How to Pipe Two-tone Swirls on Cupcakes - Tutorial

I love the look of the two tone buttercream piped onto cupcakes, especially when using the rose swirl, as it is very effective and very pretty.

 When I first wanted to try doing this, I asked Mr Google and he told me to put the food colouring down one side on the inside of my piping bag. The more I thought about this, the more I was worried that it would be easy to use far too much colouring and also that it could easily produce a very uneven look to the colour. So I came up with the following way of doing it.

 First I put half of my uncoloured buttercream onto a piece of clingfilm:

Then I coloured the other half and put it on top of the uncoloured pile:

I then folded the clingfilm over the top and squished the two piles together:

I tied one end of the clingfilm into a knot to stop the buttercream squeesing out, and I cut the other end up close next to the buttercream. I then put the 'package' into a piping bag fitted with a 1M tube and started piping. Simples!!

 The effect is quite random (the first swirl had hardly any pink in it) but that is the beauty of the two tone swirl - each cupcake is individual.
 There's no reason why you couldn't adapt this technique to do a third colour, although I fear that four or more colours might look a little 'busy.

How to Make a Parcel-burst Cake - Tutorial

I have always been impressed when I have seen cakes with 'things' apparently bursting out of the top of them and I thought I would share with you how I put one together recently.

I decided that I would airbrush the cake afterwards, rather than colour the fondant beforehand. I'm not sure that was such a great idea now, but I was happy with the end result so it all turned out OK in the end.

So first of all I rolled out some fondant and used the tin I baked the cake in as a 'cutter' to make a circle the right size to go on the top of the cake.

I then cut out a circle of greaseproof paper, using a smaller tin as a guide, and popped that on top of the fondant circle, before covering the cake properly.

 

I then lightly placed the smaller tin on the top of the cake which left a slight indentation that I could use as a guide to cut slits into the fondant. Be careful when doing this. The greaseproof paper acts as a guard to stop you from cutting through the second layer, but if you put too much pressure on the knife/cutter then it will pierce the paper and the layer underneath. Once I'd cut the slits, I peeled back the pieces and gently curled them into a nice shape.

 

I then was able to remove the greaseproof paper to reveal the perfect layer of fondant underneath to protect the cake. I had thought that I would be able to simply 'pinch' the paper to pull it out, but it proved more difficult than I anticipated. In the end I used the point of a knife to gently hook it out, strategically choosing a place where I knew the topper would be inserted so that any blemish wouldn't be visible.

I then set about airbrushing the cake. As the fondant still  had a little flexibility at this stage, I was able to place a sheet of paper towel under each of the pulled back pieces to protect the main body of the cake while I airbrished it in red. I then did the rest of the cake blue and managed reasonably sucessfully not to get blue contaminating the red parts. Obviously it would be easier to do this with pre-coloured fondant, but I don't seem to like doing things the easy way :o)

I think the end result is quite effective, and it certainly adds an extra dimension to a cake.

This is just the way I worked out how to do this - if you have other tried and tested methods, I would love to hear about them!

Most Popular Cake?

I frequently am asked if there is a particular cake which I have requests for time and time again. Unsurprisingly, I think, chocolate cakes are very popular and I am often given the remit of 'chocolate, chocolate & more chocolate'.

In these instances I usually suggest this design of cake. It is eminently adaptable and so can be individualised to each client depending upon their budget and degree of 'chocolateyness' required. The ultimate is to use Belgian chocolate cigarillos around the edge of the cake and this has become a popular choice for wedding cakes; but for occasions with smaller budgets, there are plenty of alternatives available which still give a stunning looking cake. It is also a good design option for cakes for men, who obviously don't want anything frilly & fussy! 

In the picture above the client chose chocolate fingers and crushed flake, but I have seen many different chocolate snack bars used for the edging and it is always effective. The version of this cake that I have done with the biggest 'wow factor' has to be this three tier birthday cake:   

 

The lines on the cafe-curls really add to the impact of the design and are a nice contrast to the concentric circles created by the chocolate balls used for the topping. The chocolate sponges were filled with chocolate ganache to give a really luxurious edge to the mouth-feel of the cake - yum yum! 

All that Glitters is Not Gold

Recently in UK caking circles there seems to have been a bit of a stir about glitter on cakes - is it edible or not?


Often packaging has been confusing or misleading, and the situation hasn't been helped by people seeing TV chefs using the stuff with gay abandon on their creations.


The Foods Standards Agency (FSA) has decided to take a close look at what is going on. You might like to read this letter from the FSA to the Director of Trading Standards regarding the misuse of these products.


In very simple terms, there are glitters (and dusts) on the market which are labelled as being foodsafe and 'non-toxic'. These are not the same as 'edible'. What it means is that they are safe to come into contact with food items, but they are not designed to be consumed (although  if consumed they aren't toxic). These glitters are intended to be removable decoration, not consumed along with the food item.


My black and white shoe cake is an example of non-toxic glitter being used in the correct way - while being perfectly food safe, the shoe is not intended to be eaten and was removed completely from the cake before consumption.


At Canterbury Cakes you may see glittery decorations, which can be easily removed (and when you collect your cake you will be advised as such), but you will never see our any of our cakes with glitter applied in a way that it cannot be removed  - as a result, perhaps the cakes may not be as pretty and sparkley as some things you may see on the web, but I take the safety of my clients very seriously and when you think about what glitter actually is (see what Wikipedia has to say), small particles of plastic and metal, would you really want to be eating it? I certainly wouldn't!   

How to Make Coral for a Novelty Cake

I am decorating a nautically themed cake this week and the great thing about this kind of cake is that you can include loads of little details, which is always good fun. As well as obvious sea-life such as fish, crabs and seaweed, I like to add the impression of a coral reef as I think this sets off the theme beautifully. I used this technique previously when making Emily's Octonauts Cake and it really added something to the impact of the cake. I'm not sure where I picked up the technique (so I unfortunately can't credit anyone), but it's simple and quick and I am sure you will love it!  


So, all you need to make some realistic(ish) looking coral is some royal icing (any colour will do; the more the merrier!) and some grape stalks...yes, you read that right, grape stalks!

Cut the big grape stalk into smaller pieces that you think will look interesting 

Then go to work piping the royal icing onto it - it isn't an exact science so just stick it on there and you can always use a cocktail stick to manipulate it around the 'branches' a little if it's not looking quite to your liking

Once it's covered all over, leave it to dry and then

arrange it with other coloured corals, a bit of sea-life and some weed - voila, a mini-coral reef!

What do you think?