How Did They Do This? Soft Color Over Chocolate Buttercream....
Decorating By DonnaBinGrandRapids Updated 1 Oct 2013 , 10:24pm by DonnaBinGrandRapids
AI recently saw this cake an event. I am stumped! It was frosted in a chocolate buttercream, but then the top layer of green and all of the art work is in a soft icing. It is smooth. At first I was thinking air brush, but it is icing and not thick, but too thick to be sprayed on, plus, it shows a place or two,that appears it is spread on . Plus the decorations on top are hand done, and outlined in black. Are they painted on? They too are smooth. What technique made this cute cake? This is probably an easy one...but other than freezing between each layer of frosting, I can't figure out how someone would do this, and even then, to get the neatness and detail on the art is...an art. I'm including a couple of pix, one of the lovely whole cake and a 2nd one cut into so you can see the thinness of the frosting layers.
Thanks. Donna The Frosting Fairy
[IMG ALT=""]http://cakecentral.com/content/type/61/id/3110970/width/350/height/700[/IMG][IMG ALT=""]http://cakecentral.com/content/type/61/id/3110972/width/350/height/700[/IMG]
It looks like the cake was frosted in a chocolate buttercream and then another separate layer was added on top, possibly for decorations to be another color other than brown. Perhaps the top layer is vanilla buttercream colored green and then as Liz at sugar said, buttercream transfers for the decorations. hth
The green/chocolate thing is easy to figure out. Sides iced in chocolate, then green icing on the top. I have a lot of cakes in my gallery which use two colors for the base coat.
The soft icing decorations you're talking about are indeed frozen buttercream transfers. Here, have some links:
http://cakecentral.com/a/how-to-create-a-frozen-buttercream-transfer
http://cakejournal.com/tutorials/how-to-make-a-frozen-buttercream-transfer/
AYeah it looks like a frozen buttercream transfer. There are some tutorials on YouTube.
AThank you for the info everyone. There is a layer of chocolate icing on top under the buttercream. I don't know how she got the green on the chocolate without them co-mingling. I am going to have to try just to see if I can do it. The chocolate seems thicker than a crumb coat. In my world, I'd have to freeze it and have a hard surface to work on before I could do the green over the chocolate. Could you folks, who are more experienced than I, put that green icing over the chocolate icing and keep them from co-mingling? I have never done butter cream transfers, but will definitely Try them as it doesnt sound hard and sounds fun. Funny thing is....cute as this cake is, I think I was the only person at the event who was fascinated with its construction. People really do take cake decorating for granted with no thought of all that goes into it unless it's really showy and big, and sometimes those are the easy things!
It is easy to put the green buttercream on top of the chocolate without mixing the 2. I would probably refrigerate or freeze until the chocolate bc is firm to the touch and then quickly spread the green on top. It shouldn't mix as long as you treat the chocolate as a thick crumb coat. Don't go too deep while spreading the green on top. All you can do is try!! If you accidentally mix up a bit of the 2 then scrape off that spot and try again.
AI now wonder if the green might even have been one big, flat transfer, now that i uderstand the transfer process. It's so flat, smooth and thin. Donna
i don't know exactly how this particular cake was done--but most anytime i did it it was the result of a mistake where i iced it chocolate first then realized i needed a green background--nothing artful, awe-inspiring or grand there ha!
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Sure. Just put it on there and pop it in the fridge for a few minutes. Make sure your green layer is very spreadable and then go to town. The key is making sure the green isn't too stiff. Mine is the consistency of stiff whipped cream and it works great.
I think in this particular case the baker did indeed mean to frost in chocolate first because I spoke with the person who ordered the cake and she said she requested chocolate frosting....also, in looking at this bakery's web site it looks like they use this technique a lot. It really appears to be the same consistency and finish as the transfers and I am wondering if it is possible to do a large, rectangular transfer, and put that on the cake. Then put your smaller transfers on top of the base transfer. Donna
I think in this particular case the baker did indeed mean to frost in chocolate first because I spoke with the person who ordered the cake and she said she requested chocolate frosting....also, in looking at this bakery's web site it looks like they use this technique a lot. It really appears to be the same consistency and finish as the transfers and I am wondering if it is possible to do a large, rectangular transfer, and put that on the cake. Then put your smaller transfers on top of the base transfer. Donna
AThat seems like a lot of unnecessary work and you risk the rectangle breaking. I can see spatula marks in the green icing so she iced the green over the chocolate. The green is definitely not a transfer. I'm sure the icing was soft; it would have to be to ice over another color. She probably uses the same (or softer) consistency icing for the buttercream transfer. My chocolate and vanilla icings are different textures. It's actually really easy to do if you refrigerate the cake first. The buttercream gets rock hard and you can apply a great deal of pressure without it moving around on you. I have sponge painted buttercream before with no problem. Just make sure the base coat is cold and hard and then it's easy to apply a different color on top. Don't over think it!
I actually heard back from the baker and she was very nice and shared her method...which is nothing more than freehand art and frosting! She said she didn't do any transfers at all, but simply frosted the cake over the chocolate in green, and then did each design of the tunnel, tire, dog, and jump freehand. She didn't expound but I imagine she piped and then used a brush to smooth them out. Her web site is www.692cake.com She has invited me to stop in next time I'm in her area (about 2.5 hrs from where I live) and she will show me how she does what she does. I am very happy though, to have learned about the FBCT and can't wait to try it myself!
Thank you all for your amazing expertise and how nice everyone is!
Donna
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