I made another cake last night. Don't look at the roses! They are horrible. But I did take all the comments about the cornalli lace and tried it again. What do you think? And the leaves are just hopeless. I can't get a point on them. The cake is a Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake filled with chocolate pudding and iced with Chocolate Peanut Butter Icing (Hubby loves Peanut Butter).

Thanks for looking! Give me lots of pointers

Lazy_Susan

I think the cornelli looks just fine! Hard to tell when it is the same color as the icing on the cake! Maybe a little too boxy or squared in the way the design is layed out on the cake. Other than that I honestly do think it looks great!


Amy

okay, just reread my post! You might not understand what I mean by boxy or squared. I mean when you make a squiggle, try not to let it go on in the same direction (left or right) too much before you change directions! Does that made sense? Other than that, you have perfect curves in your squiggles!


Amy

How many cakes are you making a week?!? Hubby must have a wicked sweet tooth! I've been banned from making practice cakes here!

Looks lovely Susan! And no, your roses are not horrible! They look quite nice! Did you see my other posting about the leaves? It's not you, it's the tip you are using. For the life of me I don't understand why Wilton insists on making those tips, the are so aggravating!!! Try to get tip 352 and I promise you will get a point on them.

I just got done with all the wilton classes. One thing my teacher said is that the cornelli lace is not suppose to touch. With sotas they do touch ( Sotas actually touch all over ). We were learning both in class 3. I cant tell by your picture if yours are touching. Your cakes very nice , sounds yummy.
I have a question for you. Which tip do you use on your roses? My teacher used both #97 and 104. I was wondering which you used your roses are really nice.
Thank you

Thank you for the tip imformation. Your doing a great job!

Susan, I think your cake is very lovely and the yellow roses are great. On the leaves you could try this, just when they start to crust or a little before take your thumb and index finger and just pinch them to a point

I checked out your larger picture and I think your cornelli looks great kiddo! I also think your roses are coming along fine. Funny, I didn't even notice your leaves not coming to a point, until your pointed it out on your other cake. Yes, with that tip, let them set and pinch the tips with powdered sugar dipped fingers.
I have a question though, what icing recipe are you using. To me, it looks like your icing is just a bit too thin and this might be a problem with roses and leaves. Most people find the class icing the best for making roses and leaves. Not sure if you are using that one or are using one that contains butter and/or milk or cream. Or the one with loads more shortening. But for most people, the roses come out better using the recipe that uses shortening for the fat and water for the liquid.
I think your cake is lovely though, I must say. Your borders are really good and actually I think your roses still look very good inspite of the icing being a bit too thin. I think this is a pretty cake and looks yummy too!
Hugs Squirrelly

Susan some people just have hot hands that seem to melt their icing somewhat. I think your being to hard on yourself and all you need is practice like a lot of us I know I need to, but it sure is hard to find time best of luck

Wow, Susan, great job on this cake! The lace looks very good. We talked about ways to improve your roses in the other post. It looks like you need to make a stifer frosting for roses. Also, I put a blob (yes, very technical term) of icing where I will put the rose. It gives it some height when you place the rose on top.

One thing my instructor did in class with out leaf tips was to take a straight spatula and spread the opening up so it was wider. You just open it a bit, test it, open it more, and so on. I swear, she opened my tips to about 1/8 inch before I could get the leaf points working.

What leaf tip are you using? I never had any luck with the #67 but I make great ones with the #352.! As for roses, I prefer #103 to #104 because I think the #103 makes smaller, daintier flowers. I use Toba Garrett's buttercream icing for piped roses and they always turn out perfectly. And they taste good, too! People tell me that they never eat the roses on bakery cakes because they are sooooooooo sweet, but they love the ones on my cakes and actually save them to eat for last because they're so good. Here's the recipe for the icing:

2 1/2 cups unsalted butter
1/2 cup shortening
2 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp water or milk (plus more for thinning)
3 lbs confectioner's sugar
3 tbsp meringue powder
1 tsp salt

Cream butter and shortening well. Add flavoring and salt. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time. Add meringue powder. (The mixture will be VERY dry) Add the water and beat for about 8 minutes or until light and fluffy, adding more water as needed.

Good luck!

Thank-you mjw15618, I'm gong to try your icing as well. Sounds great!

You're welcome! I hope you guys love the icing as much as I do! If you don't have Toba Garrett's "The Well-Decorated Cake" it's well worth the money. I got mine for about $15 from Amazon about a year ago and I can't rave enough about it. I also have her "Creative Cookies" book and it's also wonderful.

Looks wonderful to me too. Great job.
Judy

I think your lace and roses are both wonderful. I do have a question though and I should preface by saying that I haven't taken a class... how do you get the cornelli lace to stick to the sides of a cake... I think I can figure out how to do on a flat surface, like the top of a cake... but don't know about the sides... do you have to have a tilted cake stand; one that will tip to one side? Do you need a "sticky" icing - more so than normal?
thanks

Hey Susan,

Didn't I tell you to stop being so hard on yourself

Your Corneli Lace is great and your roses are pretty...mine always look like cabbages

Your cake looks yummy

Your cornelli lace looks fine, and your roses are very nice. Roses need lots of practice, I have very few students that get roses if they don't practice. One more thing about your leaves have you tried adding a 1/2 teaspoon of piping gel to a 1 cup of thin icing, that may help your points, and don't forget to release pressure gradually as you pull your tip straight ( don't bend your wrist) as you pull. Hope this helps.