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Piped Buttercream Flower Cake
9K views
Sep 6, 2024
In this tutorial I cover a cake with watercolour frosting and then show step by step how I pipe buttercream flowers (roses, chrysanthemums and pansies) and arrange them on the cake. I used an acrylic frosting smoother from www.cakesafe.com and I used letters by Sweet Stamp to indent the words "hello spring" (https://amycakes.online/collections/sweet-stamp) and painted them using gold luster dust and vodka. I used my 4 Minute Buttercream Frosting (https://youtu.be/MFKfXbnU1Lw). For my FREE online course on 10 Frosting Techniques, click here to sign up: www.britishgirlbakes.com/online-courses SUBSCRIBE to my channel for new cake decorating tutorials every week!
View Video Transcript
0:00
Hi, I'm Emily and I'm going to show you how to decorate a cake with these pretty buttercream flowers
0:05
I'm building my cake on a 6 inch cake board and these are 4 inch layers of cake
0:10
I'm chilling the layers for about 30 minutes in the fridge so they're firm and less crumbly
0:15
and then applying a crumb coat of frosting using my 4 minute buttercream frosting
0:19
And I've put the link for the tutorial for how to make this buttercream in the description below
0:24
I'm going to chill the crumb coat for about 30 minutes in the fridge before applying my watercolour frosting
0:29
frosting. Now I'm using an offset spatula to spread on little patches of coloured
0:35
frosting using different shades of green. You don't have to completely cover the
0:41
cake for this because you're going to spread it out in a minute with a frosting smoother. I'm smoothing once around the cake, then touching up any gaps with
0:50
more frosting and then smoothing again. A few more times until it's completely
0:58
covered and I'm doing the top as well. I cover this watercolor frosting
1:03
technique in a lot more detail in my free online course on 10 frosting techniques
1:08
To sign up for free click the link in the screen and I've also put the link in the
1:12
video description below. Now I'm going to pipe some flowers. I'll be using a
1:21
flower nail and little squares of parchment paper which I've cut up myself but
1:25
you can also buy them pre-cut if you prefer. I've filled a piping bag with my 4 minute buttercream and I'm going to start with this petal tip, which is a Wilton 104 tip
1:34
I'm squeezing a tiny bit of frosting onto my flower nail and using it to attach a little square of parchment paper
1:40
Before you start, it's important to check the consistency of your buttercream
1:45
It needs to be stiffer than you'd usually use to frost a cake, so that it holds its shape as you pipe the petals of your flowers
1:52
You can see this is quite stiff, about the consistency of cream cheese
1:57
Start by piping a dollop of buttercream for the centre of the rows
2:01
It be covered up so you can pipe it however you like Then hold your piping bag with the narrow end of the petal tip pointing upwards and squeeze the bag pushing the buttercream out as you twirl the nail between your thumb and index finger to make a spiral
2:16
If your butter cream is too runny, this is what happens. It wiggles out of the bag and doesn't pipe neatly
2:22
Here's what it should look like. Now that we've done the rosebud, we're going to
2:32
to do the petals. Pipe a little crescent about a third of the way around the rosebud, going slightly higher
2:37
than the bud, and then pipe the next one to overlap that first one
2:43
I'm doing three petals for the first ring, and the narrow part of your tip should still
2:46
be pointing upwards, which creates a bit of movement in your petals
2:51
For the next ring of petals, you'll be able to fit in a few more petals than the previous
2:54
ring, but keep overlapping each previous petal, so they're sort of wrapped around each other
2:59
and try to start each one at a different point that they're going to start each one at a different point that the petal in the previous ring, so they're naturally spaced around the rosebud in the
3:05
centre. You can make as many rings as you want, depending on how big you want your rose to be
3:11
When you finish the flower, slide the parchment square off the flower nail and onto a baking
3:15
tray or a cutting board and put it in the fridge to set. If you're enjoying this tutorial
3:22
please click the thumbs up button. Now for a chrysanthemum type flower, I'm going to use a Wilton 81 piping tip
3:41
piping a ring of petals around the outer edge of the flower nail
3:45
starting at the outside for each one and only going about halfway into the middle
3:50
When I finish the first ring, I'm piping a second ring on top
3:54
also starting at the outer edge but a tiny bit further in than before
3:58
so the petals below can still be seen, and piping each petal half way
4:02
between the two petals below, so the petals of the two rings are all overlapping each other
4:07
You can do as many rings of petals as you like but I going to stop here and pipe on the stamens using a small round tip This is a number one tip and I just piping a few dots in the centre Next I piping a yellow pansy attaching my parchment paper to my flower nail with some butter cream
4:34
and using a petal tip with a narrow end pointing outwards on my nail, and the one
4:38
the wide side towards the middle of the nail. I'm squeezing the buttercream out and
4:43
twisting my wrist at the same time to pipe each petal, doing five petals to make the flower
4:51
Then I'm using the number one tip again to pipe three little dots in the centre
4:58
I've put all of my flowers in the fridge and now I'm going to finish decorating my cake
5:04
I'm using these letters by sweet stamp to indent the words Hello Spring into my frosting
5:08
This works when the frosting is chilled, so the letters leave a clear imprint and my hand holding the cake in place doesn't damage the frosting
5:15
I'm using a decent amount of pressure and making sure each letter is completely indented, every section of the letter
5:23
Now I'm using these tiny paintbrushes dipped in edible gold luster dust mixed with vodka to make a gold paint, and painting in the indented letters
5:32
The paint needs to be quite thick to do this to get good coverage, so I'm only only a gold paint to make a gold paint
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so I'm only adding a drop of vodka at a time, or you could use lemon extract instead
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If you add too much liquid, just wait a few minutes and it will evaporate and the paint will thicken up
5:49
I'm using the thinnest paint brush to paint the thinest parts of each letter, and then going back with my slightly thicker paintbrush to fill in the rest of the letters
6:01
Now I'm ready to add the flowers. I have a few bags of buttercream ready and my flowers on a cut
6:07
and my cake is on a stand instead of a turntable because I don't want it to move around at all
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I piping a little dot of buttercream onto the cake and using that to attach my first flower The frosting on the cake has set and the flowers too so you need something to make them stick
6:26
It works the same way on the side, you just have to apply more pressure to make it stick
6:31
Since the frosted cake is cold and the flowers too, the dot of buttercream chills and sets
6:35
as you press the flower into it. I'm adding the rest of my flowers on this one side, cascading down the cake, and arranging a few
6:46
on top as well. You don't have to place them flat. You don't have to place them flat
7:09
You can pipe a bigger dot of buttercream and then angle the flower to face forwards or sideways or whatever you like
7:16
Now I'm using a drop flower tip and this is a Wilton 2-24 tip to pipes and flowers in the gaps
7:22
I'm just squeezing the buttercream out to make little star blossoms, but you can twist your wrist as you pipe to make rounder petals
7:30
I'm using my number one round tip to pipe a dot in the centre of each one. This is a leaf tip, Wilton number 352
7:40
and you hold it with the gaps at the sides because that's where the leaf comes out
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So when you look at the tip from the side it should the should look like Pac-Man. I'm piping leaves around my roses to cover the bases because
7:52
the roses have flat bases from the flower nail but the cake sides are rounded so
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there are air gaps at the bottom which the leaves cover up nicely. A few more
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orange flowers down the sides of the cake and I want a bit more height on top so I'm
8:08
going to rearrange a few flowers. Adding another rose at the back with some leaves
8:13
and then propping this pansy up at an angle so it's facing forwards instead of upwards
8:17
And there it is! A pretty floral cake! Thanks for watching! Subscribe to my channel for new cake decorating tutorials every week
#Crafts
#Flowers
#Gifts & Special Event Items
#Visual Art & Design