How to: Buttercream Ruffle Icing Tutorial

Ask me to bake you a cake and chances are unless you’ve specified otherwise, it will be covered head to toe in softly whipped buttercream. Whether it be ombré, swirls, roses or ruffles, there are so many different techniques to choose from. Not so long ago the hot trend was ombré, but today it seems the baking world is getting more and more excited by ruffles. In my opinion this technique is one of the best, purely because you can create almost exactly the same effect with buttercream as achieved through fondant. And we all know that given the choice buttercream is always the preferred of all the icing.

If you read my blog you will know that this year, one of my baking objectives was to step my cake decoration up a notch. Since making this declaration several Ombré cakes have left my kitchen, and I must say I’ve been pretty happy with the finished result. So when it came to choosing a design for my Nephews 1^st Birthday Cake I decided I would embark on a new challenge. Ruffles.

Ruffles are such a beautiful design to create and thanks to their, well, ‘ruffley’ nature little mistakes can be easily forgiven. It may look daunting but as long as you have the right equipment, some patience and a steady hand then replicating couldn’t be easier.

Below is my quick guide on how to create the ruffle buttercream effect. This post is following-on from my 6-Layer Rainbow Cake. The buttercream is therefore coloured to the Rainbow design, however my guide will simply instruct you through the technique so you can recreate this in any colour of your choosing.

What do you need;

Wilton Tip 104

Disposable piping bags

Off-set palette knife

Decorating Turntable

Baking Parchment

Wooden cocktail stick

600g Butter

1000g Icing Sugar

Whip together all your buttercream in a large mixer to ensure you have the same medium consistency throughout. You want the icing smooth but stiff enough so it won’t drop too much.

Colour the buttercream dependant on your design. I split mine equally into 7 bowls for the crumb coating and each rainbow colour. Each of the colours was mixed in by hand.

Once your cake is baked and chilled, fill each layer with buttercream and stack together. Crumb coat the cake lightly using the same buttercream and put into the fridge for at least an hour so the icing can firm. Note: Crumb coating doesn’t need to be perfect but it’s essential for creating a crumb-free cake at the end.

Fit your 104 petal tip onto a piping bag and fill about ½ full with icing. Ensure you twist the end and squeeze out any air bubbles before starting.

Starting from the bottom of the cake, hold the decorating bag at a downward 90° angle (12:00) with the wide end of the tip lightly touching the cake and the narrow end facing you.

Gently begin to squeeze the icing out keeping the wide end of the tip against the cake as you move your wrist up and down in a “wave” motion. Repeat this motion around the whole cake.

Note: For tight ruffles you need to move your wrist quickly. For a looser effect, move slowly across the surface. You can practice the technique on a piece of baking parchment before you start.