This week’s highlight was decorating a dummy cake, but the class began with learning how to cover a cake with royal icing and how to pipe several types of flowers.
You can finish a cake with royal icing, ganache, or buttercream; in our session we used royal icing. I had never learned the proper technique for icing a cake so it remained smooth and neat. My usual method is to apply a thin layer of buttercream so fondant adheres well, so this royal-icing approach felt different. I forgot to photograph my iced dummy cake, but it turned out smooth and tidy. Without a picture I can’t prove it, but I was pleased with the result.
Piping flowers was enjoyable to watch and practice. The demonstration made it look simple, but when I tried piping the flowers myself it proved trickier than expected. Still, I managed to create several attractive flowers. Eventually I relaxed my expectations and made more stylized, “fantasy” blooms rather than insisting they look botanically accurate. That approach suited me well—the flowers came out charming and playful.
The best part of the day was decorating the dummy cake itself. We put into practice the piping techniques we’ve been learning over the last few weeks. I covered my dummy with a pastry-pink fondant and began piping with royal icing. Everything came together nicely, and I’m very happy with the finished look.
Next week we’ll apply these techniques to a real cake, and I’m already looking forward to it.