Advice On Black Piping On Buttercream
Decorating By splymale Updated 18 Jul 2011 , 2:25pm by splymale
I have a wedding cake with black piping detail on a buttercream cake. Any advice? Will the black bleed after a while?
How far in advance can I pipe it without having to worry about bleeding?
Any other suggestions, things I maybe haven't thought about?
Thanks!
Hello! Are you talking piping on buttercream icing? In my experience, black piping will run on buttercream in the warm weather. Unless you can make sure that it stays cool/chilled until the cake cutting, it's going to run as soon as the heat/humidity hits it. I've tried it several different ways: black buttercream, black royal icing, tinted chocolate or ganache. The only one that works for me in warm weather is using a chocolate transfer. It is a bit more work, but it's not going to slide down the sides of the cake or bleed. You would use coating chocolate and it can be done several days before. I have a cake that I'll post that uses this technique.
The black piped wedding cake in my photos was royal icing piped onto buttercream. The cake sat at room temperature so there was no condensation caused by taking it out of refrigerator and the wedding was outdoors on a hot summer day. I think I used Americolor black. I wouldn't use Wilton black, that will bleed. The other option is to use a powdered/dry black coloring.
I tried to attach the cake pic--no luck! No, the chocolate actually appears black on the cake (especially on white buttercream). And it sets up in the fridge.
I saw KSMills cake (it looks nice!), so I guess you could use royal icing on the buttercream? KSMills: is yours a buttercream that crusts? I've always used a meringue buttercream, so I don't pipe royal icing straight onto it (because it wouldn't set up--it would just run). Anyway, Good luck! I hope it turns out!
I couldn't tell you. I don't use American "buttercream", unless I'm making a cake for family because that's what they like. You'll probably need to test it for yourself. That's how I arrived at the chocolate conclusion--you just have to test it. All I can say is that I've never heard of piping/placing real royal icing straight onto buttercream. But test it to see what works for you, because there are too many variables here.
I tried it out on a non-crusting buttercream. For the piping, I used RI, a non-crusting buttercream, and a traditional crusting buttercream in black. i left it out at room temp over night, nothing has bled so far. My house is air conditioned, but the door is constantly open & shut, i was baking pies last night, and it is 90 degrees outside. i feel good about it not bleeding, the reception is indoors.
Thanks for everyone's help!
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