An edible decoration (108) is laser kiss cut from an edible decorating sheet (102) by optically sensing at least one printed edible design (110) on the edible decorating sheet (102) relative to a laser cutting tool coordinate system (222) and causing the laser beam (312) to travel along a circuit (304) of cutting locations defined in the laser cutting tool coordinate system (222) to form a separation channel (306) by laser ablation of at least a portion of the edible decorating sheet (102) at the cutting locations while leaving the releasable backing (104) intact.
