How To Ice A Cake To Look Like Wood Buttercream Tutorial

As a baking fan and gorging cake decorator, I am always searching for new interesting ways in which I can add together a special flair to my side by side creation. As it turns out, my daughter's five-year-old birthday is coming upward and she is absolutely obsessed with nature. I mean, it is a struggle to get her inside the house! She will run effectually in the thou all day. And I thought that, for her altogether cake, I would make a forest block.

I did not know what I was getting myself into! I had to practice some research, just I establish a few cool ways on how to make wood grain in buttercream icing and texture the outside like bark that I want to share with you.

These ideas are non only meant for child's cakes, though! Yous can definitely use them to create different themes. Maybe an anniversary cake, with your partner'south and your initials engraved on the side. Or maybe to bring to life something more animated and cartoonish. Information technology's your choice!

What Tools Do I Need for Wood Cake?

This will obviously depend on what technique you lot are using, merely here are a few suggestions on what tools tin can help y'all attain a woodgrain wait on your buttercream. Some of them yous definitely have in your own kitchen cabinet correct now!

A Fork

The easiest, most common of these tools is a fork. It is somewhat rudimentary, but information technology can definitely help yous distress the buttercream in a manner that resembles wood.

Bear in mind that using a fork will assist you achieve a rougher texture, so I recommend you utilise it especially for the bark and maybe slightly for the inside of the woods. Maybe only to make some indentations.

What Tools Do I Need for Wood Cake?

If yous need to do precision piece of work, we recommend you chill your cake first and let the buttercream ready and crust earlier going on. But if y'all simply want to distress the surface, then y'all should do it while the buttercream is still soft.

Paintbrush

Showtime of all, make sure the brush is expert enough quality, so that it won't shed, and that it is made out of constructed beard that will not blot whatever of the cream. Pre-launder all your kitchen utensils earlier really using them, though!

You lot also demand to apply a new brush. If it has been used on, say, acrylics earlier, nosotros would not recommend you hazard using it. You need to use brushes exclusively for this use and edible no-toxic pigment.

With a paddle brush, you tin create an immense corporeality of different, interesting textures. You volition exist able to create polish channels by applying soft pressure on buttercream that has not crusted withal.

If yous want the ridges to be deeper, only apply more force per unit area!

For a tree bark texture, apply vertically all around your cake to requite the illusion that is is actually a tree stump!

Yous tin try airbrushing as well.

A Silicone Basting Brush

Every bit with a regular brush, a silicone basting castor can exist used to texture your buttercream. Brand sure you use it while the buttercream is all the same soft, as its bristles are more flexible and you won't be able to utilize information technology otherwise.

Wood Cake: A Silicone Basting Brush

It is not suitable for precision work only it will help you play around and create some interesting ridges. If you lot tear the buttercream, just castor information technology back downwardly in the other direction. Also, if it is likewise stiff, effort dipping the brush in some water and flicking the excess off.

Information technology is a perfect tool for beginners!

Aluminum Foil

Aluminum foil volition permit you create very interesting shapes without the need of buying a specific mold. Yous can fold it whichever way y'all like and imprint information technology on the buttercream, like a stamp.

You can also use it every bit a kind of roller, depending on the shape you create your stamp. You will need to make clean information technology between each pass, though.

To use this tool it is meliorate to let the buttercream crust earlier you get ahead.

Impression Mats

You can too buy customized impression mats from baking specialty stores or online. Y'all volition definitely need to await until the buttercream has crusted to utilize them, if not yous will end up with buttercream all over the lilliputian ridges.

They are great but you tin can achieve an amazing texture without them. It all depends on how big your cake is, or how many cakes y'all plan on making.

Wood Cake Impression Mats

Creating a Woodgrain Effect for Forest Cake

Stride 1

Divide your buttercream in thirds. Identify two-thirds of the cream in one container and the rest in another.

Creating a Woodgrain Effect for Wood Cake

Step 2

Either colour them using gel food coloring or add together milk and dark chocolate to each to achieve desired shades. Yous need more of the lightest color and less of the darker chocolate-brown.

Step 3

Frost your block with the lightest shade. Try and make information technology as smooth as you lot can.

Creating a Woodgrain Effect for Wood Cake Frosting

Step four

At this signal, you can either let it crust or non. Either way, you will then want to pipage thin lines of the darker colour on top of the lite dark-brown. Endeavour and brand this in a natural way, without worrying about information technology existence symmetrical. After all, it is a tree!

Step 5

If you did not let it crust, using a texturing tool and so go ahead and distress the surface of the buttercream so that it looks more existent. You can come across an case in this video.

If you let your cream crust, and so you will want to smooth the darker color over the pale with a spatula, so that everything lays flat simply you lot still have the lines going over.

Step six

Once you have smoothed information technology out, then get alee and apply a texturing tool to create some ridges that keep the woodgrain. Make this subtle, to reach a more than realistic look.

Easiest Ways to Get a Wood Effect Woodgrain Texture

Wood Cake: Creating the Bark

At that place are several means to create the bark. The easiest one is to pipe with a ridged tip. You tin also use a texturing tool mentioned to a higher place.

Another clever mode is to put some tempered chocolate shards on meridian of your buttercream. This one is harder to do though, because of the chocolate tempering.

Have you tried any of these methods? Post a picture below!

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