Russian piping tips – Little Peach Cakery

Russian piping nozzles – top tips

Get to grips with your Russian piping tips and create beautiful cakes and cupcakes in no time at all.

Once I got the hang of using my Russian piping tips there was no going back. They allowed me to create some of my most famous cake designs back when I had only been making cakes for 6 months. However, my buttercream flowers are by no means perfect but I don’t think that really matters, after all real flowers aren’t all perfect but still look beautiful!

Here I share what I have learnt to be able to make the most of the tips.

1. Use strong piping bags

2. Use a buttercream that is 1:2 ratio of unsalted butter and icing sugar. I. E. 250g butter and 500g icing sugar

3. Have your butter at room temperature.

4. To pipe. Get your tip very close to the cake. It will be easiest to pipe onto freshly coated buttercream but not essential. Squeeze the flower out whilst slowing moving the tip away, then stop squeezing and pull away.

5. To give a two tone effect start by filling the inside sides of the piping bag with a thin layer of buttercream. Then spoon in a darker or lighter colour buttercream into the middle of the same piping bag.

7. Add simple small drop flower tip to fill in the gaps. My first choice in colour for these small flowers is usually white.

6. Add leaves. Choose a fine leaf tip for the most delicate flowers. These are perfect for filling those gaps between the flowers and add a realistic touch.

Troubleshooting

Too mushy flowers /undefined –

The buttercream is too warm. Put the bag in the fridge for 5 mins and try again. If your hands are warm you might have to repeat this often.

Too hard to pipe

Most likely the buttercream is too cold. In the winter I often end up adding a teaspoon or two of cooled boiled water. Alternatively 4 seconds in the microwave (in a suitable container!) and a good stir, may soften it enough.

Flowers won’t stick on the cake

Try a thin layer of buttercream on the cake just before you start piping to help the buttercream stick.

Piping bag leaked

Either the buttercream is too firm/cold or the piping bags just aren’t going to be strong enough. Try softening the buttercream or you may need to get some stronger bags.

Long drooping petals

Try making the flowers shorter by releasing the pressure sooner.

I hope this guide helps you have fun creating beautiful cakes. Please see my other guides for cake decorating including the original Flower Hedgehog cake and cupcakes.

To see me using the nozzles please have a look at my YouTube video https://youtu.be/tWU6h4UMtA0

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And twitter @peachcakery

Cake pizza mould – recipe and tutorial (individual cake slices)

Learn how to bake your own cake pizza by following this easy guide. The flavour and decoration is up to you! Here I have decorated with a buttercream flowers including using nifty nozzles (russian piping tips). The cake pizza idea is by @cakes.n.sprinkles on Instagram.

Equipment:

10 hole silicon cake pizza mould
1 cupcake case
Cake release spray (ideally)
Piping tips and bags
11 inch or larger cake board

Cake Recipe:

350g butter or stork baking block
350g sugar
350g self raising flour
7 medium eggs
1.5 tsp vanilla
2 tbs milk

(for chocolate cake add 35g cocoa powder)

Buttercream:
*you may need more depending on your design

250g unsalted butter
500g icing sugar
1 – 2 tsp of milk or cooled boiled water

(for chocolate buttercream add 20g cocoa powder)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 140°C (fan oven).
2. Mix the butter and sugar.
3. Add eggs and vanilla.
4. Add flour and mix well.
5. Add the milk and mix until all combined and smooth.

6. Grease the cake mould, I use cake release spray but you could use butter to grease.

7. Fill a piping bag with the cake batter and cut the end off the bag. This will allow you to fill the sections of the mould much easier then with a spoon. Try to fill evenly.

8. Don’t forget to half fill the cupcake case.

9. Bake the cupcake for approx 30 minutes and the cake pizza slices for approx 50 – 60 minutes. All ovens vary so keep an eye on the cakes. You want them to bounce back when pressed on top and a skewer to come out clean when poked into the cake.

10. Allow the cakes to completely cool in the mould.

11. Using a knife carefully trim any excess from the tops of the cakes so that they are level with the cake mould.

12. Gently separate the cakes from the mould and push them out from the bottom.

13. Cut the individual cakes in half and pipe in the buttercream filling. Use a dab of buttercream to secure the cake to the board if needed. With the cupcake in the centre.

14. Add the buttercream or decorations as desired to the top of the cake. I used piped flowers and leaves.

This cake will be best eaten within 1-2 days of baking. Store at cool room temperature.

I hope you found this guide helpful. I will be making a chocolate overload version of the cake pizza soon. I’ll pop a pic on here once it’s finished.

Simple 3D sitting unicorn cake with buttercream flower mane

How to make this cute sitting unicorn cake with a standard round cake tin and very little carving – if any!

This is a 4 layer 6 inch round cake. I cooked 2 6 inch cakes using a vanilla maderia sponge recipe. This cake was dairy free. You need a domed top but this could be a natural dome from the cake rising or you can trim a little off the top edges.

Equipment:

2 x 6 inch cakes

White fondant

Small amount of coloured fondants including pink and black

Rolling pin, cake smoothers, knife, ball tool

Cocktail sticks

Edible gold paint

Edible Pink dust

Edible glue

Piping tips (nifty nozzles for this design) and bags

Buttercream (250g butter, 500g icing sugar)

Method:

Fill the buttercream layers and coat the cake with a thin layer of buttercream. Then cover with white fondant.

The legs are fondant, roll 4 equal sausages of fondant and taper one end. Mark the hoof area’s with a modeling tool or knife. Attach with edible glue.

Make a thick circle for the muzzle and use a ball tool to intent the nostrils. Also mark on a smile and use the ball tool to mark where the eyes will go.

Roll 2 equal small black fondant balls for eyes. For eyelashes use a thin sausage of black fondant.

Use a petal cutter or freehand cut the ear shapes in white and then slightly smaller in pink, attach together. Pinch the bottom of the ear together slightly to give them shape.

The horn is two thin sausages of fondant twisted around a cocktail stick or wooden skewer. Paint the horn and hooves with edible gold.

Pipe the mane. For this unicorn cake I piped buttercream flowers using nifty nozzles but equally you could pipe swirls, drop flowers or stars, any combination. Using several different colours of buttercream together.

The tail is made from coloured fondant using an extruder. This could be achieved by hand rolling the fondant into long sections too.

Add a little pink colour dust to the nose and mouth.

And so there you have a cute sitting unicorn cake that does not require lots of carving or difficult piping but looks adorable.

Koala cake with buttercream flowers

I had been given a Molly’s creature creator mould for my birthday in October and I now had the chance to use it!

Making cute animal cakes using buttercream flowers is something I love to do… See my flower hedgehog cake here.

So I thought I’d go along the same lines but using the cake mould.

I chose to make a Koala, they have had an awful time recently and I wanted to celebrate these gentle creatures.

Below are photo’s of baking and making this cute cake. If you want to create your own I give a list of some of the tools needed.

What you’ll need:

Cake batter (400g self raising flour, 150g flour, 400g butter, 400g sugar, 8 eggs, 2tsp vanilla)

Molly’s creature creator standing mould

2 or 3 nifty nozzles

Some standard size piping tips and piping bags

Food colouring

Buttercream (500g butter + 1kg icing sugar)

Sweet Stamps if you want to use similar writing

Rice krispie treats for arms and legs (85g rice krispies, 110g melted marshmellow)

Sugarpaste

Method

Grease your mould or use cake release spray. Fill with cake batter and cook at 140C. It took 1hr 40 mins to cook in my oven.

Allow to cool then trim off excess. Turn out of mould.

Use buttercream to stick the halves together and crumb coat.

Make rice krispie treats and mould into arms and legs. Cover with buttercream.

Use a circle cutter to cut ears from 5mm thick rolled out sugarpaste. Cut in half moon shape. Stick a cocktail stick or dry spaghetti stick into ear so it can be fixed to cake. Allow some time to dry.

Colour your buttercream and put into bags. Start piping large tips first randomly but fairly evenly over cake. Then stset to fill areas with smaller buttercream flowers.

Add the ears and cover with buttercream.

Finally add the fondant nose and eyes.

I usually cover my cake boards in fondant and use sweet stamps acrylic letters to emboss and paint name.

Enjoy

Hedgehog Cake Tutorial

Follow this step by step tutorial to create your own flower hedgehog cake

How to make a cute Hedgehog Cake with buttercream flowers as spikes.

This is an original cake design by Little Peach Cakery. I hope you enjoy creating your own little hedgehog cake.

You will need:

Sugarcraft tools – rolling pin, knife, cake smoother, ball tool, small rose petal or circle cutters.

A 5 inch round maderia cake, approx 5 inch tall and domed top.

8 inch cake board and ribbon

2 nifty nozzles, 2 drop flower tips

strong piping bags

Buttercream (1:2 butter and icing sugar)

Sugarpaste

Tylo powder or modelling paste

Food colour gel or paste

Edible glaze (optional)

Method:

1. Bake your cake, let it cool. Cut into 4 even layers.

2. To make the face of the hedgehog first add a little tylo to the sugarpaste to make modelling paste. Make a ball into a point and then with the point upwards squash the ball and use a small rolling pin to flatten the eye area. Cut the shape of the face out.

Make two pea sizes balls for the eyes. And a small square for the nose. I like to add a little edible food gloss to these.

The hands and feet are shaped and marked with a small knife.

I use two rose petal cutters for the ears. The larger using white modelling paste and smaller for cutting the pink modelling paste. I cut a few mm off the bottom of the ears where they will be glued onto the cake.

3. Add buttercream between the cake layers and add a thin coat of buttercream over the whole cake. Smoothing over the dome top. This can be natural dome or carved depending on how the cake has risen.

4. Roll out enough sugarpaste to cover half the cake. Smooth this over the front of the cake. Trim off any excess. Carefully transfer the cake onto a sugarpaste covered cake board.

5. Using edible glue attach the face and nose to the cake. You may want to use a cocktail stick to help hold in place.

6. Add the hands and feet using edible glue. Make a little hole as a belly button. Make 2 indents on the face and add the eyes.

7. Place the ears but do not attach yet. Make a note where they will sit and remove them for now.

8. Mix up several different colours of buttercream. You can add more than one colour to the piping bags to give different tones to the flowers. I like to make the smaller drop flowers white like daisies.

Tip: the buttercream needs to be firm but still able to pipe. Strong piping bags are needed. If the buttercream gets too warm whilst piping flowers pop it in the fridge for 5 mins and try again.

9. Start piping the nifty flowers onto the cake randomly. If you run out of buttercream try adding a different colour buttercream to the bag to give variety to the flowers.

10. Next add the drop flowers to any spaces between the larger flowers.

11. Glue the ears onto the cake.

12. Add a ribbon to the cake board.

And done! Of course you can use different nozzles to create the flowers. And use any colour combinations. I also use elderflower flavoured buttercream to add a more floral taste! I hope you enjoy creating your own cake. Thank you