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 (200g)
- 6 cups puffed rice cereal (160g)
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 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 270Total Fat 1gSaturated Fat 0gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 0gCholesterol 0mgSodium 75mgCarbohydrates 65gFiber 1gSugar 29gProtein 3g
Brenda
Monday 10th of March 2025
Can you make the krispies in advance? Maybe warm them up in the microwave?
Chelsweets
Tuesday 11th of March 2025
Hi Brenda,
You absolutely can make these net advances and store them in an airtight container. And then when you do want to use them I would do exactly that just warm them up in the microwave a little bit until you can reshape them. Hope that helps, happy baking!
Louise Tumilty-Savage
Saturday 8th of February 2025
Hi, can the marshmallow be melted in a pan if you don’t have a microwave?
Chelsweets
Sunday 16th of February 2025
Hi Louise, Great question! The rice crispy treats absolutely can be melted in a pan if you don't have a microwave. Hope that helps, happy baking!
Julia
Thursday 2nd of May 2024
Can I use vegan marshmallows or do they not work so well. My granddaughters are vegan and I need to be able to mould pillars for a princess castle cake
Chelsweets
Sunday 5th of May 2024
Hi Julia,
Vegan marshmallows don't melt down quite the same as regular marshmallows, but you should still be able to make it work! You will probably end up with some little pockets of marshmallows, but as long as a majority of the marshmallows melt down it'll hold together just fine. I'd recommend using mini vegan marshmallows if you can find them, I think they'll melt down more easily than the regular sized ones. If you try it, please let me know how it goes!
Deb Helser
Sunday 3rd of March 2024
I made this Elephant Cake for my grandson's 6th birthday. Thank you for the amazing tutorial. Not Sure if I can upload a picture of it to "show-off" but I would love to show you.
Chelsweets
Tuesday 5th of March 2024
I am so happy to hear that my tutorial was helpful Deb!! Sadly the comments section on here doesn't let us upload pictures, but if you're on social media you can tag me @chelsweets so I can see!! I would love to see it!
How To Make Rice Crispy Treats For Cake Decorating | The Article Home
Sunday 7th of January 2024
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