These aren't traditional paintings in the slightest but I decided I quite like this technique which allows for an almost exact copy of any drawing in buttercream form. So imagine the possibilities with that! You could do puppy cakes, cat cakes, guinea pig cakes, dinosaur cakes, character cakes and so on, and the best thing is that it is doable for anyone with any level of artistic sense, as long as you have the patience for it. It's quite a rewarding feeling to peel back the parchment revealing the almost exact carbon copy image that you were first copying it off (or maybe it's just especially for me because I'm definitely not the next up-and-coming Picasso --yikes).
So here are the steps to guide you along in creating your next masterpiece! Here I am using a cute dinosaur graphic for a six-inch cake. Note that the buttercream painting will be a mirror image of the image you printed/drawn so if that bothers you, flip the image before printing!
Step 1: Prepare the image paper, parchment and a cake board. You will also need some tape to stick everything in place so there's no unwanted movement of the image or parchment. (I normally print out the same image in a few sizes and cut out my parchment paper to the same approximate diameter as my cake by using a round cake tin. This helps me visualise how big the image will look on the cake and plan my spacings appropriately. I also like to cut my image paper to be smaller than my parchment paper so that the parchment paper can be stuck onto the board and not the paper. That way it's easier to remove just the parchment paper when it's time to transfer the image!)
Step 2: Stick down the image paper on the cake board first. Make sure it's really secure!
Step 3: Place parchment paper over the image and secure using tape. Because parchment paper is generally non-stick, you might need quite a bit of tape to ensure it doesn't move. Anyway, better to be safe than sorry!
Step 4: Prepare a piping bag filled with buttercream for the outline. I used a black buttercream made by combining chocolate buttercream with black cocoa powder. I used a small round tip to pipe my outline, but you can also just snip a tiny bit off your piping bag and use that to pipe.
Step 5: Trace the outline of your chosen image. I don't normally try to have mine perfect from the get go. Instead, just focus on getting most of your image outlined and do the touch ups later.
Step 6: Touch up time! Using a toothpick (or three), clear away any spots of black buttercream that you don't want in the image and smoothen the lines. It's also easier to add fine details at this stage, for example the dino toes xp This is normally the most time consuming stage for me so just take your time at it. Don't be too bothered about the minute amounts of black buttercream you can't get rid of that are stuck onto the parchment paper. Chances are they won't be transferred over to the actual buttercream painting anyway.
Step 7: Once you are happy with it, chuck the whole thing into the freezer for a quick freeze. About ten minutes later, the buttercream should have hardened up sufficiently for you to fill in the colours without worrying about smudging that outline. Using a piping bag, transfer a blot of buttercream onto the image and with a toothpick, gently spread it out to cover all the areas that you want coloured in. This way, you minimise the number of air bubbles that are trapped between the parchment paper and the buttercream, which leads to tiny dents on the final image. (This is also the reason why I call this process a buttercream painting hahaha)
Step 8: Freeze it until the buttercream has completely hardened, then repeat for the next colour.
Step 9: And repeat again the next colour! (I'm sure you are getting the hang of it now haha)
Step 10: Apply a layer of buttercream to thicken up the image evenly. This helps ensure that 1) your buttercream won't be too thin and break when transferring and 2) the image will not become sunken at parts and overly raised at others. I normally try to use colours similar to the colours on the main image because it is slightly visible when viewed from an angle. Then quickly move on to Step 11.
Step 11: Before the buttercream hardens up, we are going to flatten down the surface so that your buttercream painting will sit nicely on your cake. You can use any flat surface for this so another cake board for example would work great! Place a sheet of parchment paper on the surface of your painting and press down gently using a cake board. When that is done, send it into the freezer to freeze.
Step 12: Remove the parchment paper and you should get something like this. This part facing us is going to go onto the surface of your cake. You are going to have to flip the image so it's absolutely essential that your buttercream is completely frozen before doing the transfer.
Step 13: Yes, we are finally transferring it over to the cake, and this is how it looks! TADA
That's all there is to it haha happy baking!
Carina xx
Amazing!! You definitely hv the patience!