Create a dalmatian print cake and write words onto your cakes in this tutorial by Dani Brazier from Blue Door Bakery.
Equipment
- paintbrushes - size 0 and 2
- glass bowl
- plate
- cocoa butter
- Sweet Stamp Letter Set
- scissors
- edible pen
- baking paper, circle cutter and ruler, for the template
- cocktail stick
Instructions
Painting the rainbow
1. Use an edible pen to mark a rainbow-shaped template on some baking paper – you can use a circle cutter for the round top and a ruler for the sides to help. Once you are happy, cut out your rainbow shape template. 2. Place the template onto your cake and lightly mark around the shape, right in the middle of the cake using a cocktail stick. 3. Fill and boil a kettle. Once boiled, pour the water in a glass bowl and place a plate on top. Take 4-5 pieces of cocoa butter and place them onto the plate – the heat from the water will melt the cocoa butter. 
4. You can now begin to make your paint. Using the melted cocoa butter, add on some white dust and mix to make the paint opaque. Now add some colour dust and mix until you've got the shades you are after. 5. Mix the colours until you've got the desired colour and consistency – it should be like double cream. 6. Now you can begin painting. Start with the central rainbow colour so the shape is perfect. I began with green, then followed the guide line of the rainbow. When painting, use small amounts of paint on your brush. The paint dries really quickly so you can build up layers of paint if you need to. 
7. Now work through your other colours. By doing it this way, your rainbow will be central and even.
Adding the lettering
8. The paint doesn't take long to dry. As soon as its dry, you can add your lettering. I used a Sweet Stamp Letter Set. To get your letters out the storage tray, use a small ball of sugarpaste – simply press this on top of the letters and they will come out easily! 9. Position your letters, then pick up with the pad that comes with the set. 
10. Gently press around the cake so the letters emboss in the paste. You can hold a cake smoother on top to support it – this stops a hand print in the top of the cake. 11. Next, mix up some black paint using melted cocoa butter and black petal dust. Start painting the writing, using a size 2 paintbrush to paint the main part of the letters. It can sometimes go a little streaky for the first layer but complete one layer first, then go over a second time if necessary. 12. Take a small size 0 paintbrush and go around the edges of the letters, making them neater, if needed. 
Painting the dalmatian print
13. For the simple dalmatian print, take a size 2 paintbrush and a small amount of paint at at time, then use little gentle scribbles and vary the size of them. Go completely around the cake to finish your dalmatian print. 14. The cake should be totally dry within about 30 minutes. You could finish off with some ribbon around the base, if you wish.
As featured in September 2020 issue of Baking Heaven Magazine
