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I'm so excited to show you this fun technique I've been experimenting with
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The results are stunning and there are endless variations you can try. I'll show you three
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It looks like edible paper or maybe painted fondant, but it's just buttercream frosting
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To prepare your cake for this technique, cover it in a crumb coat, which is a thin layer of frosting that traps any crumbs that come off the cake
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but it doesn't have to be neat because it's going to be covered up later. aim for straight sides and a level top and then chill the cake to set this frosting while you prepare your piping bags
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You'll need at least two colours for this technique and after tinting the buttercream put it into piping bags
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I'm using three colours with three different piping tips for one of my cakes and for another cake I'll use three shades of the same colour
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and notice that you don't need piping tips for this technique. They'll give you more detailed designs but they're not necessary, just a piping bag with the end
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end cut off is fine. One way to incorporate two colours quickly with just one piping bag is to do
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two-tone frosting, where you fill half of the piping bag with one colour and then the other half
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with another colour. And I'll use this for my third cake. Take your chilled cake out of the fridge and
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pipe away. You can cover the whole cake with piping like I'm doing with these roses. I know this
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rose frosting technique is a bit dated since it was trendy maybe 10 years ago, but the effect at the end
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is going to be totally different actually unrecognizable If you don use piping tips you can still create pretty designs with just piping bags like these wavy lines or you could pipe hundreds of dots or really anything you like
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Save all of your leftover frosting in the piping bags for later. For this cake, and the previous one
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I covered the entire cake with piping, but you don't have to do it this way. Another option is to
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pipe some texture, like with these dotted stripes on this cake, and leave the rest of the frosting
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blank for now. Put the cake in the freezer just long enough to set this piping, about 15 minutes
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and then pipe over the whole cake with another colour of frosting, like this plain white butter
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cream. The reason for chilling the first piping is so that it sets and doesn't blend with this
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next colour. As you're covering up the first piping, you'll apply much less pressure with a piping bag
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compared to using an offset spatula to spread the frosting, so you won't damage the rosettes or dots
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or whatever you piped. However you choose to decorate the cake, Make sure the entire cake is covered in frosting, both the top and the sides
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and then put the cake in the freezer for 20 to 30 minutes to chill and set the frosting
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Meanwhile, boil some water in a kettle or a pan and find your metal straight-edged cake comb
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Pour the boiling water into a cake pan at least as wide as your comb, so that you can fit the entire straight edge into it
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The water needs to be about two centimetres or an inch high. Take your cake out of the freezer and put it on a turntable
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Take the cake comb out of the hot water, dry it off, and then scrape around the cake
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Don't panic after the first scrape. You going to pull off the outer parts of the piping and it going to look very messy at this point If you have piping on the top of the cake you need to scrape that as well taking off the texture layer by layer until it smooth
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After each scrape around the cake, wipe the buttercream off your cake comb
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dip the comb back in the hot water, dry it off and scrape again, and again, and again
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As you scrape and lift off the texture, you'll reveal a cross-section of the piping
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as if you've sliced straight through the middle of whatever shape you put. The result is a very intricate design that looks like it's been printed or painted onto the cake
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except it's just piped buttercream that's been given a facelift. By the way, I share a new tutorial every week with tips and tricks and techniques for cake decorating
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and if you want to see more, click the subscribe button. Visit my cake school on British Girlbakes.com or click the link at the top of the screen or in the video description
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Okay, now for some practical tips about this technique. As you're scraping the frosting off, go in different directions
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scraping up as well as around the cake to take off the outer layer
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It's quicker to scrape up than around. But then switch to going around the cake at the end
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to get the curve of the cake sides smooth. Remember that I said to save the leftover frosting in your piping bags
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After scraping around the cake several times, if there are still any holes or indents
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use that frosting to fill them in. Then when you scrape around the cake, you'll take off all of the excess frosting you've just spread on
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but you'll leave the bits which have filled in those indents. to leave a smooth surface behind on the cake
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Remember to attach your cake to the cakeboard Before you assemble your cake spread or pipe a generous dot of buttercream onto the middle of the cake board and press your first layer of cake down onto it
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When you chill your cake later, the buttercream dot will get cold and hard
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and it will act like glue securing your cake to the board so it doesn't slide around while you're scraping off the piped frosting
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This is important for frosting any cake, but it's especially important for this technique
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because you're applying so much pressure to scrape off that textured piping
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Don't leave your cake in the freezer any longer than 20 to 30 minutes because the frosting will freeze
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rather than just getting cold and firm, and it will be hard work to scrape off the outer layers
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Replace the hot water as it cools, because the hotter the water, the hotter your cake comb will be
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and the easier it will be to scrape off those layers and layers of frosting
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If you prefer, you can use a blowtorch to heat the metal cake comb. Don't worry about the visible cakeboard at the bottom of these cakes
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tutorial I'll show you how to stack a tear cake and as part of that I'll be covering up these
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boards. Any other questions? Ask them in the comments. If you like the breakdown of this technique
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you'll love my online courses. Check out my cake school on British Girl Bakes.com, where I teach
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hundreds of cake decorating techniques and designs and join my Club Plus membership for access to
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every master course, mini course, live workshop and five minute Friday, where I share a tip or technique
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or demonstrate a frequently asked question in just five minutes. Thanks for watching
