Ruffle Cake

October 10: National Cake Decorating Day

Islander is a member of the local cake club where she learns different decorating techniques using buttercream or whipped frosting, royal icing, gum paste and rolled fondant. Although the latter produces pretty yet pricier results on a cake, Islander still likes buttercream better. But sometimes it gets boring, so she experiments with different decorating designs once in a while.

At one cake club meeting, Islander learned how to pipe ruffles vertically and horizontally on the sides and top of a cake. She simply used a petal tip (Wilton 104) two different ways to give a cake a textured look. With a little practice, even those who do not have much cake decorating experience may be able to do this project.

Make a cake go from boring to beautiful and try a ruffle technique on National Cake Decorating Day.

Recipe

For the vertical buttercream ruffle cake

• 3-4 round cake layers, favorite flavor
• Buttercream frosting (enough to cover the cakes)

Directions

Bake and cool the cakes. Smear a bit of buttercream on the bottom of a cake board as an adhesive. Place one of the cake layers on the cake board. Generously spread frosting on this layer allowing some to overflow to the side of the cake. Place another cake on top of this layer. Continue layering the cakes, then crumb-coating the sides and tops. Cool to set.

Using a petal tip (Wilton 104), pipe down with the wider end in the back and the narrow end in front. Make a back and forth motion no larger than an inch, layering zigzags of buttercream from the bottom to the top of the side of the cake. Pipe another column of ruffles next to the first one. Continue piping columns of ruffles until the side of the cake is covered.

On top of the cake, starting from the outside and working toward the center, with the wider end of the tip facing opposite of you and the narrow end of the tip facing toward you, loosely pipe in a back and forth motion while rotating the cake turntable in the opposite direction. Continue piping the top ruffles until you reach the center. Let set before placing decorations/silk flowers on top of the cake.

For the horizontal buttercream ruffle cake

• 2-3 round cake layers, favorite flavor
• Buttercream frosting (enough to cover the cakes)

Directions

As described above, crumb coat the cake.

Using a petal tip (Wilton 104), start at the top edge of the cake with the wider end toward the bottom and the narrow end toward the top. Make a back and forth motion to make the ruffles while turning the cake in the opposite direction. Pipe another row of ruffles beneath it. Continue piping rows of ruffles until the side of the cake is covered.

On top of the cake, starting from the outside and working toward the center, with the wider end of the tip at the bottom and narrow end at the top, pipe in a back and forth motion while rotating the cake in the opposite direction. Continue piping the top ruffles until you reach the center. Let set before placing decorations/ silk flowers on top of the cake.

Notes

• Thanks to Suzy Z., a Wilton cake decorating instructor and talented cake artist, for demonstrating how to do the horizontal ruffle technique.
• Substitute buttercream with a stabilized whipped cream frosting for a lighter weight cake.
• Taller cakes (at least triple layers) show off the buttercream ruffles better.
• Search our blog for more tutorials on cake decorating.