Hello! Thanks to my adhd, my current hyperfixation has been cake decorating and this is my first time piping flowers. The color theme is inspired by the Philadelphia Eagles, as this was made this past Sunday.
I struggle most with smoothing out the cake. The base is a cream cheese frosting and all the piping decorations are a buttercream (2:1 ratio of powdered sugar and butter). I am using a cake turner as well as an icing smoother. I did crumb coat it first but still, I was spending over an hour trying to get this cake as smooth as possible but eventually gave up before beginning my pipe work.
I know that the rosettes are a bit messed up, the buttercream just kind of broke off as I was twirling my piping and I’m not quite happy with how the green/white came out. I know that my borders could have been more clean as well. The two bigger flowers I’m satisfied with, but while piping the petals the buttercream would stick to the pipe when I would lift up which I found annoying.
I want to get better and better and eventually create realistic cake art. I do this as a hobby but since my family insisted on paying me for my effort I asked for $10. I think as I get better and better, would $40 be reasonable to ask? I’ve only been doing this for less than a month but plan to try and get better and better as I have found decorating very therapeutic!
I would love any criticisms and feedback. Thank you so much for taking your time to help me out.
by tomboyqueen
11 Comments
Your piping is lovely. I bet you spent hours on it. I think your icing needs work (but way better than mine!), but the piping looks very good. Don’t be your own worst enemy. I would be very happy to pay you your costs and some for labour as a family member, and I’d buy your cake myself. I love the colours you’ve chosen too. It’s a really appealing cake.
Keep practicing!! I watched many tutorials on YouTube and Tiktok about icing cakes. I find it really all comes down to the buttercream and having the cake frozen helps too. I know cream cheese is a bit more difficult to work with!
The colors are beautiful! It is a really nice design! 🫶🏻
Ummm this is your first time piping flowers?!?! Keep it up, mine were nowhere near yours when I started. The rose looks a little like a cabbage so I would cut the diameter in half. Other than that…keep going until the ADHD makes you not even want a slice of cake for a year lol.
Omg that’s amazing for a first time!! Ur gonna learn new things as u keep making mistakes. Ig a few things I learned was to put the cake in the freezer for a bit after smoothing it out, and then using a hot offset spatula or bench scraper (dipped in hot water) to go over it again. This makes it super smooth. Also if u want u can pipe it flowers onto pieces of parchment paper, then freeze it, and then put it on the cake. That way if it’s ugly, u could just not use it.
It looks great! Especially for the first time!
A trick for a smooth finish is to use more frosting. Add a lot of frosting after the crumb coat set and scrape it off gently. I personally think it’s easier, when the cake is not super cold, because then you have more time before the butter gets solid. When the cake is at room temperature the butter is softer and a soft and fluffy frosting is easier to spread and smooth out. Another method is to go with the warm spatula at the end. Frost the cake, let it sit in the fridge and smooth it with a warm (not hot) spatula. Be careful with heat reacting colours. They change and not in a smooth and even way. Unless you want a marble effect you shouldn’t use a warm spatula on coloured buttercream.
Great job OP! I’d love that for St. Patty’s day 💚 It’s been awhile since I’ve done this kinda stuff, but I believe you might get smoother edges on your piped flowers if there was just a tad more moisture in the icing. KEEP GOING!!
Wow! I would pay $40!
I agree with what everyone else is saying, but wanted to add a bonus that when you “fix” the frosting that will also stop the breaks that are happening in your rosettes. Also don’t be afraid to offset stack your flowers to give your cake more dimension. You’re off to a great start and good job on your color saturation.
Beautiful cake! GO BIRDS 🦅
Looks pretty good