In this short video tutorial, I'm going to demonstrate a beautiful buttercream piping technique that would be perfect for cakes of all occasions. The cake in our tutorial with it's white on white piping would make a beautiful wedding, anniversary, or bridal shower design.
For a more whimsical feel, add colorful piping instead! I love this style of decorating as it is very forgiving and the options are endless! We hope that you enjoy it!
Materials:
The tiers that I decorated in this tutorial are 8 inch and 6 inch. (The bottom tier is about 5 inches high and the 6 inch is about 4 inches high). They are frosted with our fluffy vanilla buttercream recipe and as usual, each tier is on it's own cardboard cake circle cut to the size of the cake. The top tier is supported by 4 bubble tea straws beneath it which are cut to the height of the bottom tier. We also chill our tiers until the buttercream is firm before stacking.
Vanilla Buttercream of choice (we used our Fluffy Vanilla Buttercream recipe)
Piping tip 6 (We used Ateco brand)
Fresh Flowers- We used mini roses. (Make sure that the flowers used are non-toxic)
**You can find out from research online or from your local florist if your flowers are safe to place onto the cake. Even if they are safe, if you are unsure if they have been treated with anything, you can gently wash and dry (as usual) and place a small barrier of parchment paper beneath which will not be noticeable.
As I mentioned in the video, these roses did not have a water source. Roses generally hold up very well for several hours. Ours still looked good on the cake after 6 hours at room temperature. However, water picks or oasis foam are recommended for flowers that either don't hold up as well or that will be on the cake for a very long time before the event.
Gorgeous! I love it! Did you pipe on the top of the cake as well? Looks like you did :-) Beautiful!
Thanks MsGF!! Yes, I did continue the same pattern on top, forgot to mention it but I think I can find a photo! ;0)
Very Pretty!!! Just curious, what do you do with all the cakes you make?
Very beautiful!
Very pretty! Which icing recipe did you use? It looks very white, so nice to pipe.
I found it ? I Will have to try it.
Love this Melissa. So pretty!! I love the tiny roses too. I know that you said that you washed them, and I know that roses are not toxic, but how do you ensure that there are no aphids in them?? What a shock that would be to see a tiny visitor on my cake!!!!
Gorgeous! ?
Watched again...as you piped onto the surface of each tier, those tiers buttercream is crusted or not? When I pipe rosettes on to cakes, the buttercream isn't crusted. I did once when crusted, and some of the rosettes fell off...
Hi Paula, these were just stacked and so they would have still been a bit cold (I always chill in the freezer for about 15 minutes or so before stacking). However, with this sort of piping, you don't have that same worry of sliding/falling as you may run into with heavier buttercream piping techniques like rosettes or ruffles. I agree that with those, it's best to pipe onto a freshly frosted cake.
Thanks so much Melissa. Such a cute idea and I love the little roses too. They were a beautiful touch! And I think you said that you just stuck them into the, buttercream, not the cake. Did you make a mound of buttercream just for the roses? I have the straws and floral tape, but I don't think you need that if just putting into a mound of buttercream, which I imagine would be scraped off?
Hi Paula, yes that is what we did. If you are worried about the flower stems coming in contact with the cake, you could use a barrier as you mentioned or put down a little circle of parchment beneath, but for this cake the stems were short and we just used a little buttercream to keep them secure and for a little height.