Step 1

2-3 days in advance: Make and decorate cookies. Prepare and roll out dough. Use animal cutters to cut octopus, whale and shark. Use patterns to cut 2 propellers and 2 periscopes.

Bake and cool cookies. Outline fish cookies with tip 2 and full-strength color flow; flow in with thinned color flow; on octopus, immediately pipe tip 8 spots. Let dry 24 hours. Use full-strength color flow to pipe tip 2 dot eyes and pupils, outline mouths and shark fin, pull-out teeth.

Step 2

Also in advance: Pipe bubbles. Use thinned color flow to pipe assorted puddle dots, 1/4 to 3/4 in. using tip 3 and 1 3/4 in. diameter for name using tip 12, on waxed paper-covered board. Let dry 48 hours. Pipe tip 3 name.

Step 3

Finally in advance: Mold candies. Use Painting or Piping Method and candy mold to make starfish, turtle and 3 fish. Pipe dot pupils and outline facial features after unmolding.

Step 4

Bake and cool cake. Use icing to stack 2 propeller and 2 periscope cookies. Position next to cake. Use pattern to mark windows; ice areas smooth. Pipe tip 3 section lines. Outline windows with tip 12.

Step 5

Cover cake with tip 16 stars. Pipe tip 3 dot rivets; pipe lines and large dots (flatten with finger dipped in cornstarch) on periscope. Pipe tip 12 ball heads; flatten and smooth. Pipe tip 3 pull-out hair and dot eyes, pupils, nose and mouth; flatten with finger dipped in cornstarch.

Position cookies, candies and bubbles.

* Combine Orange with Christmas Red for orange icing shown.
* Combine Leaf Green with Lemon Yellow for green icing shown.
* Combine Violet with Rose for light violet shown.
* Combine Violet with Royal Blue for dark violet shown.
* Combine Black with Violet and Royal Blue for blue/gray shark shown.
* Combine Brown with Christmas Red for brown shown.