AHi there,

I have been away for awhile. Recently received an order for a non traditional wedding cake. Pine tree trunk with initials craved on top. The lot in buttercream. How do I achieve this, to look realistic. Any suggestions? Cake do in a less than a month.

APipe the bark on like big stripes of icing up & down -- the size of an open coupler would work well -- pipe an oval or two -- then follow that up with a fork to add texture -- don't be afraid to dig in with the fork --

Aso I use an open coupler or that size or larger cut off tip of my piping bag - because it gives a good texture so squiggle the piping on

Maybe this is not as realistic as you are looking for, or the exact color/texture you need, but I did my "bark" this way:

I tinted my buttercream (actually this is vanilla buttercream tinted brown, the person specifically requested NO chocolate....crazy, right?) three different colors -- a medium and a dark brown, then added black to make a gray-brown. Muddled them up together in the bowl, but not fully mixed, so there was a bit of a variation in the color (I don't think the picture shows this very well, though). Then I put it on really thick, and used my offset spatula to draw vertical lines, keeping them a bit irregular to look more organic. Here's the pic, hope it helps!

AThank you.

AAny other suggestions.. Please.. Not thathe the others were not appreciated.

AWhat particular/specific look are you hoping for that the above posters' instructions could not achieve?

I had to do a tree trunk, I frosted in chocolate buttercream and then I melted chocolate on a cookie sheet,

I broke it into pieces when it cooled and used it as bark, just stuck in on. this was one of the first cakes I made and I still love the bark.

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