The Contemporary Buttercream Bible (13 page)

C

4 Repeat the process until you finish piping inside

all the diagonal bands (D).

D

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5 Next, pipe continuous e-scrolls on top of the guide lines. Hold the piping bag straight on to the cake

and with even pressure, squeeze the piping bag to

the right and around creating a small ‘e’ shaped

loop (E and F).

E

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F

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To create this cake…

• 20 × 15cm (8 × 6in) square cake (bottom tier), 15

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

• Dowel rods

• 1.4kg–1.8kg (3lb 11⁄2oz–4lb) buttercream

• Paste colours: peach (Sugarflair Peach) and

turquoise (Sugarflair Turquoise)

• Piping bags

• Star nozzle (Wilton 16)

• Palette knife

• Edible pearls (sugar balls)

• Tweezers

• Cake stand or covered cake board

Colour 600–800g (1lb 5oz–1lb 12oz) of buttercream

peach, cover and smooth the cake (see Covering

Cakes in Buttercream Basics) and place on a stand

or covered board. Colour 400–500g (14oz–1lb 2oz)

of buttercream turquoise, leave the rest uncoloured,

and fill a piping bag to create a two-tone effect (see Up and Down Two-tone Ruffles in Piping Textures

and Patterns). Pipe the c- and e-scrolls as described 146

in the tutorial. Pipe random scrolls in peach (see

Scrolls, Lines and Zigzags in Piping Textures and

Patterns) and stick on edible pearls using tweezers.

Finally, pipe the bottom border using the crochet

technique (see Crochet in Textile Effects).

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Star Fill

Forget about intricate patterns and complicated

designs, for this star fill technique all you need to do is decide on a simple pattern, mark and pipe the

outline, then fill it with stars. It couldn’t be easier!

1 You can draw freehand or use cookie cutters to

mark the outline of your patterns (A and B).

A

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B

2 After doing so, pipe crochet effect (see Crochet in Textile Effects) to outline your designs. Make sure

to use different colours from the ones you will use

to make the star fill to do this.

3 Using a star nozzle (Wilton 16), position the

nozzle straight on to cake and firmly squeeze the

piping bag until the buttercream comes out and

creates a star, then stop squeezing the bag and pull

away abruptly (C).

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C

4 Repeat the same process until the space inside the

patterns are covered without any gaps (D).

D

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Tip

The pressure when squeezing your piping bag

should be the same throughout so that all the

stars will have the same thickness and height.

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To create this cake…

• 20 × 15cm (8 × 6in) round cake (bottom tier), 15

× 7.5cm (6 × 3in) round cake (top tier)

• Dowel rods

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• 1.6–2.2kg (3lb 8oz–5lb) buttercream

• Paste colours: yellow-orange (Sugarflair Eyptian

Orange), orange (Sugarflair Tangerine), light brown

(Sugarflair Dark Brown), dark brown (Sugarflair

Dark Brown)

• Star nozzle (Wilton 16)

• Piping bags

• Cocktail stick (tooth pick)

• Cake stand or covered board

Cover the top tier with 600–800g (1lb 5oz–1lb

12oz) yellow-orange buttercream and the bottom

tier with 400–500g (14oz–1lb 2oz) orange, give

them a smooth finish, then dowel and stack them

(see Buttercream Basics). Place on a stand or

covered board. Pipe the design following the

tutorial, using 200–300g (7–101⁄2oz) each of light

brown, dark brown and plain buttercream, and the

leftover orange and yellow-orange.

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Dots

Dots are similar to the star fill technique, but

require less buttercream. With dots your design can

be more precise because you have better control

over the shape of your pattern since you will be

outlining it with dots as well as filling it with dots.

Yes, just dots.

1 After smoothing the cake, use cookie cutters to

mark patterns, or draw them with a cocktail stick

(toothpick) (A and B).

A

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