The Contemporary Buttercream Bible by Christina Ong Valeri Valeriano Read Free Book Online

your design freehand using a
    cocktail stick. Divide the remaining buttercream
    equally into seven parts and colour each one pink,
    yellow, violet, green, light orange, dark orange and
    black. Fill your piping bags and snip the ends off to make a small hole. Pipe your design following the
    tutorial.
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    Leaves
    If you think that piping leaves on a cake can only be used to accentuate the piped flowers or to cover
    imperfections, think again. By using a leaf nozzle,
    you can create a really striking texture on a cake.
    We’ve described two below, the first shows that
    simple plain lines become not so plain after all, and the second makes a fabulous spiked effect. You can
    use different colours to add visual interest.
    1 For the first effect, using a small leaf nozzle
    (Wilton 352), hold the piping bag straight down
    with two points of the nozzle against the cake.
    Starting from the corner of the cake, gently squeeze
    the piping bag as you drag vertically upwards (A).
    When you reach the top edge of the cake, stop
    squeezing the bag and pull abruptly to leave a small
    peak.
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    A
    2 Repeat process around the cake with 1–2cm
    (1⁄ –3
    2
    ⁄4in) gaps between, using alternating colours of
    white and yellow (B).
    B
    3 For the second effect, mark a guide line to
    indicate a border 2.5cm (1in) wide at the top and
    bottom of your cake. Identify the middle of what
    will be the back of the cake by measuring the
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    circumference and dividing in two. From this point,
    hold your piping bag at a 20–30 degree angle and
    squeeze the piping bag to create a row of five or six small leaves vertically. Repeat the process and pipe
    rows of leaves close to each until you get back to the middle part of the cake, making sure there are no
    gaps inbetween the leaves. Repeat the same process
    on to the other half of the cake (C).
    C
    4 To pipe a big sunflower-like flower, use a large
    leaf nozzle (Wilton 366) to pipe the petals (D), then cut the tip of a piping bag and pipe ‘spikes’ for the centre of the flower. This technique is described in
    more detail in the Piping Flowers chapter.
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    D
    Tip
    A small leaf nozzle (Wilton 352) is the only tool
    used to create these strikingly different
    textures. It all relies on how much pressure
    you put in squeezing your piping bag and the
    position of your nozzle. Do not forget to stop
    squeezing your piping bag before you pull it.
    Otherwise,
    you
    will
    have
    a
    long
    and
    funny-looking leaf.
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    To create this cake…
    • 15 × 13cm (6 × 5in) square cake (bottom tier), 15
    × 10cm (6 × 4in) round cake (top tier)
    • Dowel rods
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    • 1.15–1.55kg (2lb 91⁄2–3lb 7oz) buttercream
    • Paste colours: white (Sugarflair Super White),
    yellow (Sugarflair Melon and Autumn Leaf), teal
    (Sugarflair Eucalyptus)
    • Piping bags
    • Small leaf nozzle (Wilton 352)
    • Large leaf nozzle (Wilton 366)
    • Cocktail stick (toothpick)
    • Ruler
    • Scissors
    Colour 400–500g (14oz–1lb 2oz) of buttercream
    yellow, 150–250g (51⁄2–9oz) teal and the rest white.
    Cover both cakes in white buttercream and give
    them 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 board. For the bottom tier, pipe
    the first texture described in the tutorial in
    alternating yellow and white lines. For the top tier, pipe the second texture described above in yellow.
    Finish off the veritcal gap where you began your
    first row of leaves with a line of yellow dots (see
    Dots in Piping Textures and Patterns). Snip off the
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    end off a piping bag to pipe dots in teal around the
    top and bottom edges. Using the large leaf nozzle
    (Wilton 366), pipe a large sunflower on the corner
    of the bottom tier in teal, adding dots in white
    buttercream for the centre (see Sunflower and
    Leaves in Piping Flowers).
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    Shells and Fleur-de-lis
    The technique of piping shells and fleur-de-lis using a star tip has