Buttercream Brush Embroidery Tutorial

We all know and love classic royal-icing brush embroidery, but did you know you can also create brush embroidery with buttercream? Upgrade your cake with this step-by-step buttercream brush embroidery tutorial, from Shani Christenson, who upgrades the vintage look with bold colors and a modern silhouette. “This easy technique can be achieved on a buttercream-finished cake, or a fondant-covered cake. Just make sure your cake is thoroughly chilled before piping,” notes Shani.

It’s important to do a practice run to learn the steps of brush embroidery and get the feel for it. Shani doesn’t suggest starting directly on your cake. Practice on a cake round first to get the technique down and then try on your cake. And if you want to mimic Shani’s dark navy blue buttercream, she achieved this color using Artisan Accents Chameleon Candy Colors (6 parts blue, 2 parts violet, 1 part black). 

Edibles:

• 6-inch and 8-inch cakes
• Buttercream: dark navy blue, dark mauve, light mauve, and violet
• Warm water

Equipment:

• Piping bags
• #2 round piping tips
• Cake round
• Narrow, flat paintbrush
• Paper towels

Create the Buttercream Brush Embroidery

1. Prepare the cake with a smooth buttercream finish and stack all tiers, then chill.  
2. Prepare the buttercream colors for the brush embroidery. If the buttercream is too airy, you can use a spatula or bench scraper and a clean surface to push out some of the air. Put the prepared buttercream in piping bags fitted with a #2 round piping tip. 
3. Pipe the outline of your flower petals in a scalloped line. If you’re really struggling to pipe an outline, you can gently press a flower cutter into the buttercream to leave a template. 
4. Dip the brush in warm water and blot it on paper towels. You want it damp, not dripping wet. Holding the brush flat, grab the inner edge of the scalloped buttercream line and pull it in toward the center. Don’t grab the whole line. You want to leave half of the line thick and with the outside still in the scalloped pattern. Keep brushing and pulling the buttercream in toward the center all the way around the petals. Try not to pull too much buttercream off; smooth it out, moving it into the center. You should rinse the brush in warm water and blot it on a paper towel often. Don’t let too much buttercream build up on the brush.   
5. Pipe more scalloped lines for the outer petals and repeat. 
6. With another color, pipe small center petals and brush in to the center. You can add a dot in the center or leave just the center of the petals as is. 
7. Make flower clusters by piping half flowers next to whole flowers. 
8. You can also create two-tone flowers by piping a contrasting line just inside of your outer border line.    
9. Fill the space with varying sizes and styles of flowers. Small teardrop filler flowers, three-petal flowers, Swiss dots, and piped scrolls in random patterns make great fillers.

This tutorial originally appeared in the July/August 2018 issue of American Cake Decorating.

Shani Christenson

Shani Christenson is an award-winning, professional cake artist living in Mendocino, a tiny Victorian-style village on the rugged and beautiful northern coast of California. Shani’s cake adventures began when her love for baking special treats for her family combined with her obsessive need to be creative and make beautiful things. Shani has been creating artisan cakes for almost 6 years; along with having many of her creations published in magazines, she has had the honor of winning multiple awards in cake competitions. Shani has now turned her hand to teaching and blogging, creating online tutorials and teaching at cake shows across the U.S. You can find many of Shani’s signature recipes and cake-decorating tutorials on her blog Shani’s Sweet Art – Making Sweet Things Beautiful.