On this cake I used the lovely Florence mesh stencil.
I used a thinned down American buttercream on an American buttercream cake to achieve the desired look of this cake.
I started by coating the cake in American buttercream (taking enough out into a bowl to stencil) with the ratios below :-
250g salted butter
500g icing sugar
60ml double cream
11/2 tsp vanilla extract
Then I froze my cake for at least 20 mins so I had a very hard surface to work with – this helps greatly!
In the bowl of buttercream that you saved, mix it back up with a spatula so smooth – add 1tsp of double cream and mix into a smooth ‘whipped’ butter like consistency that’s easy to spread (I press against the side of the bowl after mixing with the spatula to achieve this) I then add desired gel colour and repeat. If it is still a little stiff add a little more cream, a tiny bit at a time until the desired consistency is reached.
I took my cake from the freezer, and placed my stencil where I needed it – making sure it was taut with no ruffles. I took a small amount of the thinned down buttercream on my spatula and spread a little over the mesh t with enough pressure that it would go through, this also holds the mesh stencil better in place. Cover the mesh stencil with the buttercream and use your scraper to remove excess. This also helps it go through the stencil. When scraped, carefully peel the stencil away from the cake. If you are repeating around the cake I would chill for around 10 mins just to ‘set’ the design so it won’t come off on the repeat of the process.
Tips –
1. Freeze your cake so you have a hard ‘working’ surface.
2. Thin your buttercream.
3. Ensure mesh is tight and flat to the cake.
4. Chill cake in between a repeating pattern.
By Beverly Price @the.sugarcoat