Valentine’s Day is almost here, and these vintage buttercream heart sugar cookies are the perfect treat to make to celebrate. Bonus, they even use a beautifully pink strawberry flavored cookie dough. Read on to find out how to make them yourself!

Lambeth and Vintage Buttercream Piping Inspiration

Lambeth and vintage designs are still going strong in the decorating world and I’m HERE FOR IT. It’s so fun to be able to play around with different piping tips and borders creating layers of texture. If a whole cake feels intimidating to try out in this style, sugar cookies are a great way to try it out in a more approachable way.

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Recipes

First up, here’s the recipes for this tutorial if you don’t already have a sugar cookie and buttercream go to! You’ll need 1 full batch of my Strawberry Cut Out Sugar Cookies recipe for the base. Using a 3″ heart cookie cutter, it should get you around 17 cookies. You can also use one batch of my regular Soft and Chewy Cut Out Sugar Cookies if you want classic vanilla almond flavor.

Cookie Decorating Supplies

Here’s all the decorating tools you’ll need for this vintage inspired buttercream design!

2 Piping Bags: 12″

Cookie Cutter Kingdom, 12 inch 100 count Tipless Piping Bags Disposable Piping Bags for Piping Icing, Cake Decorating, Pastries and More – 12 inch – 100 Pack

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Piping Tips: #103, #14, #4

(Piping tips are typically much cheaper when purchased in sets, but here’s the links so you can see the specific tips)

Decorating Tip-#103 Petal

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Wilton No.4 Decorating Tip, Round

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A TINY bit of a Bright Pink Gel Food Coloring

AmeriColor, Electric Pink, .75 Ounce Bottle, Soft Gel Paste Food Color

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White Non Pareil Sprinkles

Wilton White Nonpareils, 3 oz. – Cake Decorating Supplies

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1 Coupler

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How to Decorate Vintage Buttercream Heart Sugar Cookies

1. Pipe the Ruffle Border

First up, prepare a piping bag with a coupler, the #103 piping tip, and fill it with the white buttercream.

With the skinny end of the piping tip closest to the outside of the cookie, and the thicker part closest to the middle, begin applying pressure while you move the piping tip in small wiggles along the border. Make your way all around the edges. I found it easiest to start at the bottom and then work my way around.

Feel free to make your ruffles more or less wavy! For flatter ruffles, move the piping tip up and down less as you move it along the cookie.

2. Pipe the Shell Border

Next, switch the piping tip on the same bag of white buttercream to a #14 tip. It’s ok if it’s not exactly the same as a #14 tip if it’s something similarly sized and a star type shape.

Pipe a shell border just along the inside of the ruffle border, making sure to touch the borders together so there are no gaps in between.

See the video at the end of the post for the movement and angles needed to pipe shell borders.

3. Sprinkle on the Non Pareil Sprinkles

I recommend adding sprinkles on at this step because they will stick best when the buttercream is freshly piped! This buttercream recipe doesn’t “crust” but it can firm up a bit particularly if the room is cold after sitting out for a bit.

4. Color the Pink Buttercream

Take 2 oz of the buttercream and color it with a TINY amount of hot pink food coloring. When I say tiny, I mean literally just the tip of a toothpick dipped in food coloring.

Of course, you can customize the color to your preference if you want it brighter and more vibrant, but for the pale pink shade you only need a very small amount.

5. Pipe the Buttercream Bows

For the final step, load a piping bag with the #4 piping tip and the pink buttercream.

Pipe 3 bows (see photos for placement reference) on the cookie by piping a sideways figure 8, with two “tails” trailing down.

And there you have it! The final look. This design would be fun to play around with different colors, mixing and matching different textures. See the video below for a visual of the process.

Vintage Buttercream Heart Sugar Cookie Decorating Tutorial Video

Bonus option: Fill the centers with strawberry jam! I did this for a get together after decorating these and it was scrumptious.

If you give it a try I’d love to hear how it goes. Tag me on social media or leave a comment below sharing your experience or any fun variations you try out!

Looking for more valentine baking ideas? Check out these recipes and tutorials!

Earl Grey Rose Macarons

Strawberry Black Pepper Honey Balsamic Macarons

Salted Honey Rose Macarons