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In this cake decorating tutorial I show how to decorate a buttercream mermaid cake by piping buttercream waves or ruffles and making a mermaid tail and seaweed out of sugar. I used my 4 Minute Buttercream Frosting for this cake and you can watch the tutorial and get the recipe here: https://youtu.be/MFKfXbnU1Lw
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0:00
In this video I'm going to show you how to decorate a cake with these gorgeous wavy buttercream ruffles
0:05
and very easy mermaid tail and seaweed made with sugar. Start by preparing the sugar decorations. You can use any hard candy or boiled sweets for these
0:15
and I'm using green and blue jolly ranches. Put them in bowls and microwave them for 30 seconds at a time
0:21
until they've become a liquid that moves around like maple syrup would when you tilt the bowls
0:26
These aren't cooked enough yet, they're not completely solid but they're moving from
0:30
slowly, more like a thick honey than maple syrup. So when I push the green sugar into my
0:34
mould with spatula, it sticks to my spatula instead of pouring easily into the mould
0:39
I'm going to microwave the blue sugar for another 30 seconds, and this is the perfect consistency
0:44
It pours easily into the mould, spreading to fill it. This is a silicon mould, so it's
0:49
fine to use a liquid this hot, and sugar gets very hot when you melt it, so be careful not to touch it
0:56
Leave it to set and harden for about 30 minutes, and then carefully push it out of the mould. Because the middle of the tail is so thin and narrow, it's easy
1:05
to snap it as you push it out, and if that happens you can just put the whole thing
1:08
the mould with the sugar inside, back into the microwave to melt the sugar again, and
1:13
then leave it to set and try again to take it out. If you do this too soon before the sugar
1:20
had set, the sugar will stick to the mould, so you'll know it needs more time
1:24
15 minutes later and the tail has set, so it comes out of the mould easily
1:30
If there are any pieces of sugar around the tail shape, you can snap those off now
1:36
Now repeat the process heating up the rest of the coloured sugar in the microwave and pouring it into the mould And I like to use two colours for this but you don have to You can try to tidy up the edges now with a knife but sugar is really sticky so it a bit tricky
1:50
and it's easier to snap these extra bits off later when the sugar has set
1:54
Now immediately push the other tail gently onto the top of this one so that it sticks to the melted sugar
2:00
and they'll merge together as the melted half sets. Leave it for about 30 minutes and then push it out of the mould and there's the tail
2:09
You can snap off any uneven bits now, but I think it looks quite nice like this, with
2:14
thinner, uneven parts of sugar around the edges. It gives it some movement, it makes it look
2:19
a bit more realistic. Now for some seaweed we're going to use some more candy
2:24
melting it the same way, and then pouring it in strips onto a piece of parchment paper
2:28
or you could use the silicon baking mat. I'm using green and blue candy again, and after
2:33
reheating the blue a few times, it becomes this dark emerald green colour, which is perfect
2:37
for seaweed. Leave them to set for a few minutes and as soon as they're cool enough to touch
2:43
and hard enough to be able to lift off the paper, peel them off and gently twist the two ends
2:48
between your fingers. This light green one is the perfect temperature for this, just set, but still
2:56
flexible enough to be able to twist easily. But the darker ones have sat here for a bit too long
3:01
so I can't twist them as much. The more you twist, the shorter they become, so since I can hardly
3:06
twist this one, it's too long or too tall for my cake, so I'm snapping it in half to make two pieces instead
3:14
Now you'll need a frosted cake and a piping bag with more frosting in fitted with a petal tip
3:19
This one is a Wilton 104. You need the narrow end of the tip to point outwards, with the wide end
3:24
pressed against the cake Squeeze the buttercream out of the bag and lift the bag slowly keeping the wide end of the tip pressed gently against the side of the cake and wiggling your hand to create wavy ruffles going up the cake
3:37
I'm curving my ruffles to make an arc shape going up and around the cake
3:41
and overlapping each ruffle by about half, so that you can't see any of the frosted cake in between the ruffles
3:47
The more slowly you move your piping bag up the side of the cake as you squeeze the buttercream out
3:53
the more your ruffles will wiggle and become wavy, and you can exaggerate this to give the ruffles even more movement by wiggling your hands slightly as well
4:00
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4:08
You can pipe these ruffles immediately after frosting your cake. You just have to be very careful that you don't knock the frosting with the piping bag because you'll damage it
4:17
I like to let the frosting set before piping the ruffles because then I can't damage it
4:22
and also because it gets firmer so it holds its shape so the weight of the ruffles won't drag the frosting down which can make the edges around the top of the cake less sharp
4:32
you can pipe these ruffles all around the cake if you like or leave part of the smooth frosting showing which is what i'm going to do
4:39
i have an online class on getting perfectly smooth frosting and lots of other classes on different cake designs on my online cake school and i've put the link for more information in the top of the screen and in the description below this video you can use any petal shape
4:52
tip for this and with the Wilton petal tips the higher the number the longer the
4:56
the petal so the wider your ruffles will be. This is a 104 which I love for this
5:01
little 4 inch cake but for an 8 inch or 10 inch cake I would use the number 125
5:06
so that the ruffles would be wider and I think in better proportion to the size
5:10
of the cake and you wouldn need to pipe as many to cover the surface of the cake Now make a little splash for the mermaid tail to stick out of using the same piping tip with the narrow end facing outwards as you spin the
5:25
cake on the turntable to pipe a little circle. I'm piping another one on top and you want the
5:31
hole in the middle of the circle to be smaller than the wide base of the tail so that it's
5:36
buried inside these ruffles and it looks like the rest of the mermaid is inside the cake or under the water
5:42
Now straight away, before the buttercream sets, push the tail into the middle
5:46
pushing down until you feel the resistance of the cake so you know the tail is wedged firmly into the frosting
5:52
I love the height that the tail gives to this cake, and you can buy different sized moulds to match the size of your cake
5:58
To add the seaweed, just choose where you want it to go and press it into the side of the cake
6:03
If your frosting has set, you'll have to use a bit more pressure to attach the seaweed than if you've just frosted your cake
6:09
but if you have only just frosted the cake and the frosting is still soft and sticky
6:13
you're more likely to create a bulge in the frosting when you push the seaweed in
6:17
so I like to let the frosting set before doing this. Now refrigerate the cake to chill the ruffles so that they set and hold their shape
6:25
before adding some sparkle. I'm using disco dust on a paintbrush and gently dabbing the
6:30
edges of the ruffles and because they've been chilled I can brush along them without
6:33
damaging them. And if they start to soften as the buttercream warms up
6:37
you can put the cake back in the fridge for 15 minutes to chill it again before continuing
6:42
I recommend refrigerating the cake until two to four hours before serving it
6:46
so that the ruffles hold their shape perfectly without drooping, and after a few hours at room temperature the cake and frosting will have warmed up and will be soft and delicious
6:55
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