
Hi, I'm new here. My niece asked me to make her wedding cake. I don't decorate cakes professionally, just for my family. She wants the cake below, but I can't quite figure out the technique. It looks like the horizontal rustic buttercream technique where you just drag a small offset spatula around the cake, but I've practiced and it doesn't quite look like that. Are they using a different technique or just a really small spatula?

use the handle of a teaspoon -- try different items to make the design -- but yes you are correct -- something is held up against the cake as it is turned on the turntable -- looks to be smaller than an offset spatula -- doncha think?

and it looks as if the icing is being pushed up a bit not just indented -- see that? seems a bit angled to moi

hey -- see the double lines there sometimes? the caker may have gone around twice on each row --



I agree that it wasn't a comb, too irregular, which is part of it's charm. I have the impression, because of the depth of the grooves, that something rounded was used, like the handle of a wooden spoon maybe.

It would not have to be identical to this, @Chell2007 , to be gorgeous! Rustic buttercream is a winner, in my book, whatever the texture.



hey, you can take an old plastic lid and cut your own too
i know it will be beautiful -- best to you

I made a cake with similar texture... what I did was icing the cake in layers... starting at the top I would icing 1" all the way around ..then icing the next 1' below that but over lapping the strip of icing above it. I did this all the way down the cake.



Use a regular cake smoother with a straight edge. Hold it straight, but when you turn the turntable, put slight pressure on the bottom front corner. Make sure to hold it straight and as the cake turns, slowly move your hand up the cake, gradually and this makes the design. Keeping your arm and your hand straight, but gradually lifting your arm with help guide you to making a straight design.

Quote by @Cakelady001 on 57 minutes ago
Use a regular cake smoother with a straight edge. Hold it straight, but when you turn the turntable, put slight pressure on the bottom front corner. Make sure to hold it straight and as the cake turns, slowly move your hand up the cake, gradually and this makes the design. Keeping your arm and your hand straight, but gradually lifting your arm with help guide you to making a straight design.
Hi Cakelady001 - I did a practice cake with a small cake smoother and the indention seemed too big. That's why I was thinking a palate knife would be better. Maybe it was my technique...maybe I need to overlap the lines. Hmm...

What about a couple of really small spoons?

It looks like they have used the Wilton icing comb. But just have done a rough job of it. (Kinda like how plasterers sometimes used to applied render to houses in the 1970s... )

Do you have an icing comb? Honestly I'd just practice with the comb on a small cake then send her a picture and say "is this ok"


If you got a good reaction from the client, then go w/it. It really doesn't matter if it's slightly different......almost noone can *EXACTLY!* duplicate a pictured cake. Many decorators cannot always come up w/an exact match of their own creations.


No one seems to have suggested this. Rather than guessing how this technique was achieved, why don't you contact the decorator who created this cake. The Cake Designer llc. I found her on FB in a quick google search.
https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://m.facebook.com/The-Cake-Designer-llc-
I am quite sure she would be flattered that you would like to do a version of her cake. After asking her permission to use her design, quite sure she will share how it was done. I would share if asked.


I'm not a professional by any means. And actually, I coukd care less if someone copied my cake. I've been asked on fb cake pages I belong to share a technique, recipe, etc. But this decorator is in business, whole different ball game. Personally I feel it's the polite thing to do ask decorators permission. But since this design is so very common, she's really only sharing her own version/technique. I would certainly give it a shot, couldn't hurt to ask.
And by the way, I think the end of a thin wooden spoon was used as was previously posted. Pushed in and turning your turntable at the same time. Created the indentations and the small ridges. Whenever I want to try something new, I use a overturned bowl and practice on that. Easier to scrape the icing off, and try again.
Good luck with your cake.

Perhaps this was addressed in a previous message as I only scanned them. The key to this technique is a turntable. It's a very easy technique to do and you can do it in seconds. As long as you have a turntable, you can use any tool for different effects. I have always used my angled frosting knife. With your freshly frosted cake, start at the bottom (or top center of the cake) and keep the turntable spinning as you run your knife into the frosting. It only required very slight pressure and you can easily make corrections and change the spacing as you're turning the table. It took longer to write this than it takes to do it, literally.
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