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Ombre Icing Tutorial

1/18/2016

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by Olivia Hall
Ombre Icing Tutorial • Foodidude.com
All Photographs by Olivia Hall
Ombre Icing Tutorial
For one four-tier, 9-inch cake.

       Ombre has been in style for some time; in clothing, hair, makeup, and now in food. You can make endlessly beautiful designs with icing, but not all of them have to be done with piping tips or hours of time. This Ombre icing look is done with four different colors, but feel free to use gradients of a single color instead.

You will need the following tools:

  • Baked, filled and stacked cake
  • Wilton Icing Smoother
  • Cake Turntable
  • Wilton Disposable 12” Decorating Bags
  • Vanilla Buttercream
  • Wilton Icing Gel Colors in Teal, Lavender and Royal Blue
First, make the buttercream. This recipe is enough to cover the outside only; I used a different filling in between the layers. Here’s the recipe I always use:
  • 7 cups powdered sugar
  • 2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
  • 2 teaspoons real vanilla extract
  • 2 teaspoons milk
  • Optional ¼ teaspoon salt (I never add salt to my baking, but feel free if you like!)
  • Optional flavoring extracts or liqueurs (be sure to add more powdered sugar to keep the texture thick enough)
Beat the butter until smooth. Slowly add in the powdered sugar and beat on low, increasing speed until creamy. Add the vanilla and milk, and beat on medium high until it has a whipped consistency and is lighter in color (3-5 minutes).
Ombre Icing Tutorial • Foodidude.com
Next, divide the icing into four bowls. Make sure that one bowl has slightly more icing than the others in order to have enough to cover the top of the cake. Add a small amount of Lavender to the larger amount of icing and stir. Then add a large scoop of Royal Blue, Teal and Lavender to each of the remaining bowls and mix thoroughly.

      Add each of the icing colors to its own disposable decorating bag. Use it all – more is better in this case, and you will see why shortly. Massage and push the icing toward the tip, taking care to eliminate any visible air bubbles. Cut about 1.5”-2” off the tip of the bag and twist or rubber band the open end.


Ombre Icing Tutorial • Foodidude.com
      Starting at the bottom, and holding the tip of the bag on the cake’s surface, pipe two rows of the Teal icing. Repeat with the Royal Blue, darker Lavender and lighter Lavender, ending in the center of the top. The layer of icing will be quite thick. If you ran out of icing anywhere or see large spaces in between colors, gently smooth everything with a knife.
      Now for the fun part. It takes a few minutes, but it’s definitely fun. The basic technique for using the icing smoother (ombre or not) is to control the smoother with one hand and turn the turntable with the other. Line up the side of the smoother flush with the side of the cake, and then angle the smoother 45 degrees towards your body. Use slight pressure, about as much as you would use to put cream on your face – gentle, but purposeful. Make sure that both the top and bottom corners are touching the cake simultaneously. As a southpaw, I turn the cake clockwise with my right hand. If you are right-handed, you will be spinning the cake counter-clockwise with your left hand. The first few times you spin it there will be a large amount of excess icing left on the smoother (see why more is better?) Just wipe this off on a paper towel or the edge of a bowl.


Ombre Icing Tutorial • Foodidude.com
Ombre Icing Tutorial • Foodidude.com
Ombre Icing Tutorial • Foodidude.com
Ombre Icing Tutorial • Foodidude.com
      As the spaces in between layers are filled in and the colors blend, there will be less and less excess icing to worry about. The more consistently you keep the turntable moving, the less edge marks you will have from the tool. I will tell you that there is no exact number of times you should go around; however, “enough” happens when there are no bumps or air pockets visible in the icing. If you press too hard and/or the colors start to get muddy, simply accept a few air patches to salvage the color effect – it will be worth it!

     Once the sides are complete, move on to the top of the cake. Hold one corner of the smoother in the center of the cake, and tilt it towards your body at 45 degrees again. Just keep spinning the turntable until smooth. The top should take less time than the sides, especially because there are no colors to blend.

Lesson learned:
Although I filled my cake layers pretty thoroughly, I decided that I should have “dirty-iced” the outside prior to putting the colored icing on. This would have filled in any extra or invisible spaces and created an almost perfectly even canvas to start with.

      If you’re not familiar with “dirty icing”, (AKA crumb coating), it is a technique that involves icing the entire cake and scraping off all of the excess until the cake actually begins to peek through. The purpose of this is not to add thickness, but instead to seal in crumbs and fill in gaps.
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    about me...

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        Hey y’all! I am a twenty-five-year-old baker, dancer, yogi and animal lover. I created Liv On Cake after teaching myself various baking skills and accumulating inspiration (and motivation) from my friends and family. I work out of a little red rooster-themed kitchen at home, creating big flavors and designs for those who could never imagine skipping dessert. There is nothing more exciting to me than mixing artwork with my gigantic sweet tooth. Plus, I just love surprising people, and what better way to do that than with food!

         My skills are based in an early education of drawing and painting classes as well as recreational photography. I love creating art out of anything; a face, hair, an outfit, a dance, a canvas, or a cookie. Color and emotion are my muses, and I strive for precision and detail in all of my work. I believe that baking chose me because we both like to be precise. Cake art has created a niche for my Type A personality to zone in, plan, practice, measure, equate and perfect every aspect. I’ve learned to breathe, be patient and truly appreciate a process from start to finish. From indulgent to organic, I enjoy experimenting with fresh and unexpected ingredients, while securing the classic combinations that everyone loves.
         Each creation fosters unique elements that combine delicious palettes with the colors, themes and accents that represent who you are. My ultimate goal is to produce pieces of art that look too good to eat, but are surprisingly comforting and exciting with every bite. I hope to share my best work with you, teach you tricks as I learn them, and maybe throw in some mantras for those not-so-sweet days. Thank you for taking this journey with me. Namaste!

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