5 minute read
ERIN’S CAKE ADVENTURES
Defying Gravity Defying Gravity BY ERIN GARDNER
“For the first issue in my Cake Adventures’ series, my special guest star is…buttercream! I love creating new cake décor ideas using buttercream’s best friends (cookies, candy, and chocolate), but thought it was time for a tutorial where buttercream stands alone… almost.” Create this
show-stopping buttercream
lilac cake with this superb step-by-step tutorial from our expert!
Unfortunately, buttercream doesn’t really stand on its own. It needs a little help. Using a crusting American buttercream will enable you to create very dimensional flowers, but it has its limits. At a certain point, buttercream will start to sag and flatten under its own weight. For this buttercream lilac tutorial I’m calling on a cousin of one of buttercream’s friends, the ice cream cone, to play a supporting role—literally. Can you believe one of the names for flat-bottomed ice cream cones is cake cone? Clearly, it was destiny!
After a little experimentation, I’m thrilled with the depth and the 3D quality ice cream cone supports give to very simply piped buttercream lilacs. I’m also excited about the other roads this idea could lead us down. Domed cookie supports for 3D hydrangeas or alliums, maybe? Or even hanging bougainvillea! Truly, I can’t wait to see where the cake world’s creativity heads with this one.
A note on traveling with cake: The ice cream cones hold up very well after being pressed into the cake and piped on. However, if I had to travel with a cake like this, I might slide a dowel or straw into the cake first and then slide the cone down over it. That way the dowel would catch the cone should it slide or shift during delivery.
Erin Gardner is a self-taught pastry chef, author, cakedesign instructor, wife, mom, and self-described occasional unicorn. After taking an inspiring sugar-flower class in NYC, she decided it was time to strike out on her own. In 2009 she opened Wild Orchid Baking Co. in NH. Erin has competed on, and won, Food Network’s Sweet Genius, and received nods from both Martha Stewart Weddings and Brides magazine as one of the top wedding-cake pros in the country. After the birth of her second child, Erin made the big decision to move on from Wild Orchid Baking Co. and launch her website, Erin Bakes, where she draws on her fine pastry skills, modern cake-design aesthetic, and overall kitchen MacGyver-ness to create easy, accessible, and delicious recipes and cake-decorating projects.
Erinbakes.com Erinbakes.com/books Amazon.com/Erin-Bakes-Cake-Decorate-
Adventure/dp/1623368367
Three-Dimensional Buttercream Lilacs
COMPONENTS
Two-tier cake finished in green buttercream (I used 6-inch and 8-inch rounds) 2 cups white buttercream 4 cups leaf green buttercream 4 cups mottled purple buttercream Basket weave tip ¼" round tip Large star tip Large leaf tip Piping bags Flat-bottomed wafer ice cream cones Serrated knife
PIPED BUTTERCREAM LILACS.”
To Prepare: Fill and frost a two-tier cake with pale green buttercream. Stack and dowel as shown.
Piping the Lattice
Pipe the Lilacs
Fill a piping bag fitted with a basket weave tip with the white buttercream. Position the bag with the flat side of the tip facing up and pipe crisscross lattice lines around the sides of both tiers of the cake. Erin notes: I was not particularly concerned with being overly smooth or neat, as evidenced by this photo, #smoothenough. I suggest you don’t concern yourself with that either. The lilacs and leaves will cover up any trace of carelessness.
1 2 3
4a 4b
1. Fill a piping bag fitted with the large leaf tip with half of the leaf green buttercream. Fill a piping bag fitted with the round tip with the remaining green buttercream. Fill a piping bag fitted with the large star tip with the purple buttercream.
Erin notes: I achieved my variegated shade by combining about 10 drops of hot pink food coloring, a few drops of navy, and a drop of red into white buttercream. I stopped mixing when there was no more visible white buttercream, but streaks of color remained. This will help give your lilacs more natural coloring and dimension.
2. Using a serrated knife, carefully cut down through the middle of an ice cream cone, stopping at the base of the wide part of the cone. Turn the cone on its side and cut down into the base of the wide part of the cone toward your first cut. Basically you’re cutting a notch out of the top of the cone. 3. Using the green buttercream, pipe a blob of buttercream where you’d like your first lilac to live. Set the cone on top of the blob, nestling the notched-out part of the cone against the top edge of the cake. Press it down into the cake to secure it. Pipe some of the green buttercream up into the cone to help round out the bottom of the shape.
4. Pipe purple drop stars all over the cone. Start where the cone touches the cake to help weigh it down, then fill in the top and side of the cone.
5. To pipe a lilac on the side of the cake, first cut a cone entirely in half. Press the cone against the side of the cake and pipe green buttercream up inside of it to help secure it to the cake and round out the bottom of the shape. Cover the cone with piped purple drop stars. Repeat around the sides of the cake to make as many lilacs as you like.
5
Pipe the Stems and Leaves
Pipe stems coming down from each of your lilacs using the leaf green buttercream and a round tip. Add leaves coming out from the base of the stems and coming out from under each of the flowers. Hold the leaf tip so that it looks like it’s a tiny mouth about to chomp down on what’s in front of it. Apply pressure to the bag and then pull away from the cake, releasing pressure as you go. Add tiny leaves all over the lattice to finish the cake. ACD
This technique would work perfectly for Hyacinths too! The cones could be placed inside a flower-pot cake for a dimensional design!
Why not give it a try!
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