Elegant and luxurious, this three tiered design would make a perfect wedding cake, especially if the bride and groom want to avoid traditional royal icing or sugarpaste. The intricate patterning on the surface is made with an impression mat and highlighted in gold – what could be more appropriate for such a special occasion? This cake is completed with pure white Lilies, Gardenia and Magnolias.
1. Fill and cover your cakes as normal (see Covering Cakes). You can either stack them together straight away or texture and airbrush them individually before stacking. When the cake surface is properly crusted (see tip), firmly press the impression mat against the surface of the cake. Repeat the process until the whole cake is textured. You can then stack them if you haven’t done so.
2. To airbrush your cake with gold, never start spraying directly on to your cake as you may get a sudden burst of colour. Instead, start spraying onto a spare piece of paper first and then, whilst spraying, guide your spray onto your project. Don't spray too close to the cake's surface as your colour will be too dark – but spray too far away and it will be too light. Try your technique on paper first.
You must leave your cake to crust properly before using the impression mat otherwise it will stick. This can take anything between 15 and 30 minutes, sometimes longer, depending on temperature and humidity. Dusting your impression mat with cornflour (cornstarch) or icing sugar (confectioners’ sugar) will help to prevent it sticking.
1. Pipe the stems and dark green leaves directly onto the sides of the cake (see Leaves).
2. Next, pipe lily of the valley and calla lilies directly onto the cake surface (see Flowers).
3. Pipe random blobs and position the gardenias and magnolias (see Flowers). It is helpful to freeze a small rose-like bud for the centre of the gardenia (see Freezing), position it on to the cake, then pipe petals around it.
4. To give height to the flowers, instead of piping a big blob of buttercream for the top of the cake, cut a small piece of sponge cake then cover it with buttercream.
5. Continue to pipe the rest of the flowers until all the gaps are filled. Lastly, pipe more leaves randomly.
