First attempt at a buttercream dragon sitting on a castle. (First two pics are the final cake). I don't know how to make it look more real. If anyone has ideas, please let me know. The goal is that the entire thing is edible and not fondant:
- Castle:
- Gray buttercream crumb coat, froze it for 30 minutes
- Used a big spatula to try and make the sides flat. Fridged for 1/2 hour.
- Pressed in with a butter knife to make the rock lines.
- I'd like to add the spaced squares that go on top of a castle, but how?
- Is there a way to make the edges where the walls meet more square edge vs rounded?
- Dragon:
- I mixed cake with cream cheese and powdered sugar so it was like a clay consistency, then shaped a rough dragon.
- Purple buttercream crumb coat, froze for thirty minutes (last pic)
- Plopped dragon on top of castle and used pretzels as supports for the tail
- Used an 83 wilton tip to make scales with the buttercream, but it looks like fur :(. I fridged the frosting for 10 minutes and the cake for 10 minutes whenever the frosting seemed to warm. I started at the tail and worked towards the head. How could I make the scales not look like fur? (in progress, second to last pic)
- Claws/spikes/eyes are these Wilton cake melts, using a knife to cut the shape.
- Used a pink edible marker to color the eyes
- The horns are pretzels rolled in edible glitter
- I used a pretzel to poke indents for the nostrils
I don't even know what else to ask. Do you have any other ideas?
Thank you for any comments!
I couldn't add more photos to the post, but here are three more closeups.
by FallsDownMountains
33 Comments
A stiffer consistency might help quite a bit, then it’ll hold shape for the spikes and whatnot.
It looks like maybe the bag got warm in your hand and a little melty?
Also, purple (red, grey, black, dark blue) are all harder colors to get the shade right without compromising the consistency, try making it a couple days ahead of time to let the color develop a little more
You’ll for sure get there!
Have you considered modelling chocolate? Fondant is edible but if you mean/want delicious… fair point haha
Thicker buttercream. Try different tips. I also would say even though its frustrating dont put lots of buttercream in piping bag at a time as your hands will warm it too quick and give you inconsistent finish lacking definition
I had similar issue with ermine buttercream flowers too cold the edges werent smooth and too warm had less definition and looked slightly greasy
I just had to say, I think this looks really good already. The sharper edges and tips will give it a good finished look, but this softer look makes me think baby or adolescent dragon.
Also don’t forget the final touches. Whenever I made cakes I always felt like it didn’t have the wow factor until I added little decorations, some sparkle, etc.
If you were to do this again, I think a thin sprinkle of green edible glitter over top of the purple would look very nice and give it some depth. Also, maybe you could use a brighter red for the eyes
I think it looks brilliant but if you want it to look more like scales you could try something like in this video (mark 5:02).
Use a lighter color and maybe airbrush for depth?
Italian buttercream would be your best bet in my opinion
I’d eat this cake
Amazing! I would give the eye a little vertical slit for the pupil. I don’t know how you achieved that with buttercream!
Maybe give the cake time to chill periodically so the icing in the bag and on the cake stays stiff.
Modeling chocolate is also very easy to sculpting with and tastes a million times better than fondant, should you ever wish to explore other methods.
I think trying it in a different color would be interesting. You could make a red one, and in the piping bag put a thin stripe of black or darker red on the sides, so each scale that comes out has depth and shading. Or keep it this color, but do a more saturated hue on the edges of the bag for the same effect.
As is, any kid who receives that cake will probably remember it for the rest of their life. We’re all our own worst critics!
Not sure if it’s a global thing but in Australia we have chocolate coins. Every dragon needs a hoard to guard
This is frigging amazing. Especially as a buttercream creation.
I don’t have tips but I think this is awesome.
Look, I appreciate the philosophy of continuous improvement as much as the next guy, but congratulations and fuck you.
Bless you for not using fondant!
Maybe airbrushing to add dimension. But otherwise this looks great!
It’s so awesome! I feel like some different colored scales in certain places would make it ever better. Or at least maybe lighter purple closer to the underside?
I made a dinosaur for one of my nephews years ago. My hand regretted it, but…I used a round tip to make the scales. I did little blobs and then drug the tip back through to make them teardrop-ish shaped (the intent was to use a spoon/knife tip to flatten the blobs, but the tip worked well enough to get the effect I wanted). I mixed up a variety of greens and some brown and strategically varied them across the dino body to give some depth and variation.The fine details I used marshmallow fondant, which is just melted marshmallow and powdered sugar. Modeling chocolate would also be a good choice, and that is what I tend to use more of nowadays because it’s less annoying to mix up. You can make up modeling chocolate with candy melts to make different colors.
I would suggest a leaf tip for the scales, overlapping. Time consuming, but striking
You can paint the scales with luster dust mixed with vodka. It will take time but it will give it depth and sparkle.
I have heard that if you beat buttercream with an immersion blender it darkens the color. I have not tried this myself
To make the edges more square I’d use a bench scraper rather than a spatula – makes it easier to get an accurate right angle and clean edges. Dip it in hot water between scrapes to get the frosting nice and crisp.
Change your piping tips to the leaf tips. On top of the consistency of the icing which needs to be a bit firmer, the leaf tips will look more like scales over all and u can get large ones for a more cartoon style scale or small tips for more intricate, complex designs.
Still a pretty great dragon imo.
I’m no expert. Just a person with passion and minimal talent who has tried to prevent my frosting from melting.
One thing I have learned is to whip my butter while it’s still a little bit colder and not completely room temperature. It’s helped and the friction from the mixer seems to help get it to a creamed state rather than chunky. You’re very talented and creative – best of luck!
Focusing on the castle because unfortunately I couldn’t tell what he was sitting on and I think the dragon looks pretty great already. The lines should be offset like a bricklaying pattern, not one block directly on top of the other. I’d focus on getting the base smooth and then pipe the lines by hand in a different color (either a darker gray or a lighter) instead of carving them in.
I hope I don’t get downvoted for suggesting this, but you want to decorate with something delicious. I highly recommend marshmallow fondant. It’s easy to make and yummy. You can flavour it with vanilla extract to make it taste even better. Also, it has the bonus of being waaaay easier to worth with than regular fondant.
I’d use a toothpick to draw the lines. And not go so deep.
Double bag your icing so the warmth from your hands takes longer to get through.
Don’t beat your frosting a lot. The more you do, the softer it will become. Also, if your recipe has heavy cream you may want to find one without for the same reason.
You could also use rice crispy treats for the dragon instead of the cake/ cream cheese mixture.
I hope you do this again and show us!!
Maybe you can try palette knife to layer scales
There’s a cake decorator Hans Westermark who makes all sorts of cake/cupcake designs using buttercream, it’s incredible! He basically paints with buttercream
I’m also pretty sure he’s done a dragon cake
I highly recommend following him- Instagram is @hanswestermark
You could play around with doing a darker version of the color you use for the dragon (purple in this case) around the lighter one in the piping bag to get some shading? Not sure if partially or fully surrounding the lighter color but that’s why I said play with it lol
Could even do light, dark, and black frostings in one bag.
Idk if anyone else has said already- I scrolled through a lot of comments and didn’t see it a glance-
I would use a multi-color trick of some kind for the dragon scales. Either straight up 2 colors in the piping bag, or a thin streak of food coloring gel in the bag before you load the buttercream in. That on top of using a crusting buttercream will add a ton of dimension to the dragon.
As far as making the castle, I think you’re asking how to make the battlement? I’m not 100% how I’d do it without fondant, but probably I’d cut squares and attach them to the cake, then ice it with a flat tip. But I’m sure someone has a better idea.
[Italian buttercream ](https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/italian-buttercream-recipe)
I think it depends on how neurotic/detail oriented you wanna get.
If I had a ridiculous amount of time, I’d be tempted to (over the course of a few days, with something binge-able on the tv) sculpt a mess of scales out of modeling chocolate. Maybe luster dust them? Dunno how completely over the top the desired outcome is. Frost the cake with a slightly thick crumb coat, and pop the scales on before the frosting can get crispy.