Three “umbrella categories or approaches,” which most of the different succulents fall under, come to mind when I start out to pipe buttercream succulents. These are simply classifications I came up with to help me acquire a nice variety. The basic procedure is the same for each of these categories, but the variations are unlimited by altering the piping tips, colors, and sizes.
The following three subcategories are the three:
- Long Cactus Anything that has been piped vertically is what I refer to as this. Small white spikes and/or flowers added as a final touch can make these appear great. By pipping them large or little, short or tall, you may provide variation. To produce various textures, use tip shapes like stars, rounds, leaves, or petals.
- Marooned Bush
- I am aware that. The name is odd, but it’s what pops into my thoughts at the moment and I’m at a loss for ideas. The method is precisely what it says it is. Buttercream should be piped into a mounded shape that resembles a small shrub using a star or round tip. Change the length or thickness of each piped portion to further provide variety.
- “Round Piping
- This category comprises piping with designs like roses, spirals, or concentric rings. Using concentric circles of piped leaf shapes is effective. Additionally, you can see in the image below how I piped three very different succulents with the same petal tip by simply rotating the tip.
- “Fillers” is a bonus category.
- You may have heard the recommendation that every container should include a thriller, filler, and spiller if you’ve ever made flower planters. It should therefore contain something tall, something to occupy empty space, and something that extends beyond the edge. This suggestion, in my opinion, equally applies to a cake decorated with buttercream succulents! After placing the initial succulents, you might want to go back and add more icing dots. Another thing I enjoy doing is using a basic round tip to make this tiny “string of pearls cascading down the side of the cake.”
Buttercream can you pipe flowers with it?
You’ll probably be surprised to learn that just much ANY type of buttercream, whipped cream, or ganache can be piped with. Although the petal edges of a stiffer buttercream, like American Buttercream, will be slightly more jagged because to the additional powdered sugar, it will be more sturdy against heat. Another benefit is that they are more resistant to injury after they crust.
I prefer to pipe my flowers using simple buttercream icing because the edges are smoother but more heat-sensitive. To make the flowers more robust, you can swap out all or some of the butter in my simple recipe for buttercream frosting.
Simple buttercream flower trick
After making your buttercream, mix it on low with the paddle attachment for 10 to 15 minutes to ensure that it is smooth and bubble-free.
How do you decorate a cake with actual succulents?
Your big day is approaching quickly! The cake is prepared, the speeches are written, and the band is scheduled, but do you still feel like something is missing? We’ve got you covered with these simple, do-it-yourself cake toppers, so don’t worry. You may create just amazing decorative touches that will give the dessert of your choice for your wedding in a few short minutes with fresh flowers and succulents. If we’ve ever seen an alternative to the traditional cake figures, this is it.
Easy, DIY fresh floral or succulent wedding cake toppers
Two affordable toppers that are worthy of Pinterest and will add some elegance to any wedding cake.
What you’ll need is as follows:
- tubes measuring 125mm
- hefty shears or little garden shears
- Medium-sized succulents with roots
- little blooms with connected stalks
This is how you do it:
1. Cut the succulent’s root off.
2. Tightly cram the succulent inside the test tube. The test tube should be gently inserted into the cake’s top.
3. Repeat step 2 and scatter additional succulents among the cake’s other layers.
4. Fill the test tubes with water before starting the blossoms. Then repeat the procedure with the blooms, trimming the stems to a precise fit. Place additional blossoms in additional test tubes and arrange them close to one another for more volume to fill the cake to your preferences.
You can quickly and easily transform an ordinary cake into a sophisticated dessert using this quick and simple trick!
Can I make buttercream flowers in advance?
Buttercream flowers can be made days, weeks, or even months before they are needed. They’ll keep for several months in the freezer or, as I mentioned previously, at least a week in the refrigerator.
The optimal time to schedule your flower piping will depend on how much space you have in your refrigerator and freezer. You should be good to go as long as you have them tightly wrapped and intend to utilize them within a few months.
Being able to pipe flowers one day and use them the next is relieving for me. I don’t want to rush through making a cake because I prefer to take my time with assignments.
How is buttercream made to bloom?
I appreciate you being with me today. Grab a cup of coffee, find a quiet area, and let’s talk. I have some lovely cupcake images to share with you.
Many thanks to everyone who inquired about my healthy banana bread recipe last week. Keep a look out for that in the upcoming weeks as I will be getting to it. A big “hoorah” goes out to everyone who made my Bushwalker Biscuits from two weeks ago as well. I appreciate you letting me know how much you and your families have enjoyed the images because I have really enjoyed them all.
In addition to experimenting with a new technique for “blooming” Swiss meringue buttercream, which is a way of getting a really dark, intense color frosting, I had planned on releasing this week my best-ever chocolate cupcake recipe. Due to the temperamental nature of SMBC—which is, to put it bluntly, as emotionally unstable as a menopausal mother—adding a lot of gel paste color might change the buttercream’s consistency and render it unworkable. Alternately, you can dramatically darken the color by “blooming” about a quarter cup of colored buttercream by melting it in the microwave for five seconds. The remaining buttercream in your batch is then added, and finished! Theoretically, you obtain the darkest, richest, and smoothest color. (For a large amount of buttercream, you might need to repeat this blooming procedure several times and also add extra gel paste.)
The operative word here is “in theory.” Despite using two bottles of gel paste, I was still unable to achieve the truly romantic indigo shade of blue I was looking, and the color ended up staining everything in its path. Four days later, I’m still working on getting it out of my fingernails. My buttercream naturally split and turned out odd (I warned you it would be annoying), but I was able to reheat it and it largely came back together long enough to pipe. I was content in the end.
Nevertheless, by the time I had the cupcakes iced, adorned, and shot, I realized you couldn’t actually see much of the delectable chocolate cupcakes, so my grand idea to share the recipe with you has ended up in the trash with the cupcakes. Never fear, my friends; I’ll take on the challenge of whipping up some chocolate cupcakes with a simple, white vanilla bean frosting so you may admire the wonderful intricacies.
We may still savor these lovely images in the interim. Don’t you just adore the color, for real? Ahhh. And how admirably they complement the pansies’ rich violet color. It’s still with me.
All of this is to say that I’ve made showing up consistently one of my creative goals for this year. Many years have passed during which I have been unable to create, have been deterred from producing, or have just pushed creation so low on my priority list that it hasn’t happened at all. After over two decades of homeschooling, I thought it was time to use my imagination outside of the box once more this year, now that all of my kids are in school.
I’ve come to the conclusion that showing up is the most important thing I can do to improve my baking, styling, and photographing talents. Continue returning to my kitchen, arranging shoots, baking, experimenting with new dishes and flavor combinations, taking photos, learning new things, and developing my talents. Although it may seem simple, it has been such a revelation to me that by simply coming up week after week, my abilities will improve and I will get closer to finding my own distinctive style in the oversaturated world of cake photographs. Actually, I’m super excited! Ha!
Do you want to know what movie I now think is the best in terms of original design? Cruella. Yes!! Together at last… Cruella Deville, Cruella Deville, Cruella Deville… Have you witnessed it? My, my, my! When I saw it in the theater, I struggled to stay seated and had to contact a grunge-loving friend halfway through to try to contain my excitement before I lost it. It was AMAZING! The one thing that screamed out at me the entire time, aside from the unbelievably gorgeous costumes, cosmetics, and magnificent dresses, the startling colors, and the crazily over the top steam punk excess of pretty much everything, was;
She is undoubtedly a cunning villain in the making, but amazing! You have to admit that Miss Cruella was born to stroll with spectacular style and brilliance. About this diva, nothing ordinary. I adore it when, after battling with her friendlier alter ego Estella, she finally gives in to being Cruella. Giving up control over your life and accepting and appreciating your uniqueness may be liberating. Ah, that’s great!
One of my favorite sequences is when she first says, as a misfit youngster, “I suddenly knew for the first time in my life, that I belonged” as she walks into a room full of glamorously quirky fashionistas.
Have you ever had a “A-ha” moment where you realize that you were doing something you really love because you were born to do it? That’s how I feel about using my photography and cupcakes to create beauty. In fact, I firmly believe that each of us possesses that something deep within; but, discovering it might often take years or even a lifetime. But allow me to encourage you, my friends: keep doing whatever it is that makes you feel alive! Continue to be present, continue to discover your gifts, make use of the resources you now have, and figure out how to make it work in your hectic schedules. Continue to go toward your creative destiny. I recommend trying pottery instead, unless you have a particular love in the dainty black and white coats of Dalmatians.
How can icing be prevented from melting while being piped?
As you continue to pipe, buttercream melts from the warmth of your hands. The trick is to keep your hands as cool as you can or to have two bags on hand so you can switch them out as soon as one starts to soften. Keep the bags chilled. Because royal icing only contains sugar and egg whites, it doesn’t melt as easily as butter icing. It’s likely that you are piping in a humid location or that it wasn’t made to the proper piping consistency because moisture will make it very loose. Another possibility is that the mixing dish had a minuscule amount of grease or maybe an eggshell speck. In such instance, the egg whites wouldn’t have been able to develop a good, robust consistency. Use boiling water to scorch items and then wipe everything down with either white wine vinegar or lemon juice using kitchen paper towels to ensure that all greasy residue is eliminated. If at all possible, avoid using clean cotton towels because they can still retain greasy fibers. Keep an eye out for microscopic eggshell fragments. I either use fresh whites without straining the egg white through a little plastic tea strainer that has never been used for anything else to eliminate bits of egg shell, or I do this. Other participants will very doubt share their own strategies for getting rid of egg shells.
If you use a lot of egg whites, you could get cartons of pasteurized whites from the grocery store. By doing this, egg yolk waste and the need to use them up in other dishes would be avoided.
Buttercream should be pipeable at what consistency?
Due to its simplicity and speed of preparation, buttercream frosting has long been a favorite among bakers and cake designers. Shortening, butter, sugar, milk, and vanilla are all ingredients in the basic recipe, but you can change it however you like! To vary the flavor of your buttercream, add fruit, chocolate, or peppermint extract.
Check out our Easy Vanilla Buttercream Frosting for a quick and delicious recipe. This recipe makes it simple to alter the frosting’s consistency, making it ideal for novices and decorators of all skill levels.
Stiff Consistency Buttercream
Buttercream of a stiff consistency is used for dimensional decorations that must hold their shape after being piped. Buttercream roses and flowers with erect petals fall under this category.
Prepare the vanilla buttercream frosting according to the recipe’s instructions to give your buttercream a stiff consistency. Buttercream should have a firm consistency as a result. If your buttercream isn’t stiff enough, though, you can gradually add additional powdered sugar, about 1 tablespoon at a time, to make it thicker but still pipeable. Your frosting should continue to have a crisp peak even after inserting your spatula into the buttercream.
Add extra milk, about 1 teaspoon at a time, to thin up buttercream if it is too thick and won’t pass through a piping tip.
Wilton White Decorator Icing, which has a stiff consistency, is also available for purchase.
Medium Consistency Buttercream
The most adaptable of the three buttercreams is the medium consistency variety. It’s frequently used for decorations that will stay reasonably flat, including borders with stars, dots, and shells.
Prepare the vanilla buttercream frosting according to the recipe’s instructions to obtain a medium consistency. After all the sugar has been added, for every cup of stiff frosting, add 1 teaspoon of your liquid ingredient (milk, cream, or water).
Use a similar spatula test to evaluate your buttercream. The buttercream should have a tiny curve in the peak when you lift it with the spatula out of the bowl.
Our Creamy White Decorator Frosting, which has a medium consistency and is suitable for piping and decorating, is available if you’d prefer to buy frosting. To thin out the White Decorator Icing to a medium consistency, you can also add milk or water.
Thin Consistency Buttercream
Buttercream with a thin consistency is typically used for lettering and piping lines as well as crumb coating your cake. Lifting this consistency with a spatula should cause it to droop.
Start by icing the cake with the typical vanilla buttercream. Add 2 tablespoons of your liquid ingredient for every cup of buttercream frosting after all the sugar has been added.
Use light corn syrup as your liquid if you’re employing letters with buttercream that has a thin consistency. Writing will be effortless and unbroken.