The Contemporary Buttercream Bible (27 page)

dip your palette knife in hot water when you

spread the buttercream.

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To create this cake…

• 20 × 15cm (8 × 6in) square cake (bottom tier), 15

× 13cm (6 × 5in) square cake (top tier)

• 2.55–3.35kg (5lb 9oz–7lb 4oz) buttercream

• Paste colours: violet (Sugarflair Grape Violet),

lilac (Sugarflair Lilac), red (Sugarflair Ruby),

orange (Sugarflair Tangerine), yellow (Sugarflair

Autumn Leaf), light green (Sugarflair Gooseberry),

dark green (Sugarflair Spruce Green)

• Palette knife

• Small petal nozzle (Wilton 104)

• Piping bags

• Scissors

• Cake stand or covered cake board

Cover, dowel and stack the cakes (see Buttercream

Basics) and place on a stand or covered board.

Colour and thin the buttercream in the following

quantities: 250–350g (9–12oz) each of violet, lilac,

red, orange, yellow, light green, dark green, and

leave 250–350g (9–12oz) thinned but uncoloured.

Apply and blend the colours following the tutorial

and using the photograph of the finished cake as a

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guide. Then with the remaining plain buttercream

and the small petal nozzle, pipe roses using the

freezing technique so that they can be squeezed

close together more easily around the base (see

Rose and Rose Bud, Piping Flowers).

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Gradient Blending and

Painting Flowers

This is a method of blending a gentle gradient of

colour, and is great for creating a background on

which you can ‘paint’ using different palette knives.

These small tools will each give a different effect,

and we’ll show you how to use them to paint

stunning flowers. What is good about palette knife

painting is that you do not have to be precise with

the lines and shape, it is about blending. This

technique will definitely showcase the artist that

you are, or will release the hidden art talent that

you think you don’t have.

1 Select your colours and fill individual piping bags with them. Choose colours that grade from light to

dark, such as the greens we have used here. Apply a

textured covering of plain buttercream all over your

cake (see Palette Knife Brush Strokes) (A). You will

be blending the lightest of the colours with the plain buttercream before it crusts.

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A

2 To create a gradient that is darkest at the top of

the cake, for a sky-like effect for example, pipe the colour on to the top of the cake (B), then spread it

using a palette knife (see Blending). Gradually

blend it into the plain buttercream (see Tip) (C).

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B

C

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3 To create a dark to light gradient from the base of the cake, start at the bottom edge. Using the

technique described above, pipe your second colour

next to the first leaving a small gap in between.

Spread it, then blend the first two colours together

(D). Blend the lighter colour into the plain

buttercream (E).

D

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E

4 To add more colour gradient blending effect in

the background, pipe a small amount of colour on

top of the white then gradually blend to the

background (F).

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F

Tip

Do not keep stroking the dark colour into the

light as your dark colour will overpower your

light-coloured buttercream, just gradually blend

the colours.

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Palette Knife Flowers

Tip

Look at your cake as a big canvas and decide

how you will arrange your flowers. You can

help to visualize the overall design by using

tinted buttercream to pipe the centres of the

flowers so you have a guide as to their

positions.

1 For the sunflower, pipe a flower centre and guide

petals, then fill them slightly using the same colour (A). Using the shorter length palette knife, position it at a 10–20 degree angle and spread the

buttercream, following the shape of the petal you

have piped. Stroke from the base of the petal to the

tip on one side, then use the same stroke on the

other side then once more up the middle (B). Avoid

going back and forth so the finish is neat and always make sure to wipe your palette knife every after a

stroke. Repeat to create all the petals on your first flower.

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A

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B

2 You can add a shadow effect by piping a small

blob of a darker shade of tinted buttercream at the

base of each of the petals then repeat the same

strokes to blend this colour in (C). Pipe the centre

of the flower and add dots in a lighter shade for a

realistic texture (D). Repeat to create more flowers

on your cake.

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C

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