The Contemporary Buttercream Bible (16 page)

pattern, pipe some freehand repetitive bigger

scrolls to complement the structured patterns of the

main flower.

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C

D

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Tip

To practise squeezing your piping bag with

constant pressure, we suggest that you pipe

scribbles on a plate, glass or any board.

Fantastic sources of inspirations for piped

patterns include tribal art, ‘Zentangle’, and

Aztec patterns to name a few.

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To create this cake…

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

7.5cm (8 × 3in) round cake (bottom tier)

• Dowel rods

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• 1.45–1.85kg (3lb 31⁄2oz–4lb 2oz) buttercream

• Paste colours: green (Sugarflair Gooseberry), grey

(Sugarflair Liquorice), black (Sugarflair Liquorice)

• Piping bags

• Cookie cutters

• Ruler

• Greaseproof (wax) paper

• Cocktail stick (toothpick)

• Scissors

• Cake stand or covered board

Colour 600–700g (1lb 5oz–1lb 9oz) of buttercream

green, 400–500g (14oz–1lb 2oz) grey, 250–350g

(9–12oz) black and leave the rest uncoloured. Cover

the top tier with green buttercream and the bottom

with grey, reserving some of the green and grey to

pipe the lines on the lower tier, then give both cakes a smooth finish (see Covering Cakes in Buttercream

Basics). Dowel and stack them (see Dowelling in

Buttercream Basics) and place on a stand or

covered cake board. Measure the circumference of

the bottom tier cake and calculate the size you need

for equal triangles. Mark them on the cake and pipe

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lines following the tutorial, starting with black and using the other colours alternately until the cake is covered. On the top tier, pipe the floral designs in

the same way, adding repetitive lines to fill. Pipe

some freehand scrolls between the shapes. Finish

by piping dots (see Dots in Piping Textures and

Patterns) around the upper and lower border of the

top tier.

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Piping Flowers

There is almost nothing more popular than a floral

theme on a cake. Despite their apparent intricacy,

flowers of all sorts can be piped in buttercream,

which lends itself very well to creating delicate

petals and foliage. In this chapter we will show you

how to pipe a rich variety of flowers, from the

essential rose, to flamboyant chrysanthemums and

a posy of cottage garden favourites.

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Sunflower and Leaves

With their vibrant and cheery yellow petals,

sunflowers can brighten your day, whether they are

planted in your garden or piped on a cake. This is a

very easy flower to create and works equally well as

a decoration for the top of a cupcake or as a feature on a larger cake. A few green leaves will really set

off the bright petals, and the following Leaves

tutorial can be used to add foliage to any floral

design.

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Sunflowers are the first flowers that we ever learned to pipe in buttercream and remain one of our

favourites for their simplicity and striking style.

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They look so effective when piped singly or in pairs

on cupcakes. To achieve the raised effect in the

centre of the double-bloom cupcakes, pipe a blob of

uncoloured buttercream in the centre of the

cupcake first, then pipe two sunflowers on opposite

sides. Sunflowers can also be combined on a cake to

create a masterpiece worthy of Van Gogh himself!

See the cupcake bouquet tutorial later in this

chapter to see just how effective these flowers can

look
en masse
.

Sunflower

1 Using a piping bag with a writing nozzle, pipe a

circle as a guide to the size of your flower (A).

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A

2 Using a small leaf nozzle (Wilton 352), position

the nozzle at a 20 to 30 degree angle and have one

of the points touching your guide circle. Squeeze

your piping bag until it creates a wide base then

gently pull away, slowly decreasing the pressure on

the bag as you do so (B).

B

3 When you reach the desired length of the petal,

stop squeezing your bag then pull abruptly. Repeat

this process to pipe petals all the way around the

circle (C).

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C

4 Pipe another layer of petals at a slightly steeper

angle than the first (30 to 40 degrees), making sure

that they are close to the first layer of petals to

avoid gaps. Ideally, you should pipe these petals

between those of the first layer (D). Finally, using

brown tinted buttercream, pipe little dots in the

centre of the flower (E).

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