Buttercream Painted Posies Tutorial 

Create a beautiful painted posies cake using simple palette knife techniques and colorful buttercream. This tutorial shows you how to achieve soft, painterly flowers and delicate foliage with beautiful texture and dimension. In this step-by-step tutorial, Valeri and Christina of Queen of Hearts Couture Cakes share their innovative palette knife technique, showing how a few simple strokes can transform buttercream into a stunning floral masterpiece perfect for weddings, birthdays, and other special celebrations.

Edibles: 

• 8-inch and 6-inch cakes, filled, frosted, and stacked 
• White buttercream  
• Gel colors: teal, green, orange, yellow, red, pink, and blush 

Equipment:

• Cake cloth or paper towel
• Fondant smoother
• Piping bags 
• Angled palette knives 

Pipe the Painted Posies

1. Prepare buttercream by mixing with gel colors and place into piping bags.  
2. After frosting the cakes with buttercream, smooth the surface as evenly as possible by placing a cake cloth or paper towel over the buttercream and smoothing with your hand or a fondant smoother. Once smooth, place the cake in the fridge to firm up. 
3. Taking the white buttercream, loosely pipe the outline of a flower onto the cake surface. It does not have to be precise. 
4. Using a small palette knife, spread the buttercream upward, moving in the direction of each petal. 
5. Pipe small dots of dark and light pink buttercream at the base of the flower; this will add shading and depth of color.  
6. Using the palette knife again, gently spread the color along each petal, pulling it outward in gentle strokes. Try to keep the knife as flat against the surface as possible; this will prevent the buttercream from being disturbed. 

Add the Stamen

1. For the stamen, add a small amount of yellow buttercream to the base of the flower again, then spread it upward in short strokes. 
2. Using the dark green buttercream, pipe some lines at the base of the flower; these will form the leaves.
3. Clean the palette knife, and then gently spread the green buttercream outward.  
4. Add a small amount of light green to the leaves, then gently spread it using the palette knife. 

1. Repeat the process to create evenly spaced flowers on the cake surface. If your cake gets a little too soft to work with, place it back into the fridge to firm up

The Queen of Hearts Tips

1. Keep innovating. Don’t just settle for what’s already out there or what everyone else is doing. Don’t be afraid to use your imagination and keep on trying new ideas and exploring different techniques. 
2. Don’t over-beat your buttercream when you prepare it. An over-beaten buttercream will be very grainy and full of air pockets. Use a paddle attachment and cream the mixture until silky and smooth. 
3. It is natural for buttercream to deepen in color after a sitting for a while, our tip is to tone down the color, making it a few shades lighter than you need it, sp once it’s rested it will be the perfect shade. 

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

Queen of Hearts Couture Cakes,

Queen of Hearts Couture Cakes is a multi-award-winning cake company based in London. Founded in June 2011, the company is headed by cake artists and best friends Valeri and Christina. Renowned globally for their edible works of art using nothing else but BUTTERCREAM as their decorating medium, Queen of Hearts Couture Cakes has been featured in numerous well-known magazines, local and international news magazines, and has appeared in various TV shows. They have also been highlighted as international cake stars in different renowned cake shows internationally as they teach, do demonstrations, and showcase their masterpieces.