My sister and I grew up enamored by cake decorating. We spent some favorite mornings at our Aunt Joanie’s house watching her decorate wedding cakes. From the ages of 7 on, we often spent our Saturday mornings making our own creations out of buttercream. About 10 years ago, I became intrigued by more ‘homemade’ looking desserts and cakes (ala Barefoot Contessa), likely as I was establishing our own home and style and craving that home-y feeling.
In this iPad era, one of the only things Emma is allowed to watch videos of is DIY creating. She loves watching playdoh video creations and has recently become fascinated by watching cake decorating videos, too. Of course, I’m happy to encourage any hobby that interests her – especially in the kitchen. So, I’ve dusted off my pastry decorating skills and we’ve really enjoyed making buttercream creations. We created our own Youtube Video you can see in the post below.
Do you remember the decadently simple, Dripping Chocolate Heart Cake I made for Valentine’s Day a couple of years back? We transformed it this year to be covered in Buttercream Flowers.
I came across these new Flower Tips (5 for $10) recently and (like Emma) became hooked to watching videos of them and how easy they seemed. Could you really make a pretty flower by just one squeeze of the pastry bag?
Obviously Emma was swooned by the idea, as well, as we sometimes struggled to make pretty roses and flowers with our standard tips.
Making this cake was so much fun. It came together so quickly and easily – I can’t tell you how excited we were! It really felt like magic. I know that we are all can be a little intimidated by things that seem like a “professional” should do, but I would love for you all to give this a try. It is so rewarding – and really beautiful.
I tried to match my buttercream (recipe & coloring tips here) to the flowers and the bay leaf. The colors were achieved by a pale pink + yellow for the roses, and a deep green + yellow for the leaves.
You can use any shape, but the heart is so sweet for Valentine’s Day. Here is the recipe to make this Dripping Chocolate Heart Cake. Spoiler Alert : I used a boxed cake mix.
Swiss Buttercream Recipe for Flowers, here >
Step 1 : The biggest tip is to pipe the flowers on a parchment lined baking sheet, then chill them in the refrigerator. This allows them to harden to allow you to pick them up. Using a little knife or spatula to move them around is a good idea, as they soften when you touch them.
Step 2 : Then, you can place them on the cake wherever you like – and you can pick the best ones.
Step 3 : Pipe leaves in to fill in spaces. The leaves really do work magic to make it feel complete.
Step 4 : Add small real berries or flowers. I love this detail – you could use anything.
These flowers were my inspiration – a soft peachy pink Roses with deep bluish grey Privet Berries and Bay Leaves.
The Heart Cake got wrapped in a Large Pink Bakery Box and tied with a beautiful ribbon.
Essentials Used :
18″ Disposable Pastry Bag ($18)
Heart Pan (chocolate cake recipe & technique here>)
Parchment Paper ($10) (it helped to tape it to the pan)