Turn any image into an eye-catching, edible mosaic cake with this simple but stunning technique! Use basic tools and materials like parchment paper or wax paper, a toothpick, and coloured buttercream.
Alternate cake layers and filling to assemble a layer cake. The taller the cake, the more space you'll have for your mosaic cake design. Check that each layer is lined up directly on top of the layer below so that your cake is straight. If the sides lean even slightly, it will be impossible to wrap the mosaic tightly around the cake.
Cover the cake in a crumb coat, which is a thin layer of frosting to trap any crumbs. Normally this doesn't need to be neat but for this design it's important it's smooth. The mosaic design is going to sit on top, mimicking this shape of the cake.
Now measure the height of the cake so that you know how tall to make the design. To measure the circumference, wrap string around the cake or just multiply the width by 3.14 to calculate the circumference. Cut a piece of parchment or wax paper about a finger taller and two fingers wider than the circumference.
Chill the cake in the fridge while you draw your design. I'm folding my paper in half twice so that I have four sections for four different flowers.
Use a thick pen or marker to draw because it makes wide gaps in between each petal. This way, each petal will become a separate tile when you transfer the image to create a mosaic cake.
You can create your design on parchment paper or wax paper by adding buttercream to the other side, but acetate is thicker and stronger so if you have it, that's ideal.
Notice that if your parchment or acetate comes in a roll it will curve. Put your design on the inner side of the curve so that it's curling up from the table or countertop. Tape down the corners or use some objects to weigh it down.
Tint buttercream whatever colours you choose. To make a few shades of each colour, mix the colour and divide it between a few bowls or holes in a muffin pan. Then add different amounts of plain white buttercream to each.
Next, you'll trace the image you drew to turn the drawing into a mosaic of buttercream tiles. There are lots of ways to create the tiles for the mosaic design, both with and without piping bags.
If you have several piping bags and small round piping tips, use a different one for each colour. Switch between the colours to pipe your design by squeezing the buttercream out to trace over the design you drew earlier. The smaller the piping tip, the easier it is to pipe little details.
Make points at the tips of petals with a toothpick, nudging the buttercream to reshape it while it's still soft, before it sets. The consistency of your buttercream is really important for this. If it's too stiff it will take a long time to pipe all of the mosaic tiles of a design. You'll have to squeeze the bag hard to push the buttercream out, which is tiring and will cause cramping. The best consistency for buttercream is runnier, slightly thicker than whipped cream. You'll be able to squeeze it easily out of the piping bag and it will fill your outlines easily. I'm using my 4 Minute Buttercream for this mosaic cake.
If you only have one small round piping tip, you can use it with several piping bags. Put your coloured buttercream into piping bags with no piping tips, just the ends of the bags cut off.
Then put the piping tip into another piping bag. Now drop one of the coloured bags into the bag with the piping tip.
When you squeeze the bag you'll push the buttercream out through the piping tip. And when you finish with this colour it's easy to switch to a different colour. Just pull this coloured bag out of the bag with the piping tip and drop the next coloured bag in.
Squeeze the bag to get the last little bit of the previous colour out, piping it into a bowl. When you see the new colour coming through, it's ready to pipe!
Start with the outline of each petal or shape and then fill it in with zig zags. Make sure you don't pipe over the lines you drew because you need those gaps to stay there. The gaps keep the tiles spaced apart from each other, which will turn the piping into a mosaic.
Pipe all of the details you want to be this colour. Then pull this colour out and drop the next colour in. Squeeze until you see the new colour coming through and then pipe with this colour.
If you have couplers it will be even easier to switch between colours. After putting a coupler into each piping bag, put your piping tip onto the outside of one of the bags. Screw it onto the coupler using hte coupler ring, to hold it in place. Then fill the piping bags with different colours of buttercream. Pipe with the first colour and when you finish, unscrew the coupler ring and take the piping tip off. Put it onto one of the other couplers and pipe with that colour next.
The more colours you use, the more interesting the mosaic cake design will be. But of course, more colours also makes it more time consuming to create your design. Aim for an equal thickness of the buttercream all over your design for the smoothest finish later. To layer colours over each other, let the first colour set first by putting the acetate into the freezer for about 5 minutes. Then add your next colour on top. This way the second colour won't blend with the first colour, it will sit on top of it.
This side you can see here isn't going to be visible because it will be pressed against the cake.
It's common for air to get trapped in between this buttercream you're piping and the acetate or parchment below it. As you fill in sections of colour by zigzagging back and forth within an outline, squeeze quite hard to push the buttercream down. Then use a toothpick to flatten it, using dabbing motions to press the buttercream into any air bubbles.
If you don't have piping bags or piping tips, use sandwich bags like Ziploc bags instead. Spoon buttercream in and push it down to one of the bottom corners. Cut a tiny piece off the corner to make a hole to pipe through. You have less control over the buttercream you pipe through a soft plastic hole compared to a hard metal piping tip so your lines won't be as neat but you can tidy them up with a toothpick. Sandwich bags are really ideal I think for the next step, which is to fill in the background.
For the background the goal is simply to fill in the remaining area with tiles. The exact size and shape of the tiles doesn't matter like it did with the flowers I piped first. That's why sandwich bags are perfect for this step. These slightly blobby shapes are fine and the sharper angles or narrow points aren't necessary like they were for the petals.
The more random these shapes are, the better. Using several shades or colours will make the background more interesting than using the same colour for all of the tiles.
When you've covered the acetate or parchment with tiles, pick it up and put it into the freezer for 15 minutes. This will set the buttercream so it gets very cold and firm. Meanwhile, pipe a design onto the top of your cake or just cover it with the background color tiles. Use the same technique of piping individual shapes with gaps in between them.
I'm free-handing these tiles because there's no set design for them. For another flower or specific design you might choose to sketch out your design first. Use a toothpick to scratch the shapes into the frosting on the cake, which you can then trace with buttercream.
Put the cake in the freezer for 15 minutes to set these tiles. Meanwhile, prepare a colour to fill in the gaps between the tiles, which would be grout on an actual mosaic. Grey or a sandy colour are the most common for mosaics but you could use chocolate buttercream for brown. You can use the leftovers of your other colours to make this colour but save a bit of every colour for touch-ups later.
When the tiles on the cake have set, pipe or spread this colour on top, covering up the tiles. Don't try to smooth this yet because you'll knock off pieces of the frozen tiles into the gaps.
Put the cake back in the freezer for 15 minutes to set the buttercream grout. Then use a warm metal cake comb to scrape the top flat. I'm using a blow torch to heat the straight edge of the comb but you could use hot water instead. Scrape off the excess buttercream revealing the smooth, colourful tiles underneath and creating a flat, level, sharp edge around the top of the cake.
Now take the design out of the freezer and spread that same colour, grey for me, over the whole design. Push this colour into the gaps between the piping to fill them in like the grout in between mosaic tiles. Also spread it over the whole design because since it's been in the freezer it's not sticky anymore. This final colour of buttercream will act as glue to attach the tiles to your cake. Spread back and forth with an offset spatula or a cake comb to flatten and smooth the frosting.
Straight away, lift up the acetate or paper and wrap it around your cake. By piping onto the inner side of the curve it will wrap easily around the cake, doing most of the work for you.
Rest the bottom of the design on the cake board so there are no gaps down there. Press the design tightly around the cake so it doesn't buckle or crease or warp, especially if you're using parchment paper instead of acetate since it's thinner and not as strong.
Press gently against the cake to attach the design and to flatten and smooth it. The join of the beginning and the end of the acetate or parchment should overlap slightly. Now put the cake in the fridge for at least an hour or the freezer for 30 minutes.
Pinch a corner of the acetate or parchment and peel it off to reveal this eye-catching mosaic cake design.
To level the top edge, use the edge of the blade of your
Hold your metal cake comb under hot water or run a blowtorch along the edge to heat it. Then scrape around the cake a few times to smooth any bumps or imperfections in the frosting. The hot metal will melt the outer layer of frosting and drag it around the cake, filling in tiny air bubbles. Air bubbles happen when the buttercream you pipe doesn't go all the way down to the acetate or parchment paper because there's air trapped down there.
Pipe or spread coloured buttercream into any deep air bubbles to fill them in. Then scrape over that part of the cake to take off the excess buttercream and leave a flat surface behind.
The result of this mosaic cake technique is a very elaborate design that only uses basic tools and materials. From start to finish this cake took 2 hours to assemble, frost and decorate.
What do you think? Will you try this? Tell me in the comments and ask me any questions there too! And visit my cake school to learn hundreds of other cake decorating techniques and designs!
You can also watch a video of this tutorial on how to make a mosaic cake:
In this tutorial I'll show you how to frost a cake with perfectly smooth buttercream or any other frosting.
The secrets for how to frost a cake with perfectly smooth frosting are:
In Part 1 I showed you how to assemble layer cakes and in Part 2 why and how to crumb coat a cake. Go back to those tutorials for the first 'secret' and in this tutorial I'll cover the second and third.
Let's start with buttercream consistency. I like to use gel colours because they're more concentrated than liquid colours so they won't make the buttercream watery. As you mix the colours in you'll notice a lot about the consistency. It's too stiff if it's difficult to stir and it tears as you stir, breaking apart from itself and creating air pockets. You'll see lots of little lines of texture within the buttercream if it's thick and stiff. This buttercream is too stiff:
You can thin out buttercream by adding milk just a spoonful at a time. The other option is to scoop out a third of the buttercream and put it into a microwave safe bowl . Then microwave this for just 10 seconds. It's going to be very runny and melted and when you pour that into your buttercream it will thin out the thick stiff buttercream. The two consistencies will mix together to make a silky smooth buttercream, perfect for frosting a cake. Stirring it will also knock out any air bubbles in the buttercream. Can you see how much smoother this is than it was before?
Even with the perfect consistency, you won't get smooth frosting without the right technique. For this you'll need an
Start by spooning some buttercream onto the top of your cake. The crumb coat should have set while chilling in the fridge for at least 30 minutes first. Spread the frosting to cover the top of the cake and you want it to stick out over the sides as well. That will help you get really nice sharp angles later. Hold your
Then whisk the spatula away and scoop up more buttercream and spread it onto the side of the cake. I like to start at the top of the sides, spreading from side to side. At this point you're just covering the whole cake so that you can't see the crumb coat anywhere. Don't worry about how smooth this frosting is yet. However, you're aiming for an even thickness so if the frosting seems thinner in some parts, add more there now.
If your frosting is the right consistency it will transfer easily from your spatula onto the crumb coat. Your spatula will glide over it as you spread it, leaving a smooth surface behind. You won't see lots of tears or air bubbles or texture.
Go all the way to the bottom of the cake, covering up the crumb coat down to the cake board. Once it's all covered up, check the evenness of this frosting. On my cake the frosting looks thicker at the bottom so I'm spreading more around the top of the cake.
Push diagonally upwards to make the frosting stick up above the top edge of the cake. This lip or wall is important so that you can get sharp angles from the sides to the top later.
Now switch to your cake comb. Reach as far around as you can with your left hand for a really long spin on your
After scraping around the cake two or three times with your cake comb, you'll see where the frosting is thinner. Spread more frosting over those parts and any little indents, too. Scrape around the cake again to take off the excess and leave a smooth surface behind. Do these touch-ups as many times as you need to, spreading on more frosting to fill in any shallow areas and then scraping around the cake to smooth the frosting.
Now let me show you why I like to use a metal cake comb as well as this plastic one. The plastic comb is quick to use and I like the lightweight feel and flexibility. But it gets dinged along the edge easily by knocking or dropping it and those bumps drag along the frosting and leave trails behind.
If you're wondering how to frost a cake with a metal cake comb, here are the details. After getting the frosting fairly smooth, heat the edge of a metal cake comb. You can do this by running it under hot water or dipping it into a bowl or tray of hot water. The method I like best is to use a torch to heat it!
The edge of a metal cake comb doesn't get damaged as easily as plastic, so you'll get smoother frosting with it. By heating it, as you scrape around the cake it melts the very outer layer of frosting and drags it around the cake to fill in any imperfections. This leaves a super smooth surface on the frosting.
When the sides are smooth, it's time to tidy up the top edge, where the frosting sticks up above the cake. I use a long
Look what happens if you don't spread your frosting high enough. There are gaps in the frosting where it's thinner or shallower, which will become indents in the top edge. Spread more buttercream onto the indents on top and on the side of the cake and then scrape around the cake again with your cake comb. You'll smooth this touchup frosting so that the sides are straight. Swipe sideways with your
When you finish, go around the cake again and swipe wherever the frosting is higher. This will make the top edge straight and level all the way around the cake.
For super smooth frosting on a cake there are three tricks. First, the cake needs to be assembled, crumb coated and chilled correctly. I showed how to do those steps in the previous two tutorial in this series: how to make layer cakes and how to crumb coat a cake. Second, the buttercream needs to be the perfect consistency and third, you need to have the right technique.
If you have any questions, ask me in the comments! What comes next, after frosting the cake? You decorate it! To learn hundreds of cake decorating techniques and designs, visit my cake school.
You can also watch a video of this tutorial on how to frost a cake:
A crumb coat is an essential step before a final layer of frosting. In this tutorial I'll show you why and how to crumb coat a cake from start to finish!
A crumb coat is a very thin layer of frosting that covers the cake and seals in the moisture. Also, very importantly, it traps all of the crumbs. As you spread your frosting on the cake, any crumbs that come off will get stuck in this crumb coat of frosting. After setting this crumb coat, the crumbs won't get into the final layer of frosting. This means there will be no visible crumbs on your frosted cake.
To go back a step and start at the very beginning, check out this tutorial on how to assemble a layer cake.
A very, very important step before crumb creating your cake is to chill it. 30 minutes in the fridge will make the cake firmer, which means the layers won't slip as you frost them.
Let's look at what happens if you don't chill the cake after assembling but before frosting it. The pressure as you frost it can push the upper layers sideways, causing the cake to lean. This is definitely not a good look!
This happens because the filling is still soft and slippery so spreading pushes the cake layers away from your spatula.
To avoid this, put the cake in the fridge for 30 minutes to set the filling before you frost it. Then spread or pipe your frosting on. It's quicker to pipe the frosting rather than scooping it from a bowl and spreading it on but both work.
I like to start with the top of the cake before doing the sides. If I'm piping it, I'll also pipe around the very bottom of the cake since that's the trickiest part to reach.
On the top of the cake spread the frosting all the way over the edges of the cake to completely cover it. Then hold your offset spatula at a 45° angle as you spin the cake and that will flatten the top.
Then spread frosting from side to side all the way around the cake. I'm using my 4 Minute Buttercream for this cake. It's delicious as a filling or frosting (or both!) and it's easy to get really smooth as frosting. It's also stable enough for piping and other decorations on your cakes.
This crumb coat doesn't have to be neat because it'll be covered up by another layer of frosting next. The purpose of the crumb coat is to trap any crumbs that come off the cake so spread it over the entire cake. You don't want any naked cake exposed. Notice that this cake doesn't have the neatest shape to begin with but the crumb coat and final coat of frosting will fill in any imperfections. By the end, the shape of the cake looks perfect!
To scoop up more frosting from the mixing bowl, use a clean spatula to transfer it to your
Although it's not necessary to get this frosting perfectly smooth, you don't want any bulges of frosting to stick out. Those will get in the way when you spread and smooth the final layer of frosting.
For the top edge of the cake, push sideways with your
I should mention that this crumb coat can be white or the same colour as your final coat of frosting. If your final coat colour is dark like red or black, a white crumb coat will act as a barrier to prevent that dark colour from staining your cake underneath.
A crumb coat is an important step to prevent any crumbs getting into your final layer of frosting. In the next part of this tutorial I'll share how to do the final layer of frosting, where you take your time to make it smooth and neat. That part will be coming next week!
I hope this has been useful! Ask me any questions in the comments and visit my cake school to learn hundreds of cake decorating techniques and designs to take your cakes from beginner to professional.
Watch my video on how to crumb coat a cake here:
In this tutorial I'll show you how to make layer cakes. Start by preparing your cake layers, then add your fillings without making the cake lean or bulge, and then prepare the cake for frosting. Follow these step by step instructions for beautiful, stable layer cakes!
To make a layer cake of course you'll need cake layers! You can bake each one individually or bake tall cake layers and then divide each one in half. To divide cakes in half you'll need a serrated knife like a bread knife. It's really important to wait until your cakes have cooled completely before you cut into them. If they're still warm or hot they'll dry out so let them cool for 2 hours after baking before you do this.
There is no set way to divide cakes but I'll show you the way that works really well for me. Put a cake down on the countertop or a cutting board and use your knife to score around the middle. Spin the cake as you cut and when you've gone all the way around, the beginning of your line should meet the end of the line. This shows that you've made a level scored line around the whole cake.
Then continue spinning as you gradually push your knife closer towards the middle of the cake. When you feel the knife moving effortlessly because you've cut all the way through, slide it out. I'm using my Very Vanilla cake for this tutorial.
Now you'll have two cake layers instead of one! Do the same for all of your layers of cake to divide them in half horizontally. The advantage of four cake layers instead of two is that you'll have three layers of filling instead of one. This means more flavour and also a moister cake.
If you're won't eat your cake the day you bake it, it's a good idea to use simple syrup. Simple syrup keeps the layers moist and it's very easy to make! Measure equal parts of water and sugar, for example half a cup of each, and bring to a simmer. You can do this in a pan on the stove or in a bowl in the microwave. Let it cool before you brush or drizzle it over each cake layer. Pay special attention to the outer edge, which is where it will dry out first.
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Now let's talk about fillings. There are lots of different ingredients you can use to fill a cake like buttercream, ganache, caramel, fruit curds and jams. For anything that is runnier than buttercream, you will need a buttercream dam and I'll show you what that is for this cake.
You'll need to attach your first cake layer onto the cake board. If you just place it straight down on the cake board, when you frost it you'll push the cake all over the cake board with your spatula or cake comb. To prevent that, take a little bit of buttercream frosting and spread it onto the middle of your cake board. This will act as glue.
Then press your first cake layer down onto the buttercream and it will hold it in place. Make sure the cake is centered in the middle of your cake board and then continue with your fillings.
If you're using buttercream as a filling, spread it up to the edges of the cake. Then hold it at a 45° angle as you spin the cake to level it. This creates a flat surface for the next filling. I'm using my 4 Minute Buttercream. If you're using a runny filling you should spread a very thin layer of buttercream over each cake layer first. This will stop fillings like caramel or jam from absorbing into the cake underneath.
If you add runny filling onto this, it will ooze out the edges of the cake and cause bulges in the frosting later. It can also cause all of the higher layers of the cake to slip so the cake doesn't stay straight. So what do we do? Make a buttercream dam.
Spoon some more buttercream into a piping bag. You don't need a piping tip, just with a hole cut off the end of the bag. Only fill the bag half full so it's easy to grip onto. Push the buttercream down to the end of the bag and twist it at the top. It should be pressed tightly around the buttercream. This makes it easier to squeeze the buttercream out.
Now pipe a ring around the edge of the cake layer like a dam or a wall . This will hold the runny filling in place so that it doesn't ooze out of the sides of the cake.
If you don't have a piping bag you can spoon buttercream into a sandwich bag like a Ziploc bag. Cut off one of the bottom corners and then squeeze the buttercream through that to pipe a ring or a dam around the cake.
Next, spoon your filling into the middle of this ring you piped. Spread it around to cover the cake, right up to the edges of the ring. This filling shouldn't be higher or taller than the ring.
The layer of buttercream spread underneath the filling will stop the filling from sinking down into the cake. The piped dam will hold the filling in so that the cake and frosting stay straight and smooth without bulges.
This is probably obvious but for cooked fillings like caramel or lemon curd, make sure they're cool before you add them to the cake. A hot or warm filling will melt the buttercream dam and completely defeat the purpose of it!
Place your next cake layer gently on top, not pushing down yet. Get down to eye level and spin the cake to check that this second layer is directly on top of the layer beneath. You don't want it to stick out to one side. A
If you're using plain or flavoured buttercream for the filling then you don't need to use a buttercream dam. The only time you need a dam is when the consistency of the filling is loose or runny.
Place your final layer of cake on top and spin the cake to check it's straight, nudging any layers over if they're sticking out to one side.
The final step is to which is to smooth the filling around the sides of the cake wherever it's sticking out. You don't want those bulges to get in the way when you frost the cake later.
Since a layer cake is made up of several pieces stacked on top of each other, it's important that they attach to each other before you apply any pressure to them. Spreading frosting onto layer cakes can push the layers off-center and make the cake lean to one side. The most effective way to attach the cake and filling together is to chill them. 30 minutes in the fridge is ideal or if you're in the rush, 15 minutes in the freezer.
In the next part of this tutorial I'll show you step by step how to crumb coat a cake and in the final part how to frost a cake with super smooth frosting.
I hope this has been useful! Please ask me any questions you have in the comments and visit my cake school to learn hundreds of cake decorating techniques and designs to take your cakes from beginner to professional.
Watch a video on how to assemble layer cakes here:
Use these three tricks to fix a leaning cake before or even after you frost it!
You might be creating a leaning cake right at the beginning of the process! As you layer your cake and filling, place each cake layer directly on top of the layer below. This ensures the sides of the cake are straight. If you position any layers off-center, the cake will lean to one side.
To avoid this happening, Trick #1 is to spin the cake on a
I should mention that the sides of your cake don't need to be perfectly straight! It's fine if the silhouette of the cake isn't perfect because frosting will fill in any imperfections. The crumb coat and final coat will even it out so that the final frosted cake looks perfect! What you’re trying to avoid is a lean, where the cake is tilting over to one side.
To learn how to make a vintage cake like the one in the photo above, check out my tutorial on 10 secrets for vintage cakes.
A cake might start to lean after frosting it. Even if your cake looks straight after assembling it, frosting it straight away can create a lean. The pressure of your spatula or cake comb against the cake as you spread and smooth the frosting can push the layers off center.
To prevent this, chill the cake after you assemble it, before you frost it. In the fridge or freezer, the filling will chill and set and hold the cake layers in place. Then when you frost the cake, the layers won't slide around.
If the layers do move and you find yourself with a leaning cake, try this trick! Wrap the cake in cling film or Saran Wrap so that the sides are covered. Then gently push the cake into an upright position.
Spin it to check it’s straight from all sides. Then put the cake, still wrapped in plastic, into the fridge for an hour. The cake and frosting will set and when you take it out, unwrap it striaght away. The plastic will leave a smooth surface behind on the frosting, instead of pulling it off with it. You’ll have a straight cake, ready for the final layer of frosting.
The striped cake below is the same cake and you wouldn't guess it was leaning dramatically a few minutes earlier!
Check out my cake school to learn hundreds more cake decorating techniques and designs 🙂
If you notice a cake is leaning after the crumb coat has set, it’s too late to push it straight. Instead, use this trick! Spread more frosting onto the cake to fill in the lean. You'll need to spread it onto the bottom of one side and the top of the opposite side.
Then when you scrape around the cake, press your comb down on the cake board to line it up straight. You’ll smooth this frosting you’ve spread on to create straight sides on the cake. The frosting won’t look smooth and neat but that’s fine, the crumb coat doesn’t need to!
Put the cake in the fridge for 30 minutes to set this frosting before adding your final layer of frosting. Push the base of your cake comb down on the cake board as you scrape and this will help line the cake comb up straight against the cake and make the sides of the cake straight. Scrape around a few times and you'll get rid of the leaning or tilting effect!
So, three tricks to fix a leaning cake:
Which one of these tricks are you going to try to fix your leaning cake? Tell me in the comments!
You can also watch a video on this tutorial on 3 tricks to fix a leaning cake:
Follow these 6 easy steps to make a perfect striped cake! In this striped cake tutorial I’ll share everything I’ve learned since making my first striped cake back in 2018.
The first step is to assemble a straight cake. Of course, you’re always going to try to make your cake straight, but this is especially important with striped cakes because when you eventually hold your striped cake comb against the side of the cake, you want the grooves to push through the frosting evenly all the way up and down the cake. If the cake leans to one side like in the photo below, the stripe grooves will dig through the crumb coat up here and you’ll get crumbs in your striped frosting.
To make sure your cake is straight, get down to eye level to check the sides after placing each layer. Spin the cake around the check it from all angles and if necessary, adjust the layer to center it.
Before you frost the cake with stripes, you need a crumb coat. This is this thin layer of frosting to cover the cake, and it traps any crumbs that come off the cake so that you don’t get any crumbs in your stripes. It doesn’t have to be perfectly smooth because you’re going to cover it up next, but focus on straight sides by pushing the base of your cake comb down on the cake board as you scrape, to line it up straight. Then put the cake in the fridge for 30 minutes to chill this frosting so it gets firm.
When you can touch the crumb coat without damaging it, it’s set, and you’re ready for step 3: The final layer of frosting! Spread it all over the top and sides of the cake, so that it sticks up around the top of the cake.
This frosting needs to be at least as thick as the grooves on your striped cake comb. A striped cake comb looks something like this, and it can be made of metal or acrylic or plastic and all of those will work!
But you'll need another cake comb before using this. First, use a straight edged cake comb to scrape around the cake a few times until the sides are smooth and straight, without any big gaps or indents.
Then switch to a striped cake comb and press the base down on your cake board before pressing it gently into the frosting as you spin the cake, imprinting the grooves of your comb into the cake.
You’ll need to scrape around the cake a few times to get these really neat. You’re looking for a smooth surface the frosting within the grooves, and also on the stripes that stick out.
If there are any indents or air pockets within the stripes, fill them in by piping or spreading more buttercream over them. Then scrape until they're smooth. If you continue without filling them in, you'll get dots of the next colour within those spaces.
When it’s neat, put the cake into the freezer for 20 minutes. Set a timer because 20 minutes is the perfect amount of time for this step! You want the frosting to be firm enough that it will hold its shape, but not completely frozen.
Next, fill the striped grooves with whatever colour or colours you choose. You could spread this on but it’s much quicker to pipe it into the grooves. Make sure this frosting fills the entire groove, so that there aren’t big gaps or air pockets within the stripes.
Then move straight onto step 6, which is to scrape, scrape, scrape, scrape! You might doubt the whole process because there will be frosting smudges all over your cake. But suddenly, after several scrapes, you'll take off the last of the excess frosting and leave behind impossibly neat stripes.
If you see any specks of colour within the stripes, it’s because there were air bubbles in the first colour of frosting, the one you used the striped cake comb on. You can dig those out with the corner of a cake comb and then spread or pipe the correct colour into that hole, then scrape to smooth it and tadaa!
And that’s it! Perfect buttercream stripes in 6 easy steps! Please subscribe to my channel for a new cake decorating tutorial every week and visit my cake school on BGB.com to learn hundreds of cake decorating techniques and designs! Thanks for watching!
You can also watch a video of this striped cake tutorial:
In this tutorial I’ll solve the 10 most common cake struggles! Leaning cakes, food coloring stains on everything, never enough countertop space, air bubbles in your frosting, lack of cake decorating inspiration, sprinkles everywhere... Get ready for these practical solutions!
Most cake decorators have an impressive collection of piping tips that have been mauled by the garbage disposal or insinkerator.
Whenever you wash piping bags and piping tips, use a drain sieve in the sink. I find these annoying the rest of the time but with piping tips they’re so useful! Frosting from piping bags will go through the sieve but piping tips will wait patiently for you in it. As a bonus, as the hot water flows down the drain it will clean the piping tips for you!
Sprinkles are beautiful but they can travel fast and far. Whenever you’re using sprinkles, catch any runaways by decorating on a baking sheet or tray. Any sprinkles that roll and bounce off the cake will be trapped by the rim around the tray.
When you’ve finished decorating, tap the cake board to knock the final sprinkles onto the tray. Then tilt the tray and pour the sprinkles into their jar or packet.
To be even more careful, pour your sprinkles into a piping bag before you use them. Cut a small piece off the end of the bag and you'll have more control over where they go.
The worst of the cake struggles, I think, is food coloring stains. They’re so difficult to wash off! When bottles topple over they leak onto each other so whenever you pick up a bottle you’ll stain your hands.
There are two solutions for this. First, open your bottle using the spike on the inside of the lid. Unscrew the lid and press the spike into the lining that covers the bottle. You'll make a small hole, which is much less likely to leak than if you peel the lining off.
Secondly, store your bottle upright instead of letting them fall over. I use a storage caddy intended for nail polish, which is exactly the right size for gel colours! No more leaking and no more staining!
Countertop space is in high demand when you’re cake decorating and there is never enough! Here are my tips for making the most of what you have.
If you’re not next to a rubbish bin or garbage can, use a throw away tub. Throw cake scraps, cut off ends of piping bags, and any other rubbish into this tub or bowl or bucket. This saves you the time of walking back and forth to the rubbish bin and keeps rubbish off your countertops.
If you’re not working next to a sink, have a washing tub too. Use this for anything dirty like piping tips, spatulas or cake combs. Then carry it to the kitchen sink when you're finished!
Store appliances in cabinets rather than on the countertop to make more space. Even a mixer can fit into a cabinet, reducing countertop cake struggles.
Don't store tools and supplies on your countertops either, which brings me to my next solution below.
Free up space, reduce clutter and make it easier to find everything with my favourite baking organization hacks!
Tired of cake pans tumbling out of your cupboards? When you stack pans on the same size you'll build a leaning tower than topples over easily. Instead, put small pans inside big pans and they’ll balance the next layer of pans.
Your tower of pans will be stable and also much shorter, taking up less space!
Most cake decorators have several types of cake combs for smooth and textured frosting. Don’t stuff them into a drawer because it’s a pain to find the one you’re looking for. Racks intended for pan lids work excellently as a divider for different types of cake combs.
In a split second I can grab a smooth acrylic comb, a textured metal comb, or whichever one I want. I use the same rack for my cake boards to separate those by size and material.
Sprinkles get mixed up in a box or drawer and it takes forever to find then one you’re looking for. Pour your most used mixes into jars and arrange them on a shelf. Now they’re easy to find and they’ll add a colourful decoration to your room!
Stencils are super thin but if you have several, they end up taking up a lot of space. A folder with plastic wallets is an easy storage solution for these. Put one stencil in each wallet and optionally, organizer them by material or theme. You can label the sections with tabs if you like. Now you can flick through the folder quickly, making it quick and easy to choose and remove your stencil.
Piping tips cause cake struggles when they fall into the insinkerator but also when it comes to storage. Piping tips love to hide inside each other and to lie sideways, so that they all look identical! This makes it difficult to find the one you’re looking for. Use a craft box and either place one tip in each section or group them together. For example, I keep star tips in one section, petal tips in another, and grass and leaf tips in another.
If cakes move around while you frost them, it's impossible to get smooth frosting! Why do they slide? Because they’re not attached to the cake board!
Before you start assembling your cake, pipe or spread some frosting onto the middle of the cake board. Then press your first layer of cake down onto that frosting. This will stick the cake to the cake board and as you layer your cake and filling, it won’t slide around.
But there’s one more step to this! Chill the cake for about 20 minutes before you frost it to set that frosting so that it glues the cake in place. Next, as you spread frosting onto the cake and then scrape around the cake, the cake will resist that pressure. The frosting on the cake board will hold the cake securely in place so that it doesn't move.
If it does move it's because your spatula or comb pushed the cake off the buttercream dot. To fix this you'll need to add some fresh buttercream 'glue'. Lift the cake up by sliding an
If the cake isn't cold, put it into the fridge or freezer for a few minutes to set that fresh frosting. Now the cake will be securely attached to that dot!
If your cake looks like it’s leaning sideways, your layers aren’t placed directly on top of each other. The good news is that even if you’ve already started frosting your cake, it’s not too late to fix this! Use more frosting to fill in the lean on the bottom of one side and the top of the other.
When you scrape around the cake again, press your comb down on the cake board to line it up straight. You’ll smooth this frosting you’ve spread on to create straight sides on the cake.
Add your final layer of frosting and you’ve got rid of the leaning or tilting effect!
Even if your buttercream looks smooth in the bowl, after frosting your cake it can be covered in air bubbles. These are usually caused by under-mixing or over-mixing your buttercream.
Luckily, like the other cake struggles in this tutorial, there's an easy solution. A metal cake comb and heat! You can use a blowtorch to heat the edge of your cake comb or hold the comb under hot running water.
The heat of the metal will melt the very outer layer of frosting, dragging it around the cake to fill in any air bubbles in the frosting. The result is perfectly smooth frosting!
If you have ugly gaps around the top edge of your cake, it’s because your frosting wasn’t high enough. It needs to stick up above the top edge before you level it with a spatula or knife.
To prevent this, push upwards with your
Losing cake inspiration is common, especially if you’re trying to think of cake designs daily for your instagram account! A quick decoration that will match your cake to any colour scheme is to make a sprinkle mix. Use different shapes and sizes and colours for unique combinations. Press the sprinkles into the bottom of the cake for a sprinkle border or sprinkle them on top of the cake.
You can also use sprinkles or coloured sugar to make a cake topper. Here's a tutorial on making your own cake toppers!
I hope you’ve seen some ideas you’d like to try! To learn hundreds of cake decorating techniques and designs, visit my cake school where you'll find courses and also memberships for access to everything on the cake school - start your free 7 day trial!
You can also watch a video of this tutorial on 10 cake struggles solved:
Vintage cakes or Lambeth cakes have been trending for a while because the over the top piping is so eye-catching and unique to this style. In this tutorial I’ll share 10 secrets for success with vintage cakes!
Neat vintage cakes begin long before you even pick up a piping bag! When you do pipe onto the cake, you need the frosted cake to be firm. If the frosting is still soft, the pressure of your piping tip can damage the frosting. After you’ve smoothed the frosting on your cake, chill the cake for the neatest vintage piping. About an hour in the fridge is ideal but thirty minutes in the freezer will work instead. I use my 4 Minute Buttercream to frost all of my cakes because it gets firm when it's cold but softens as it warm up.
Draw your vintage cakes before you start piping onto them. This will help you visualize if there’s room for everything on the cake and that there are no big gaps. I like to write the piping tip numbers that I’m going to use along one side of the sketch. On the other side I list the colours I'm going to use for each part of the piping.
This way I can see which tips I’ll need to use multiple times and I'll put couplers into the piping bags filled with those colours. For example, on this cake I’m going to use a #104 tip for purple, blue, and turquoise so I’ll put couplers in those piping bags. Couplers allow you to switch the piping tip quickly and easily between different bags.
When the frosting on your cake has chilled and set, outline the main parts of your design. You can do this with toothpicks or cookies cutters or both. Start by cutting a circle of parchment paper or wax paper or baking paper that’s the same size as your cake. The easiest way to do this is to draw around the pan you baked the cake in. Fold it in half three or four times and then unfold it and place it on top of your cake.
Use the creases in the paper as guidelines to poke toothpicks into the side of the cake. You should have a toothpick below each crease and you’ll see how this is helpful in a minute.
For even more guidance as you’re piping, use a round cookie cutter to mark curves into the frosting. You’ll follow these curves with your piping tips later.
Use a variety of piping tips and colours for the most interesting design on vintage cakes. For this cake I’m using seven piping tips and 11 colours, which is the most I’ve ever used. For this vintage heart cake I used just three piping tips and two colours, which still creates some nice interest.
Once you have your piping bags and colours ready, it’s time to pipe! The fifth secret for vintage cakes is to use variety in your piping. Use different techniques for different styles of piping, even if those techniques use the same piping tip. For example, a petal tip can be used for ribbons by holding it horizontally and wiggling it up and down. You can see this in the pink piping in the photo below. The same piping tip can be used for ruffly swags by holding it vertically, with the narrow part of the teardrop shape pointing down. As you pipe, wiggle your wrist to allow the frosting to ruffle. The blue piping below is an example of this piping technique.
You can also create more variety by using the same technique with different tips. For example, these blue ruffles were piped with a petal tip but these orange ruffles are piped with a leaf tip:
Layering is my favourite part of vintage cake designs. Using different shapes and sizes and colours of piping side by side is a really unique technique that you don’t see in many other designs. Actually, I can’t think of any other styles that use this!
The other trick that's really important for layering piping is coming up next!
Before layering piped details on top of each other, chill the first detail. It will set after about 20 minutes in the fridge so that it holds its shape even as you pipe on top of it. The weight of the next piped details won’t make it bulge or sag and the colours won't mix together. Also, you won't damage the old piping if you brush against it with this next piping tip. And if you have shaky hands like mine, you can rest the piping tip on the piping you’ve chilled to steady your hand and you won’t damage that chilled piping.
Repetition is key to vintage cakes! Use the same style of piping in different places on the cake, like the shell piping in purple at the bottom and again in orange at the top:
Even if you use lots of different colours and styles, repetition brings everything together by the end.
I love vintage cakes with all their piped details just as they are. But if you want to add even more glamour, add cherries dipped in edible glitter or piped flowers.
Finally, make sure your cake is as delicious as it looks by storing it properly! Vintages cakes should be refrigerated to preserve the heavy piping. Take them out a few hours before serving so that the cake and frosting warms up to room temperature. This takes about two hours for small cakes or four hours for large cakes. Buttercream cakes taste best at room temperature!
I hope this tutorial has been useful! I'd love it if you checked out my online cake school! You can take courses on baking and decorating cakes or choose the All You Can Cake membership for access to everything on my cake school to really take your cake decorating to the next level!
You can also watch a video of this tutorial on 10 secrets for vintage cakes:
In this tutorial I'll show you how to make a tie dye cake that's tie dye both inside and out!
For tie dye cake batter, divide your batter into four or five bowls add food coloring to each one. I’m using four bowls, making yellow, pink and blue and leaving one bowl plain.
You can spoon the coloured batter into pans or scoop it into piping bags and pipe it into cake pans. Switch back and forth between the different colours, squiggling the batter to make random patterns in the pans.
Tap the pans a few times to flatten and level the batter. Then drag a toothpick through the batter to mix the colours.
I like to using baking strips to help the cakes bake evenly and rise higher without domes. I soak them in a pan of water for five minutes and then squeeze the water out. Wrap tightly around the cake pans and bake as normal.
Divide the cakes in half if you want more layers. Then assemble your cake by alternating cake and filling.
To frost the cake, start with a crumb coat. This is a thin layer of frosting to trap any crumbs that come off the cake so that they don’t get into the final layer of frosting. I'm using my 4 minute buttercream.
Chill the cake for about 30 minutes in the fridge to set the crumb coat. Meanwhile, tint a few bowls of buttercream the same colours as the cake batter. Line them up on a piece of cling film or Saran Wrap. You can put the colours into piping bags and pipe them in lines, side by side. To save yourself washing those piping bags, spoon the colours onto the plastic instead, like I’m doing here.
Roll the plastic wrap up into a log around the buttercream and twist the ends. Cut off one end and drop that end down into a piping bag fitted with a star tip like a 1M.
Now pipe the multi-coloured buttercream onto the cake. I’m piping rosettes and filling in any gaps by squeezing out little stars. Different piping techniques will give you different results when you flatten it next, creating a cross section of your piping. Cover the sides and top of the cake and then put the cake into the freezer for 15 minutes.
I call this technique 'facelift frosting' because you're going to give your piping a facelift! To do this, use a hot cake comb to scrape around the cake. You can heat the edge with a blowtorch, which is my favourite method because it's the fastest. Other options are to hold the cake comb under hot running water from the tap or dip it into a bowl of boiling water. You’ll question yourself after the first few scrapes because it will look like you’re destroying your piping!
Keep scraping, re-heating your cake comb after every few scrapes. If you piped onto the top of the cake you’ll need to scrape that too. The frosting won't get perfectly smooth because you’ll have gaps in between parts of the piping. What you’re looking for is a smooth curve around the sides of the cake. The top surface should be level even though it will have lots of holes in it.
Tie dye has those white markings or creases and to recreate those, spread white frosting all over the cake. This is another part of this technique where it feels that you’re ruining the cake!
The point of this white frosting is to fill in the gaps, not to cover up the colours! So after spreading it all over, switch back to your cake comb and scrape around the cake again. You'll take off the excess white frosting and leave it only within the gaps in the piping.
The white frosting will set quickly because the coloured frosting is cold so using a hot cake comb will make this much easier. It will melt the outer layer of frosting instead of trying to scrape cold hard buttercream off the cake!
There are so many possibilities for this technique! Different piping tips and piping styles will give you very different results. There are also so many ways you can decorate it. I’m adding some neon yellow borders using a 4B star tip. It would be fun to add some peace signs or smiley faces or other hippy style decorations too!
I stopped at this point because I was impatient to cut into this to see whether the inside matched the outside. Here's the slice shot - I wasn't disappointed! Bright swirls of colour, my delicious very vanilla cake layers, my creamy 4 minute buttercream… absolute perfection!
Will you try this? What other design should I attempt with this technique? Tell me in the comments!
You can also watch a video of this tutorial on how to make a tie dye cake:
Here are 7 easy Easter cake ideas and Easter cupcake ideas, too! You don’t need any decorating experience for these and you can even do them with kids!
You can do the first of these Easter cake ideas even if you don’t have any cake pans. Pour your batter into a baking dish or casserole dish. Add your favourite Easter treats like mini eggs, Easter coloured M&Ms, chopped up strawberries, and creme eggs.
Bake your cake and don’t worry if the treats look a bit funky when they come out of the oven! After the cake cools, spread or pipe frosting on top. I’m using a different colour for each section of the cake, piping different techniques with a 1M star tip.
The final result is colourful and textured and fun! Of course, the best part is cutting into the cake and tasting each of the ingredients. Which one would you choose first?
Turn a simple frosted cake into an Easter egg cake with this tehcnique. Mix a spoonful of cocoa powder and a few drops of water to make a chocolate liquid. You won't be able to splatter a paste so make sure you use enough water. Dip a paintbrush into it and then flick it all over your cake to make speckled frosting. I definitely recommend covering the countertop and the wall behind the cake while you do this!
You can use striking motions or tap the paintbrush against your other hand to create a spray.
Wipe any splatters off the cake board or cake stand and then add a border if you like. This is a 4B piping tip:
The cake looks stunning just like this but you can also add any of the other decorations in this tutorial. I’m piping a nest using a rope border technique with my Best Chocolate Buttercream.
Cadbury's Mini Eggs are the perfect size for this and you can dust them with edible glitter to add sparkle!
There are two easy techniques on this next cake. The first is one bag frosting, where you layer different colours of frosting within a piping bag. You only need a small amount of each. Next, as you pipe, you'll create a gradient of colour on your cake.
The second technique is piping drop flowers, which you can do with any rounded star tip like a 2D tip.
Hold the bag vertically and rest the piping tip on a silicon mat or a piece of parchment paper. Squeeze the bag and twist it to let the petals fan out sideways. You’ll freeze these to set them and then place them on your cake later.
As you pipe flower after flower, you’ll see the different colours as they push down through the piping bag. You’ll see the previous colours on the outer edges of the petals and the new colours will come through in the center.
Put the piped flowers into the freezer for about 10 minutes to chill and harden. Then you can lift them up and press them onto a frosted cake.
They’ll only stay cold for about a minute and when they start to soften, they'll break when you move them. At this point, put them back into the freezer for a few minutes to chill and firm up again.
This design uses just one piping bag and piping tip but the result is gorgeous! You could cover a cake completely with these, or add a single row around the cake.
To incorporate Easter colours in your cake, use a striped cake comb. Scrape around a frosted cake a few times until the grooves are neat. Then put the cake into the freezer for 15 minutes.
Next, pipe coloured buttercream into the grooves. You can fill all of the grooves or only create a few stripes as an accent. To do this, pipe coloured buttercrema into a few grooves and the background colour into the rest of the grooves.
As you smooth the frosting, the colourful stripes will get neater and neater. Wherever you've filled grooves with the background colour, the piped frosting will blend into the background frosting. Those stripes will disappear to create a plain, smooth surface instead.
To use your leftover colours to pipe some swirls on top of the cake, lay out a piece of plastic wrap. Squeeze the leftover colours into rows along it and then roll it up into a log.
Cut off one end and drop that end down into a piping bag fitted with a star shaped piping tip. Twist the top of the bag and then pipe swirls onto the top of the cake. All of the colours will come through the piping tip, matching the colours of the stripes on the cake.
Now for some cupcake cake ideas. The easiest Easter cupcake to make is a simple bunny. Swirl buttercream or any other frosting onto a cupcake using a star tip like a 1M. Then cut a marshmallow in half diagonally for diamond shaped ears or cut straight across it for oval shaped ears. It’s important to use a freshly opened bag of marshmallows for this! They need to be soft with a sticky middle.
Pour some sugar into a bowl and add a drop of pink food coloruing. Stir it around until it’s the colour mixes into the sigar and makes it all pink.
Next, press the cut side of each piece of marshmallow into the bowl. The pink sugar will stick to it and it will look like the inside of the bunny's ear.
Then poke two pieces into the frosted cupcake to make an Easter bunny!
This is a fun Easter cupcake idea to do with kids and they'll love being able to do it all themselves! These are simple but adorable and delicious!
For a more sophisticated Easter bunny design, make a flat top cupcake. Pipe a blob of buttercream onto a cupcake, letting it bulge out to almost cover the cupcake.
Then flip it over onto a tray or cutting board lined with parchment paper or wax paper or baking paper.
Put it into the freezer for 30 minutes and then peel the cupcake away from the paper. You’ll have a beautifully flat, smooth surface to decorate!
Cut an Easter bunny out of another piece of parchment paper and as you cut, leave the surrounding paper intact. Press this down onto the cupcake and you have a homemade stencil! Spread some frosting over it and scrape off the excess to leave a thin layer behind.
Peel the stencil off and voila!
To make this a bit fancier you can pipe on a flower using any star shaped tip, like this 1M. Twist as you squeeze to make the petals fan out sideways.
Add some details to the face with a toothpick or paint them on with a very thin paintbrush. This design is almost too pretty to eat!
You can use this technique on cakes too! Chill the cake after frosting it for at least hour in the fridge and then press a homemade stencil against it. Spread buttercream over the top and peel it off!
You can add flowers and sprinkles to make it more colourful. See the step by step tutorial for this cake in my tutorial on 4 easy Easter cake ideas.
To pipe a nest, use a star shaped piping tip to pipe a ring or a tall swirl. Add some chocolate or candy Easter eggs in the middle. You don’t have to press hard to attach these if the buttercream is still soft and sticky.
The Easter coloured Mini Eggs were sold out so I’m using rainbow Mini Eggs instead. Brushing them with edible glitter makes the colours a bit lighter and more festive. I tapped the glitter paintbrush over the frosting nest, too.
I hope you’ve seen some ideas you’d like to try! Learn hundreds of cake decorating techniques and designs on my cake school, where you can choose an online course or a membership for access to everything!
You can also watch a video of this tutorial on 7 Easter cake ideas and Easter cupcake ideas:
