Buttercream Petals Girl

You will need:

For the cake:

• 20cmx10cm (8x4in) high round cake

To decorate:

• black buttercream (Wilton Black)
• brown buttercream (Wilton Brown Marron)
• white buttercream (Sugarflair superwhite)
• ivory buttercream (Wilton Ivory Marfil)
• green buttercream (Wilton Leaf green)
• yellow buttercream (Wilton Golden yellow)
• purple buttercream (Wilton Violet)
• pink buttercream (Wilton Rosa)

Equipment:

• piping bags
• cocktail stick
• scissors
• palette painting knives
• Wilton nozzles 352, 103, 81 and PME 57R nozzle
• flower nail
• cake scraper
• Wilton gel colours
• palette knife
• greaseproof paper

Method:

1. Crumb coat the cake using a palette knife and let it rest for a minimum of 1 hour.
2. Cover the cake with an even layer of buttercream and smooth using a cake scraper.
3. Trace your chosen image onto a sheet of greaseproof paper and cut it out.
4. Place the cut out design on your cake and using a cocktail stick, trace this onto the cake.
5. Using buttercream in piping bags with a hole cut at the tip, pipe a border along the traced design – half ivory and half white for the arms, legs and backside of the girl, purple for the dress etc. as shown.
6. Use a painter’s palette knife to smooth the buttercream.
7. Using the purple buttercream and 57R nozzle, pipe a couple of rows of small flowers on the dress of the girl. For this, place the nozzle in a 30-degree angle and pipe short petals, applying firm pressure and pulling gently to form a tapered end.
8. Using the pink buttercream in a piping bag fitted with the 57R nozzle, pipe some more small flowers. Finish off by piping small dots in the middle of the blooms to create the centre of the flower by using yellow and white buttercream.
9. Using purple and white buttercream in piping bags with a small hole cut at the end, pipe the details of the dress – small dots for beads, white bow, purple straps etc.
10. Using green and yellow buttercream in piping bags with a small hole cut at the end, pipe long strands to resemble grass. Smooth it using a palette knife.
11. Take a flower nail and stick a piece of square greaseproof paper on top of it with some buttercream. Using the pink buttercream and the 103 petal nozzle, pipe some simple flowers. Position the nozzle at a 30-degree angle, the wider end touching the middle of the flower nail and the narrow end facing upwards. Apply even pressure to release a fan shaped wavy petal.
12. Continue and pipe five more petals as you rotate the flower nail slowly.
13. Using the piping bag with yellow buttercream, fill the gap in the middle of the flower.
14. Using the piping bag with green buttercream, pipe small dots around the yellow centre to define the middle of the flower. Pipe this flower in multiple colours (purple, pink, white and two-tone purple and white).
15. Using the purple buttercream and the 81 petal nozzle, pipe some small chrysanthemum flowers. On the flower nail, pipe some purple buttercream in a circle and fill it.  Starting from the middle, place the nozzle at ninety-degree angle and pipe two upright petals facing each other.
16. Continue piping more upright petals around it (4-5 layers) until a small chrysanthemum is formed.
17. Freeze the blooms for 15 minutes or so, until firm to touch.
18. Using the brown buttercream in a piping bag with a small hole cut at the end, pipe small dots to resemble a basket. Using yellow buttercream, pipe small dots to resemble flowers in the basket.
19. Using the brown and black buttercream in a piping bag with a small hole cut at the end, pipe strands of hair.
20. Using a pair of scissors, transfer the frozen blooms onto the cake.
21. Using the green buttercream with a 352 leaf nozzle, pipe small leaves in between the flowers. Place the nozzle at a 30-degree angle and apply firm pressure to release a good amount of buttercream, which will form the base of the leaf, then gently pull away, decreasing pressure to create a neat tapered end.
22. Using purple buttercream and the 57R nozzle, create similar small flowers as in the dress of the girl (step 8)to fill any gaps.
23. Using purple buttercream and the 57R nozzle, pipe some petals on the top section of the cake.
24. As in Step 11, pipe and freeze some blooms using two-tone buttercream bags (filled with half purple and half white buttercream) and purple buttercream with the 103 nozzle.
25. Using a pair of scissors, transfer and arrange these blooms around the cake like a border.
26. Finish off by piping some leaves in between the blooms using a green piping bag fitted with the 352 nozzle.

TIP: You can add more blooms/leaves to fill any gaps. A cocktail stick is a great tool for any fixing any piping mishaps and also for shaping petals/flowers.   Find more of Neetha's stunning cakes on her Facebook.