The Contemporary Buttercream Bible (11 page)

103) and fill with buttercream in your chosen colour

(B).

118

B

3 Place the wide part of the nozzle against the

surface of the cake, then continuously squeeze the

piping bag with constant pressure and wiggle

slightly in random directions all the way to the top

and until you fill each panel (C).

119

C

4 Repeat the process on alternate panels, following

the marks on the cake (D). In this project, we

airbrushed the ruffles with iridescent gold – this is entirely optional but gives a lovely sparkling finish.

120

D

121

Tip

Make sure you apply sufficient pressure that

the ruffles stick to the cake. Buttercream is

heavy and you do not want it to fall off the

cake!

122

To create this cake…

• 10 × 7.5cm (4 × 3in) square cake (top tier), 15 ×

10cm (6 × 4in) square cake (bottom tier)

• 500–700g (1lb 2oz–1lb 9oz) buttercream

123

• Dowel rods

• Paste colours: dark purple (Sugarflair Grape

Vine) and yellow (mix of Sugarflair Melon and

Autumn Leaf)

• Small petal nozzle (Wilton 103)

• Piping bags

• Cake stand or covered cake board

• Airbrush with gold edible paint (optional)

Cover the cakes with a 200–300g (7–101⁄2oz) of

yellow buttercream and give them a smooth finish

(see Covering Cakes, Buttercream Basics), dowel

and stack the cakes (see Dowelling in Buttercream

Basics) and place on a stand or covered board.

Colour 300–400g (101⁄2–14oz) of buttercream

purple. Pipe the ruffles as described in the tutorial and pipe a carnation in the centre of each side of

the top tier cake (see Carnation and Sweet Pea in

Piping Flowers). Finish by airbrushing with gold

(optional).

124

Basketweave

Here we simply pipe diagonal lines on to the surface

of the cake. The lines will appear to interlace with

one another to create a basketweave pattern. First

we will show you our very own variation of this

technique, which is really easy to achieve and brings the traditional version bang up to date with a

contemporary look. Pipe matching flowers on top

and your cake will surely take someone’s breath

away.

1 Measure the height of your cake and divide

horizontally to make equal bands of, give or take,

2.5cm (1in). Mark visible guide lines in the crumb

coating (A).

125

A

2 Before the crumb coat has crusted (so that the

weaves will adhere to it), and with the smooth side

of the basketweave nozzle (Wilton 48 or 45)

pointing upwards, pipe diagonal lines from the

bottom of the cake up to the guide line. Use

sufficient pressure so the weaves will adhere to the

cake properly. Continue piping all the way around

the cake (B).

126

B

3 Repeat the process and pipe diagonal lines going

in the opposite direction for the second layer, and

so on. Make sure that there are no gaps and that all

‘weaves’ are connected (C).

127

C

4 For a neat finish at the base, using a darker shade of Mocha tinted buttercream, cut the tip off the

piping bag and pipe a thicker border at the bottom

using the crochet technique (D).

128

D

Tip

It’s a nice idea to use gradient shades of

brown to resemble a real basket or give a

vintage look. You could also use a big

chrysanthemum nozzle for a nice variation.

129

To create this cake…

• 15 × 15cm (6 × 6in) square cake

• 1.05–1.4kg (2lb 6oz–3lb 11⁄2oz) buttercream

130

• Paste colours: light and dark mocha (Sugarflair

Mocha), light peach (Sugarflair Peach), pink

(Sugarflair Pink), dark green (Sugarflair Spruce

Green), light green (Sugarflair Bittermelon)

• Piping bags

• Basketweave nozzle (Wilton 48) or plain

basketweave nozzle (Wilton 45)

• Side scraper or ruler

• Cake stand or covered cake board

Cover the cake (see Covering Cakes in Buttercream

Basics) and place on a stand or covered board.

Colour 400–500g (14oz–1lb 2oz) of buttercream

light mocha, and 100–150g (31⁄ –51

2

⁄2oz) a darker

shade of mocha. Pipe the basketweave pattern and

bottom border as described in the tutorial. Colour

the remaining buttercream in the following

quantities: 150–200g (51⁄2–7oz) light peach for the

roses,

150–200g

(51⁄2–7oz)

pink

for

the

chrysanthemums, 100–150g (31⁄ –51

2

⁄2oz) dark green

for the leaves and 150–200g (51⁄2–7oz) light green

for

the

foliage.

Finish

by

piping

roses,

chrysanthemums and leaves on top (see Rose and

Rosebud, Chrysanthemum and Daffodil and