How to Make Easy Paper Arrows for Cake Decorating

Looking for ideas on how to make easy paper arrows for cake decorating?

Here is one I made with glittery gold paper to decorate my mini Heart cake for Valentine’s Day.

I wanted to make a small portion dessert for Valentine’s Day and since I had a set of mini heart-shaped cake pans that I have not used since I bought them a few years ago, I decided that it would be a good idea to use them to make mini cakes that are just nice for a single serving or two.

A pink buttercream rossette frosted heart shaped cake with a gold paper arrow through it.

And I did not want any fancy decoration on the cakes, just simple buttercream piping and to add some significance of Valentine’s Day to the cakes, decided to add cupid arrows to the cakes.

So I made two of the mini heart cakes and was contemplating on whether I should make the arrows with gum paste or with glitter craft paper. In the end, I made both, one for each of the cakes.

This tutorial is for the paper arrow that was made using the glitter craft paper. I have written a separate tutorial for the gum paste arrow and you can read all about it here.

Easy Paper Arrows for Cake Decorating - Step by Step Guide

Main supplies to make the paper arrows:

Arrow template – I drew this by hand on a piece of white paper and cut it out along its outline.
Glitter craft paper
Cellophane tape
Scissors
Lollipop sticks – these were attached to the arrow and poked into the cake to hold the arrows in place.

And here is how to make the paper arrow for cake decorating:

Start by getting the arrow template ready. You can draw it by hand or trace it from an image you like. I searched online for arrow images, saw one that I liked, and drew it on a piece of paper.

In drawing the arrow, you will have to make sure the size of the arrow is proportionate to your cake, or in a size you want. It is best to have the arrow template drawn on a piece of clean paper.

Next, cut the arrow out along its outline. This is the arrow template that you will use to make your craft paper arrow.

The next step is to cut the arrow into 2. This is because the paper arrow will be attached to the cake in 2 different parts of the cake. So you will need to cut it into 2. Here's how I cut mine:

Use the paper cutouts as a guide to trace the arrow pattern on your craft paper. In my case, I used a gold craft paper.

Turn your craft paper over, and trace the outlines of the arrow. As you can see below, I drew the outlines for 2 arrows and while I was only going to use one for my cake, the other one was for contingency.

The next step is to cut the arrows out along their outlines. And this was how mine looked like after cutting:

What you need to do next is attach lollipop sticks to the back of the arrows. The sticks will be poked into the cake once the arrows are ready, so if you do not want to use lollipop sticks, you can substitute with wooden skewers or other material but just take note to make sure those are food safe.

Attaching lollipop sticks to the paper arrow:

Attached one lollipop stick onto the back of each cutout. Turn the arrows over, place a lollipop stick as shown below, and secure it in place with cellophane tape.

The back of a paper arrow with a white pick attached with tape

As you can see above, my tape is actually wider than the arrow stick. To make it look neat and tidy, instead of folding the excess tape up (which will show the tape once I turn the arrow over), I choose to cut it out. Use a pend knife if it is hard to cut with scissors.

Repeat the process for the other end of the arrow. Turn the arrow parts over and they were ready for use. Easy right?

Gold paper arrow with white sticks attached

Here’s how my paper arrow looked on my cake. I adjusted the length of the arrow by cutting it off slightly after realizing it was too long for the size of my mini cake. Since these arrows are made of craft paper, the paper should not be poked into the cake. Hence, if you find the arrows too long, cut the paper off slightly before inserting them into your cake. More on how I cut the arrows in my decorating tutorial here.