Stencilling is a must-try showstopping technique, guaranteed to bring a contemporary finish to your cakes! This tutorial shows you how to use a stencil to create a modern, piped geometric design using royal icing – perfect for weddings, birthdays… or any occasion!
How to add a geometric design to cakes
By Emma Stewart.
You will need
Edibles
- 5in cake (5in deep) pre-covered in white sugarpaste (Smartflex)
- 7in cake (7in deep) pre-covered in white sugarpaste (Smartflex)
- 1x sheet white edible wafer paper
- Royal icing
Equipment
- Scissors
- Baking paper
- Scribing tool
- Sterilised pins
- Piping bag
- Piping nozzle (no. 1 or 2 depending on the size of dots you want)
- Geometric pattern template
- Computer and printer
Top tip! Make sure that you start with the middle of your template in line with the centre of the front of your cake. This way, if the stencil doesn’t quite match at the back you can do a trim to cover the join such as a row of pearls to simulate buttons down the back of a dress.
Prepare the geometric cake template
1. Download and print out the geometric pattern template.
2. Lay a sheet of baking paper over the template and trace the pattern onto it.
Be sure to get hold of your copy of the January 2021 issue of Cake Decoration & Sugarcraft magazine for the full tutorial by Emma Stewart which is teamed with a beautiful dried flower arrangement!
How to use your geometric stencilling template
3. Wrap the template around the 7in pre-covered cake and secure with pins.
4. Use the scribing tool or a sterilised pin to mark lots of tiny pinholes along the outline of the pattern. This does take a little time but you'll get quicker as you go.
Top tip! To speed up the pattern transfer, you could draw along the lines to give a solid outline on the cake, though you will see this between piped dots.
5. Using royal icing in a piping bag with either a no.1 or no.2 piping nozzle (depending on the size of dots you want to have), pipe dots along the pattern outline. Once finished, set aside until fully dried.
Top tip! If your piped dots have peaks to them or are misshapen, you can use a slightly damp paintbrush to pat them into shape.
6. Wrap the same geometric template around the 5in cake with one of the diamond shapes aligned with the centre of the front of the cake. Scribe the outline of one diamond.
7. Use the same piping bag from step 5 to pipe the outline on the 5in cake. Set aside until the piping is dry.
Now you know how to add a geometric pattern to your cakes, learn how to stencil flowers with royal icing!
