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Authors: Ruth Clemens
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of water and attach the fluted sugarpaste circles in place, pressing down lightly to secure.
3 Roll out the pink sugarpaste to a 3mm ( 1 ⁄ 8 in) thickness. Using the straight-edged cutter, cut out 12 circles. Attach each pink circle centrally on the cream fluted circle.
4 Take the medium blossom cutter and press lightly into the centre of each pink circle to create a blossom imprint.
5 Using the small blossom cutter, repeat to mark two small blossoms either side of the medium blossom. These will be your guides when piping.
6 Fill a piping (pastry) bag fitted with a no. 2 nozzle (tip) with white royal icing. Working on one cookie at a time, pipe a complete line around the outline of the medium blossom.
7 Take your paintbrush and dip it in water. To remove the excess water, pat the bristles lightly on a piece of kitchen paper. The brush needs to be barely wet.
----
TIP
Keep dampening your brush as you work – it should remain barely damp throughout. Don’t let it dry out!
----
8 Flatten the line of piped royal icing using the brush, stroking the icing in towards the centre of the blossom. Repeat, working your way around the outer edge of the flower.
9 Pipe five small dots at the tip of each small blossom petal. Use your dampened paintbrush to drag the dots into a petal shape moving towards the centre of each small blossom.
10 Pipe a curved line of four dots from the centre flower to the small blossoms as shown. Pipe six small dots in the middle of the medium blossom to create the centre of the flower.
11 At the top and bottom of each cookie, pipe a small line with two dots at each end. Repeat with your whole batch of cookies and allow the icing to dry.
WEEKEND WONDERS
(longer projects to take your time over)
Seeing Stars
Densely decorating a tiered cake
This is a grand cake that you just need a bit of time for – nothing tricky for spectacular results! The colour scheme can be changed to suit whoever you’re baking for.
Get it together…
Square cakes: 20cm (8in) and 30cm (12in), both prepared for covering
35cm (14in) square cake board
Square cake cards: 20cm (8in) and 30cm (12in)
Buttercream
Four plastic cake dowels
Royal icing
Sugarpaste: white and blue
Star cutters: large, small and tiny
Silver sugar dragees
12mm ( 1 ⁄ 2 in) wide blue ribbon
Pearl-headed pins
Basic equipment (see Equipment )
1 Roll out the white sugarpaste to a 3mm ( 1 ⁄ 8 in) thickness and use to cover the cake board (see Covering a board with sugarpaste ). Trim the edges neatly and set aside.
2 Place each cake on the corresponding cake card, securing with a little buttercream, and cover each with white sugarpaste (see Covering a cake with sugarpaste ). Allow the boards and cakes to dry out overnight before assembling and decorating.
----
“If you’re new to covering cakes, try using a non-stick mat to roll out your sugarpaste. You will still need a little icing (confectioners’) sugar but the mat will really help. Roll out the sugarpaste fairly thickly – about 7mm ( 1 ⁄ 4 in). This will help you get a good finish and avoid rips and cracks.”
----
3 Apply a smear of royal icing to the centre of the covered cake board. Position the larger cake squarely in the centre of the board. Measure and trim the dowels (see Stacking a tiered cake ) and push them down firmly into the larger cake.
4 Apply another smear of royal icing to the centre of the larger cake and lift the smaller cake into position. The dowels will stop the smaller cake sinking into the bottom layer and the royal icing will hold it in place.
5 Take the blue sugarpaste and mix three further complementary paler blue shades by kneading together a little blue with increasing amounts of white. Roll out a small amount of each colour and cut out a selection of different sized stars in each shade.
----
TIP
Make sure you mix up enough of each colour the first time, as it can be difficult to match the colour if you run out.
----
6 Starting from the
3 Roll out the pink sugarpaste to a 3mm ( 1 ⁄ 8 in) thickness. Using the straight-edged cutter, cut out 12 circles. Attach each pink circle centrally on the cream fluted circle.
4 Take the medium blossom cutter and press lightly into the centre of each pink circle to create a blossom imprint.
5 Using the small blossom cutter, repeat to mark two small blossoms either side of the medium blossom. These will be your guides when piping.
6 Fill a piping (pastry) bag fitted with a no. 2 nozzle (tip) with white royal icing. Working on one cookie at a time, pipe a complete line around the outline of the medium blossom.
7 Take your paintbrush and dip it in water. To remove the excess water, pat the bristles lightly on a piece of kitchen paper. The brush needs to be barely wet.
----
TIP
Keep dampening your brush as you work – it should remain barely damp throughout. Don’t let it dry out!
----
8 Flatten the line of piped royal icing using the brush, stroking the icing in towards the centre of the blossom. Repeat, working your way around the outer edge of the flower.
9 Pipe five small dots at the tip of each small blossom petal. Use your dampened paintbrush to drag the dots into a petal shape moving towards the centre of each small blossom.
10 Pipe a curved line of four dots from the centre flower to the small blossoms as shown. Pipe six small dots in the middle of the medium blossom to create the centre of the flower.
11 At the top and bottom of each cookie, pipe a small line with two dots at each end. Repeat with your whole batch of cookies and allow the icing to dry.
WEEKEND WONDERS
(longer projects to take your time over)
Seeing Stars
Densely decorating a tiered cake
This is a grand cake that you just need a bit of time for – nothing tricky for spectacular results! The colour scheme can be changed to suit whoever you’re baking for.
Get it together…
Square cakes: 20cm (8in) and 30cm (12in), both prepared for covering
35cm (14in) square cake board
Square cake cards: 20cm (8in) and 30cm (12in)
Buttercream
Four plastic cake dowels
Royal icing
Sugarpaste: white and blue
Star cutters: large, small and tiny
Silver sugar dragees
12mm ( 1 ⁄ 2 in) wide blue ribbon
Pearl-headed pins
Basic equipment (see Equipment )
1 Roll out the white sugarpaste to a 3mm ( 1 ⁄ 8 in) thickness and use to cover the cake board (see Covering a board with sugarpaste ). Trim the edges neatly and set aside.
2 Place each cake on the corresponding cake card, securing with a little buttercream, and cover each with white sugarpaste (see Covering a cake with sugarpaste ). Allow the boards and cakes to dry out overnight before assembling and decorating.
----
“If you’re new to covering cakes, try using a non-stick mat to roll out your sugarpaste. You will still need a little icing (confectioners’) sugar but the mat will really help. Roll out the sugarpaste fairly thickly – about 7mm ( 1 ⁄ 4 in). This will help you get a good finish and avoid rips and cracks.”
----
3 Apply a smear of royal icing to the centre of the covered cake board. Position the larger cake squarely in the centre of the board. Measure and trim the dowels (see Stacking a tiered cake ) and push them down firmly into the larger cake.
4 Apply another smear of royal icing to the centre of the larger cake and lift the smaller cake into position. The dowels will stop the smaller cake sinking into the bottom layer and the royal icing will hold it in place.
5 Take the blue sugarpaste and mix three further complementary paler blue shades by kneading together a little blue with increasing amounts of white. Roll out a small amount of each colour and cut out a selection of different sized stars in each shade.
----
TIP
Make sure you mix up enough of each colour the first time, as it can be difficult to match the colour if you run out.
----
6 Starting from the
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