Hummingbird Topper with Fluffy Frosting Flowers~ Cake Decorating Video

June 28, 2015 By Melissa Diamond 29 Comments

In today’s video tutorial, you will learn to create a beautifully unique hummingbird cake topper complete with whimsical, fluffy frosting flowers!

The brightly colored peony & buds from today’s tutorial are similar to flowers that we’ve demonstrated in another tutorial, however, we’ve simplified the process by using a frosting that is a variation of our high ratio recipe. We have listed it below.

I could pipe these flowers all day long and never get tired of it–these are truly some of my favorite flowers to create! The hummingbird is such a nice addition to the design, and with the anchor extending from the beak, the bird appears to be flying. Enjoy the tutorial!

Materials

Hummingbird Template
Gum Paste (or Fondant with Tylose Kneaded into it)
Exacto Knife or Sharp Knife
High Ratio Frosting (*altered as explained below)
18 gauge wire (or other sturdy gauge)
Drinking Straw for anchor/barrier
Black fondant for beak
Vodka or Lemon Extract (not lemon juice)
Piping Tips: Large Petal Tips: 403, 402 & also 2D, 4, grass tip 233
Coloring Gels: Wilton Rose, Lemon Yellow, Americolor Avacado Green (hydrangea) Hummingbird: I used Americolor Electric Green, Teal, Sky Blue, White, and Red Red (there can be lots of color variation here, don’t feel limited by this list) –
Pearl Dust- optional. I dusted the hummingbird with pearl dust as a final touch
Black Food Coloring Pen for eye (or improvise with coloring gel)
Misc: Toothpicks, parchment paper, small paint brushes, tip 104 for making feather impressions in bird (optional), turntable

High Ratio Shortening for Fluffy Flowers! We slightly altered the sugar & milk amounts from our usual High Ratio Frosting Recipe. In our other more detailed video on large frosting flowers, we featured a non-dairy whipped meringue frosting recipe. I love both recipes for piping these flowers, but we were happy to find that this high ratio recipe makes a great alternative (as it is quicker to make and seems a bit more stable) and the soft, billowy consistency is very similar. Enjoy!

2 cups (386 g) high ratio shortening (We usually use Sweetex or CK Brand)

2 Tablespoons (24 g) clear vanilla extract)

½ teaspoon (2g) butter flavoring

½ teaspoon (2g) lemon or almond flavoring

2 lb. plus 1 cup (1022 g) confectioners sugar

½ cup (119 g) milk or heavy cream

½ teaspoon (2g) ( use popcorn salt because of its fine grain or let your regular salt dissolve in the milk)

Cream the shortening and flavorings. Add the confectioners’ sugar and milk, mixing slowly then gradually increasing speed. Mix 5 to 6 minutes until creamy and smooth.

The consistency can vary depending on humidity, just add more confectioners’ sugar to thicken or more milk too thin.

Comments

Dene Swearingen June 29, 2015 at 9:00 am

Can’t wait to watch this video and try this different icing recipe. I made fluffy flower cupcakes this weekend…so much fun!

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Ellen June 29, 2015 at 9:02 am

Love it!

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MsGF June 29, 2015 at 9:03 am

Looks great! The hummingbird is adorable!

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Luanne June 29, 2015 at 1:28 pm

I love this! Thank you =)

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Amairany Diaz June 30, 2015 at 1:55 pm

Looks so beautiful. ….I will try ???☺ thanks so much.

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Veronica Villarreal June 30, 2015 at 3:30 pm

love the flowers and the hummingbird… :)

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Ann Z. Chan June 30, 2015 at 5:47 pm

So cute and refreshing. I love butterflies and this hummingbird will be fun to try.
I am so happy that you continue with buttercream cakes because so many cake artists are not skilled in buttercream. We need to keep piping buttercream ALIVE and you are doing just that! Kudos to another wonderful cake Melissa!!

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cakerjoy July 5, 2015 at 9:47 pm

Oh Melissa thank you for this!Hummingbirds are one of my favorite things!I am so making this.And I have still to make these flowers look so nice!

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Melissa Diamond July 5, 2015 at 10:33 pm

Thank you all so much for your comments!! We really enjoyed making this! If you try it, we’d love to see! xo

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yummy23 July 13, 2015 at 3:49 am

Hello, just lovely. Is the cake frosted with same high ratio buttercream recipe as the flowers? Thanks in advance for your answer.

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Melissa Diamond July 13, 2015 at 5:32 pm

Hi yummy23- we did, but it’s a softer version of high ratio frosting (softer than our usual version in the Recipes section). This version has about half the sugar as we normally use and a bit less liquid. The result is a nice, soft, fluffy frosting, but it doesn’t crust as firm and so the Viva method doesn’t work quite as well. If you are needing the frosting to crust, you can reserve some of your frosting for the flowers, and then mix in some additional powdered sugar until you reach your desired consistency. I hope this helps!

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cakerjoy July 16, 2015 at 1:52 am

Melissa I made this frosting today and had success with those flowers.Well not perfect,the edges are kind of rough but I was pleased.(I posted a pic)Two questions for you.Can I freeze this as I do American buttercream?And have you made it with Crisco?The only High ratio I find here(in Canada)is at Bulk Barn and it looks discolored,I dont totally trust it from bulk like that,I may be wrong.Thats what I used today just to practice but not sure I want to serve it to people.Maybe its safe I dont know.I suppose if I use Crisco its then not HR.I want an easy recipe for these flowers!!

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Karen Merritt July 16, 2015 at 7:22 am

Melissa – what an adorable design! So glad I signed up for your classes on line. Was wondering how hard it was to find the straw after you made the peony? Looks like I would need to have something sticking out as a marker after I did my first set of petals.

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cakerjoy July 16, 2015 at 5:39 pm

another thought was if I have to keep this cake refrigerated.There is alot more milk/dairy in this recipe.Thanks again.

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Melissa Diamond July 16, 2015 at 11:54 pm

Thanks for your comments!

@Cakerjoy- We have not yet tried this with Crisco–if you do, let us know what you think! Re: refrigeration, to be on the safe side, I wouldn’t leave at room temp for an extended time–maybe just a day.

@Karen- After doing this tutorial, I thought that really it probably would have been easier to go ahead and apply the hummingbird & wire with straw barrier/anchor all at once at the end. However, if you’d rather do it as I did, I would only push the straw in partially so that you don’t lose track. It does get a bit tricky if you push it all the way in from the beginning & then pipe your flower! ;0)

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Jo August 5, 2015 at 1:11 am

Loved the peony and the gravity-defying bird Melissa! My question is about the piping tips you use. Are they Wilton or Ateco? Reason I ask is because their piping tip numbers are not the same. Just wanna make sure I order the right tips in the Internet ?

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Melissa Diamond August 5, 2015 at 9:43 pm

Thanks Jo! Strangely, the piping tips themselves have no brand identification on them–just the number (although I’ve seen them referred to as Ateco). Here are the Amazon links that I used!

Tip 401
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000VLE3Q/ref=pe_385040_127745480_pd_te_o_s_ti/183-7270713-7612614

Tip 402
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00085F88G/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Tip 403
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008GUYI72/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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Sarah R. August 29, 2015 at 4:04 pm

So pretty!!! :)

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Melissa Diamond August 29, 2015 at 4:36 pm

Thanks Sarah! ;0) xo

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Laura Kraycsi February 3, 2016 at 10:55 pm

I have to make this cake! When I saw this cake I had to join this site so I could learn how! This is the reason I joined tonight !

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Melissa Diamond February 3, 2016 at 11:12 pm

Hi Laura!! I remember you from Facebook- Welcome!! We are happy to have you, and I’m so glad that you like the tutorial! xoxo

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Valarie Edgecombe March 8, 2016 at 12:34 am

I joined class yesterday when I saw this flower. I whipped up a batch of the frosting and made the flowers, as well as roses. The frosting works perfectly. Thank you so much for this tutorial.

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Melissa Diamond March 8, 2016 at 11:33 am

Hi Valarie! I’m so happy to hear it!! xo

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Linda Reed October 11, 2016 at 5:22 pm

Melissa,
I’m a big Facebook fan of Kathy at My Sweet Things and she recommended your training. I am particularly interested in making the peonies. Question – I have only used butter in my Buttercream frostings. Can I use butter in place of the high ratio shortening? The brands of shortening you recommend, I have not seen here on the West Coast.

Love what I have seen thus far on your website. I’m an amateur baker and really enjoy decorating!

Linda

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Melissa Diamond October 12, 2016 at 1:14 pm

@Linda- Thank you for joining our site! I love Kathi’s work! –

You can definitely experiment with these flowers using your all butter recipe– You may have to play around with the consistency a bit (perhaps adding a bit more liquid, etc.) The recipe that we mentioned above gave us the most consistent results as far as nice clean edges, etc. You may find it difficult to get a clean top edge to your petals, but if it is a crusting recipe, you can always go back and tap down the edges with a small paintbrush. We’d love to hear how it goes!! Have fun experimenting ;0) xo

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Joyce Nimmo January 19, 2017 at 9:27 pm

Hello and thank you … your tutorials were very helpful. I created the hummingbird and put it on a ruffle rose cake. I’m so happy with the outcome ?

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Joyce Nimmo January 19, 2017 at 9:28 pm

Here is a close uo of my hummingbird ❤

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Melissa Diamond January 19, 2017 at 9:32 pm

Oh what a beautiful cake!! Your hummingbird is gorgeous. Thanks so much for sharing! xo

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Joyce Nimmo January 19, 2017 at 10:12 pm

Thank you so much Melissa ?

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