Are there any tutorials on brush embroidery? I want to use the technique on a cake in August, but I figure I should probably learn the technique first, you know?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

(PS ~ I LOVE THIS SITE!!!)

Starkie

I'm not sure of any tutorials here, but here's the Wilton one:

http://www.wilton.com/decorating/basic/brush.cfm

It's really not incredibly difficult, but a practice bit (even just on a frosted cake tin) would be good. You can use royal or buttercream.

This is my favorite brushed embroidery cake:

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=31660

Love it!

Good luck!
Christy

Christy, that is one beautiful cake! I wonder how she got the middle part of the flowers a darker color than the outer edge? I put that one in my favs ~ it's gorgeous!

Thanks for the Wilton link. Looks easy, and hopefully I will get the hang of it! Thanks again!

I think the key is getting a few good brushes so the bristles don't fall out. Use your best judgement on how much icing you want to pull to the middle. Just be sure to keep the outside edge of the border intact. You might even want to pipe a center into the flower.

I did this once before on a cake for the lion's mane. It was easy and turned out great and I really had no idea of what I was doing. I tried to do it again this weekend and it was horrible. Good luck - guess I need to get some new brushes!

There is a purple cake in my photos of brush embroidery. I used the idea for the cake from the fondant book (Wilton). There are some good directions in their describing the technique and how to do it. Good luck!

You can PM Sweetart and she may help you out! She was great when I asked.

I'm pretty sure she used diluted colors (diluted with alcohol) and painted that directly on the dried icing. I did something similar on a green cake in my photos, although mine was definitely not as delicate as hers.

I agree, it's an absolutely gorgeous cake!

Christy

Those are beautiful cakes. I'm dying to do a brush embroidery myself. Any tips you get I'd love to hear about them. Then I've got to find someone who will let me do it!

Can you do the embroidery on buttercream? or just Fondant?
I would love to try this, but I am still afraid of Fondant!

Thanks

I'm teaching myself how to do this. It's not hard. Practice with it like anything else. I love the look. It's becoming a favorite of mine. When you pull the icing into the middle you just want to be careful to pull in only from the inside of the piped outline. And YES you definitely want to use good brushes. My favorite is a blending brush. It's flat with a nicely rounded edge. It's easy to pull in just a tiny bit of icing from that inside edge. You can always pipe over the first piping for definition and repair. Good luck to all you who will be trying this. Practice on parchment or waxed paper, it's not necessary to do it on an iced surface. Have fun with it!!

LLAURALS, I'm not 100% sure, but I think it needs to be done on fondant. I would think the buttercream would mess with the brush strokes. Don't fear the fondant....I did for years. There are lots of wonderful decorators who would be more than happy to give you some advice and tips...including me

I've done brush embroidery on buttercream. I just had to let it crust well.

Brush embroidery will work on fondant or BC (although I don't know about softer BCs like Italian Meringue). I've done both on BC and fondant and it's really about the same, you're not dragging the brush hard enough to even really touch the surface below what you've piped.

Christy

I have done it on BC, and also suggest getting a really good brush, and letting the BC crust... however, as I was doing this, my BC softened & I accidentally pressed too hard, causing the colors to mix... and this turned-out to be a pretty good way of lightening the coloring in the middle. As long as you keep the outline of your object intact. I also suggest practicing on a frosted pan, or even just a practice board to start. It's fun!

It's not very hard, just need to practice a bit. It does take a long time, though, as you have to pipe it and then brush it. Or it took me a long time, LOL!

Here's my first try on ganache! Tried to copy part of the design on the plate.

And here's another one on chocolate BC. A trick I learned in a class is to cut out a template and laminate it. Stick a tape "handle" on it, hold it on your cake and push around the edges with a toothpick to indent the design into your icing. Then pipe and brush.

I am so interested in this to. I am a little confused, do you do the embroidery design with BC or RI or can you use either?

Linda

Here are acouple I have done with brush embroidery, it is quite easy, but time consuming if you are going to do a lot. I found the rounded blending artist brush to work the best as well. I used cookie cutters in the shpae of flowers to slightly press into my cake where I wanted the pattern and then went over it with buttercream. On the seashell caske I mixed some green luster dust with vodka and dipped my brush periodically while working it gave the brush embroidery a great shimmery look.

Boy was I wrong!!! Guess you can do it on fondant or buttercream. I found one on BC that is just gorgeous!!!

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=611283

Euphoriabakery, nice job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I tried brush embroidery before, and I found it relatively easy and I was pleasantly surprised with the end result (and I am new to cake decorating). Another tip I would like to add is: keep cleaning up your brush. HTH.