How To Create These Swirl Scrolls? What Icing And Tip

Decorating By shannycakers Updated 25 Mar 2014 , 7:52pm by shannycakers

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shannycakers Posted 21 Mar 2014 , 1:28pm
post #1 of 18

Hello, I have an order for a cake I have never done before, it will be fondant covered, with these swirls on it. Im assumign I should use royal icing but any tips on consistency, how to create these so they are not messy, and what tip to use would be great!! please

17 replies
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Godot Posted 21 Mar 2014 , 1:34pm
post #2 of 18

APractice.

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shannycakers Posted 21 Mar 2014 , 1:39pm
post #3 of 18

thank you for your helpful reply, I have been practicing and cannot get these quite right, which is why I am posting here for additional help or suggestions.

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natt12321 Posted 21 Mar 2014 , 1:46pm
post #4 of 18

AUnfortunately that is the bear advice, if you are already using royal icing at a consistency that is comfortable to pipe then the next step is practice practice practice.

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-K8memphis Posted 21 Mar 2014 , 1:50pm
post #5 of 18

i would suggest that you use a 3 tube to practice and use varying amounts of pressure to make the different thicknesses of  the design--as well as overpiping--

 

i picture you practicing on a table or counter top that you can hover over--stand on something if you need to--you want your arm loose from the shoulder--your arm will make a perfect arc if you just let it swing--work on that--so you are holding the bag in one hand and place the pointer finger of the other hand on the bag to help stabilize it--the action is mostly from the shoulder--

 

then when you are trying to  transfer what you've practiced to the side of a cake(use a cake pan to practice)  you need to add in the depth perception where you can get it to adhere correctly--goldilocks style--not too much not too little--but once you get the arc thing down smoothly--you will be able to get the (feel of how to) transfer to an upright piping surface--

 

in a perfect world i would just use regular american buttercream--if i could get the deep color to hold in the smbc i would use that--and i am just lazy enough to get it to work ;) i'd probably use powdered color

 

just loosen up and pipe a ton of circles and spirals and get them all  to start connecting--you'll get there

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AnnieCahill Posted 21 Mar 2014 , 1:55pm
post #6 of 18

You don't have to use royal.  You can do them in buttercream.  Make sure your icing is thin.  Not running out of the tip thin but thin enough to where you don't have to use a lot of pressure to get it to come out of the tip.  You could use a tip 3 for the smaller ones and maybe a 7 for the larger ones.

 

If you can draw the pattern into the icing or fondant with a toothpick or scribing needle then you can have something to trace over.

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-K8memphis Posted 21 Mar 2014 , 1:58pm
post #7 of 18

then you might wanna graduate to a smaller tip eventually -- and you could use different sizes too-- but varying the pressure can take care of that too--

 

oh yeah but use a small amount of icing in the bag like maybe a cup or so--this way you have better control-

 

best piping to you

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shannycakers Posted 21 Mar 2014 , 2:02pm
post #8 of 18

thank you guys soo much, this is exactly the information i needed. I hadnt thought about overpiping it. Also the only reason I initially said royal was because I thought you couldnt use buttercream on fondant with dark colors due to bleeding ... So do you suggest buttercream instead of royal for these??

 

Also how do you thing she got silver icing? make it light grey?

 

Thank you!!!!

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-K8memphis Posted 21 Mar 2014 , 2:05pm
post #9 of 18

oh and abc is nice because you can tap it down with your finger and pat it around to smoothy smooth out any booboos--and with royal you can use a moistened paint brush--and if you're lazy like me you can get your smbc cold and use your finger tip to smooth out any errant tails--

 

you can eliminate tails by backing off the pressure at the same time you pull away while you still continue to follow the arc-- so everything is continual--patting them down works too ;) no worries--

 

you wanna have no air bubbles in your icing-- you can spatula it out before you put it in the piping bag or you could sieve it if you were really industrious--

 

this is a lot of fun to do just let your arm do the work from your shoulder

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-K8memphis Posted 21 Mar 2014 , 2:06pm
post #10 of 18

you can add silver to piping gel or you can paint over royal

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AnnieCahill Posted 21 Mar 2014 , 2:08pm
post #11 of 18

Probably light gray and then painted over it with either silver luster dust or airbrush color.  If I paint on BC it has to be ice cold but if you did it in royal you could let it dry hard then paint it. 

 

A long time ago when I took cake decorating classes, meringue powder was recommended to keep the colors from bleeding.  But I've used dark colors on light colors many times without them bleeding (and without meringue powder).

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shannycakers Posted 21 Mar 2014 , 3:06pm
post #12 of 18

If I use American buttercream, do you think it would break off in travel? I would love to use my regular buttercream on this instead of royal now that you suggest it?

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AnnieCahill Posted 21 Mar 2014 , 3:41pm
post #13 of 18

I don't see how or why it would if it's right up against the cake.  If you're doing a lot of overpiping then I could see it being a problem but this looks pretty straightforward with piping them directly on the cake.

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sugarflorist Posted 21 Mar 2014 , 4:20pm
post #14 of 18

AHave you thought about using a scribe rand then tracing ouer the lines. You can even paint them on using colour dusts

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shannycakers Posted 21 Mar 2014 , 4:32pm
post #15 of 18

You are right! I could do that! I am much better at painting... this is a great idea.. thank you! I will test both out!

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AshCakes1988 Posted 21 Mar 2014 , 5:01pm
post #16 of 18

I was just going to say to Paint it on if you are not comfortable with piping :)!

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sugarflorist Posted 21 Mar 2014 , 7:34pm
post #17 of 18

AI think that painted swirls look better than piped. It looks much more free hand than piped

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shannycakers Posted 25 Mar 2014 , 7:52pm
post #18 of 18

yep I totally agree and the silver will be much easier that way! thanks:)

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