Alpha Gam Practice Cake

This cake was a practice cake that I made while I was taking a cake decorating course at The Chocolate Duck in Farmingdale.  Since I was practicing roses I made a cake aimed at my sorority, Alpha Gamma Delta, covering the cake with red and yellow roses and roping.

For the roses I used a #103 petal tip and a flower nail.  I put wax paper on the flower nail and then create the roses.  I find the easiest thing to do when making roses with decorator icing is to make the roses ahead and then freeze them in tupperware.  I may freeze them for an hour if I am making the cake all in one day, or if I plan ahead I sometimes make the roses as far as a week or two ahead.  Then using the flower lifter take the flower off the wax paper and set them on the cake.  

For this cake I did a basic white base using buttercream frosting.  When icing a cake I always put it on its final base, whether its the cake plate or a cake board, then I tuck wax paper under the edges, to keep the board clean.

I frosted the cake with a buttercream crumb coat, left it in the fridge for about an hour, and then created a final white coat.  Then using decorator frosting I created the roping on the top.  To do the roping I used two icing bags (red and yellow) both using #20 star tips.  I then added the roses and using green decorator icing and a thin circle tip, I connected the roses with thin stems.  I used a leaf tip to create leaves.  Then I finished it off with a bottom rope border and some hanging red and yellow petals.

Roping and Roses are both basic techniques you can learn in a Level 1 Wilton Course or in a Wilton book.