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.

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.

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.

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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Cake Decorating Rice Krispie Treats

This recipe for cake decorating rice krispies is a total game changer! They allow you to easily create sculpted, shaped cakes without tons of extra cake or frosting.
Ingredients
Cake Decorating Rice Krispie Treats
- 4 cups mini marshmallows (200 grams)
- 6 cups puffed rice cereal (90 grams)
Instructions
Cake Decorating Rice Krispie Treats
- Place 4 cups of mini marshmallows in a heatproof bowl and heat in the microwave for 30 seconds at full power.
- Stir then heat in 15 second intervals (stirring between) until the marshmallows are look soft and are melted.
- Pour in 6 cups of rice krispies or puffed rice cereal and stir until the cereal is fully coated in melted marshmallows.
- Grease your hands with cooking spray then create whatever shapes you need. I recommend firmly pressing the rice krispies together to compact them into a firm shape. This will make them easier to frost.
Notes
Tips for Making the Best Cake Decorating Rice Krispies:
- Be sure to grease your hands 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.
- As you shape your rice krispie treat shapes, hold them against or next to your cake to make sure they're the right size and shape.
- Press the rice krispie shapes against your chilled cake when they're still a bit warm to help them easily adhere to your cake.
Yield
This recipe makes about 4 cups of cake decorating friendly rice krispies. This recipe can easily be halved or doubled to decrease or increase the yield.
Nutrition Information
Yield
4Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 242Total Fat 1gSaturated Fat 0gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 0gCholesterol 0mgSodium 75mgCarbohydrates 58gFiber 1gSugar 29gProtein 3g
Pat
Tuesday 21st of February 2023
Could I make a 'tree of life' out of this? With large trunk and branches coming off and add fondant leaves? Wondering if this would work as making a cake for church, thank you
Chelsweets
Tuesday 21st of February 2023
Hi Pat,
Great question! This recipe should work great for that. Just be sure to use something sturdy like ganache to help secure the fondant leaves to the rice krispie tree. Hope that helps, happy baking!
Naomi
Tuesday 27th of December 2022
Would I be able to cover the RKT sculpture with buttercream? I don't use fondant or sugar paste on my cakes.
Chelsweets
Sunday 1st of January 2023
Hi Naomi,
Absolutely! That's what I do on all my animal cakes :) Happy baking!
Lynda
Wednesday 14th of December 2022
I recommend wearing plastic gloves, also sprayed with oil. A lot less messy and you definitely won't burn yourself if the marshmallows are a wee bit too hot.
Chelsweets
Sunday 18th of December 2022
That is a great tip Lynda! Thank you for sharing :)
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!