacturer for the purpose of a review.