0:00
Vintage cakes or lambeth cakes have been trending for a while because the over-the-top piping is so impressive and eye-catching and unique to this style
0:10
In this tutorial, I'll share ten secrets for success with this technique
0:17
Neat vintage piping begins long before you even pick up a piping bag
0:22
When you do pipe onto the cake, you need the frosted cake to be firm, otherwise the pressure of your piping tip can damage the frosting
0:30
So, after you've got nice smooth frosting on your cake, chill your cake for the neatest results with your vintage piping
0:37
About an hour in the fridge is ideal. Meanwhile, sketch your design to make sure there's room for everything on the cake
0:45
and the opposite too, that there isn't too much room between parts of the design
0:52
I like to write the piping tip numbers that I'm going to use along one side of the sketch
0:57
and the colours along the other, So I can see which tips I'll need couplers for
1:02
For example, on this cake I'm going to use a number 104 tip for this and this and this
1:07
using purple, blue, and turquoise. So I'll put couplers in the piping bags with those colours
1:13
so that I can switch the piping tip quickly and easily between them
1:17
When the frosting on your cake has chilled and set outline the main parts of your design You can do this with toothpicks or cookie cutters or both Start by cutting a circle of parchment paper or wax paper or baking paper
1:31
that's the same size as your cake. Using the cake pan you baked the cake in
1:36
Fold it in half three or four times, or more for really big cakes
1:40
and unfold it and place it on top of your cake. Use the creases in the paper as your guidelines
1:46
poking toothpicks into the side of the cake below each crease. And you'll see how this is really helpful in a minute
1:54
For even more guidance as your piping, use a cookie cutter to mark a curve into the frosting
2:00
which you'll follow with your piping tip later. Use a variety of piping tips for the most interesting design
2:07
and also a variety of colours, or shades of the same colour
2:11
For this cake, I'm using seven piping tips and 11 colours, which is a lot the most I've ever used
2:18
But for this cake, I used just three piping tips and two colours
2:23
which still creates some nice interest. Once you have your piping bags and colours ready, it's time to pipe
2:29
The fifth secret to vintage piping is to use variety in your piping
2:33
even if those different techniques might use the same piping tip. For example a petal tip like this number 104 can be used for ribbons and the same piping tip can be used for roughly swags by holding the wider part of the teardrop shape of the piping tip
2:50
pointing upwards, and the narrower point facing downwards, and as you squeeze the piping bag
2:56
wiggle your wrist to allow the frosting to ruffle as you pipe
3:00
You can also create more variety by using the same technique with different tips
3:05
For example, the blue ruffles were piped with a petal tip, but these yellowy orange ruffles are piped with a leaf tip
3:13
Layering piping is my favourite part of vintage cake designs because using different shapes and sizes and colours of piping side by side
3:22
is a really unique technique that you don't see in many other designs
3:26
Actually, I can't think of any other styles that use this. There is one other trick that is really important for being able to layer your piping
3:34
and that is to chill each piped detail before layering. more piping over it, so that the first detail sets and holds its shape even as you pipe on top of it
3:45
so the weight of this new piping won't make it bulge or sag, and so that the colours don't end up
3:51
mixing together, and so that you don't damage the old piping if you brush against it with this
3:57
next piping tip It also means that if you have shaky hands like mine you can rest the piping tip on the piping you chilled to steady your hand and you won damage that chilled piping Repetition is key to vintage cakes using the same style of piping in different places
4:16
on the cake, like the shell piping in purple down here and again in orange up here. It means
4:24
that if you use lots of different colours and styles, the repetition really brings everything
4:29
together by the end. I love vintage cakes with all of their piped details, but if you want to add
4:36
even more glamour, try cherries dipped in edible glitter or piped flowers on top of the cake
4:43
Finally, make sure your cake is as delicious as it looks by storing it properly. Vintage cakes
4:49
should be refrigerated to preserve the heavy piping. Take the cake out two to four hours before you eat it
4:56
two hours for small cakes or closer to four hours for large cakes
5:00
so that the cake and frosting warms up to room temperature and that's when it will taste the best
5:06
If you've watched a few of my YouTube tutorials, you'll probably know I have an online cake school
5:11
and I would love for you to check it out. I have lots of different online courses
5:15
teaching hundreds of cake decorating techniques and designs and I also have membership options
5:20
where you can dive in and really take your cake decorating to the next level
5:23
I hope I'll see you there. thing
