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different shades of the
    colour you have chosen.
    Tip
    Make sure that you pipe the ‘weaves’ before
    the crumb coat has crusted and with a little
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    pressure so they stick to your cake. The
    horizontal weaves should seem like they are
    coming from underneath the vertical weaves to
    make the basketweave look more realistic.
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    To create this cake…
    • 15 × 15cm (6 × 6in) round cake
    • 950g–1.25kg (2lb 2oz–2lb 12oz) buttercream
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    • Paste colours: turquoise (Sugarflair Turquoise),
    dark pink (Sugarflair Claret), light green (Sugarflair Bittermelon)
    • Piping bags
    • Basketweave nozzle (Wilton 48) or plain
    basketweave nozzle (Wilton 45) and small petal
    nozzle (Wilton 104)
    • Side scraper or ruler
    • Cake stand or covered cake board
    Cover the cake (see Covering Cakes in Buttercream
    Basics), and place on a covered cake board or stand.
    Colour 400–500g (14oz–1lb 2oz) of buttercream
    turquoise, and 100–150g (31⁄ –51
    2
    ⁄2oz) a darker shade
    of turquoise. Pipe the basketweave pattern as
    described in the tutorial. Pipe a border using the
    crochet technique (see Crochet in Textile Effects)
    on the top edge of the cake with the darker shade of
    turquoise and a piping bag with the tip snipped off.
    Finish by piping camellias around the base using
    400–500g (14oz–1lb 2oz) dark pink for the petals
    and 50–100g (13⁄ –31
    4
    ⁄2oz) light green for the centres
    (see Camellia and Hydrangea in Piping Flowers).
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    E- and C-scrolls
    This is one of the easiest techniques to master, yet it can produce a really rather elegant design when
    nicely coordinated, the lavish swirls create a rich
    and elaborate texture. The two types are named
    after the letter of the alphabet that they resemble.
    We like to combine the e- and c-scrolls to achieve a
    Victorian look on a cake.
    1 Using a ruler, mark 6.5–7.5cm (21⁄2 –3in) wide
    diagonal bands on all sides of the cake (A).
    A
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    2 Using a star nozzle (Wilton 16), pipe a reverse
    c-scroll by holding the piping bag straight on to the cake with the curve tip touching the surface (B).
    Squeeze with even pressure, and move a little to the
    left before circling up and around to the right, down and then and up, creating a backwards letter ‘c’.
    B
    3 Pipe another c-scroll from the same starting point
    as the first, but this time do the opposite (C). The
    piping bag goes around to the left then up until it
    creates a ‘c’.
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    C
    4 Repeat the process until you finish piping inside
    all the diagonal bands (D).
    D
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    5 Next, pipe continuous e-scrolls on top of the guide lines. Hold the piping bag straight on to the cake
    and with even pressure, squeeze the piping bag to
    the right and around creating a small ‘e’ shaped
    loop (E and F).
    E
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    F
    144

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    To create this cake…
    • 20 × 15cm (8 × 6in) square cake (bottom tier), 15
    × 10cm (6 × 4in) square cake (top tier)
    • Dowel rods
    • 1.4kg–1.8kg (3lb 11⁄2oz–4lb) buttercream
    • Paste colours: peach (Sugarflair Peach) and
    turquoise (Sugarflair Turquoise)
    • Piping bags
    • Star nozzle (Wilton 16)
    • Palette knife
    • Edible pearls (sugar balls)
    • Tweezers
    • Cake stand or covered cake board
    Colour 600–800g (1lb 5oz–1lb 12oz) of buttercream
    peach, cover and smooth the cake (see Covering
    Cakes in Buttercream Basics) and place on a stand
    or covered board. Colour 400–500g (14oz–1lb 2oz)
    of buttercream turquoise, leave the rest uncoloured,
    and fill a piping bag to create a two-tone effect (see Up and Down Two-tone Ruffles in Piping Textures
    and Patterns). Pipe the c- and e-scrolls as described 146
    in the tutorial. Pipe random scrolls in peach (see
    Scrolls, Lines and Zigzags in Piping Textures and
    Patterns) and stick on edible pearls using tweezers.
    Finally, pipe the bottom border using the crochet
    technique (see Crochet in Textile Effects).
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    Star Fill
    Forget about intricate patterns and complicated
    designs, for this star