Easy Buttercream Cake Transfer

Name: Easy Buttercream Cake Transfer
Yield: 8 Servings
Ingredients: 9 x 13 inch Cake: 1; Vanilla Butter-based Buttercream Frosting: 1-1/2 cups; Chocolate Butter-based Buttercream Frosting: 4 cups; Wilton Gel Food Coloring Brown: 1/8 tsp; Wilton Gel Food Coloring Sky Blue: 1/8 tsp; Wilton Gel Food Coloring Buttercup Yellow: 1/8 tsp; Wilton Gel Food Coloring Black: 1 ounce; 9 inch Wilton Angled Spatula; 11 inch Wilton Straight Spatula; Wilton #3 Decorating Tip; Wilton #5 Decorating Tip; Wilton #22 Decorating Tip; Wilton Coupler; Wilton 12 inch Disposable Piping Bags; Ruler; Cake Board; Fanci-Foil Wrap; Clear Tape; Serrated Bread Knife; Cake Turntable; Lazy Susan; Parchment Paper

Hearthstone Logo

Buttercream transfers are an easy way to add really cool images to any cake. Give it a try and impress yourself and your guests!

Serves 8
Easy

Ingredients

1 9 x 13 inch Cake
I baked a chocolate cake
1-1/2 cups Vanilla Butter-based Buttercream Frosting
4 cups Chocolate Butter-based Buttercream Frosting
1/8 tsp Wilton Gel Food Coloring Brown
add less or more to adjust the color
1/8 tsp Wilton Gel Food Coloring Sky Blue
add less or more to adjust the color
1/8 tsp Wilton Gel Food Coloring Buttercup Yellow
add less or more to adjust the color
1 ounce Wilton Gel Food Coloring Black
Recommended Tools
9 inch Wilton Angled Spatula
11 inch Wilton Straight Spatula
Wilton #3 Decorating Tip
(1)
Wilton #5 Decorating Tip
(2)
Wilton #22 Decorating Tip
(1)
Wilton Coupler
(4)
Wilton 12 inch Disposable Piping Bags
(4)
Ruler
Cake Board
(1) 8 inch square
Fanci-Foil Wrap
Clear Tape
Serrated Bread Knife
Cake Turntable
Lazy Susan
Parchment Paper

Directions

This is a fairly easy way to decorate any cake!

The method used to make the Hearthstone logo is called “Buttercream Transfer”. It is a super simple way to make any image out of buttercream for decorating your cakes. Try it on any of your favorite images and wow your friends, family, and guests!

Note: Because the buttercream transfer is the highlight of this video and instructions, I did not polish the cake as I normally would. To get a professional finish on your cake, it will take a few more steps and much more time.

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Steps

1 Done Depends on whether you bake or buy	Bake and cool your favorite cake or buy one already assembled and iced The cake can be homemade or you can buy a cake, already iced, from your local grocery store.
2 Done	Whip up your favorite butter-based vanilla and chocolate buttercream frostings. The vanilla buttercream will be colored to make the blue, brown, and yellow frostings. The chocolate will be the base for the black frosting. Black frosting can be hard to achieve. Using chocolate frosting gives you a good base color to make a true black frosting without having to use two or more bottles of black icing color.
3 Done	Wrap your cake board Measure the Fanci-Foil about 1 inch, on all sides, larger than the cake board and secure the paper underneath the board with the clear tape.
4 Done	Scoop out 1/2 of a cup of the vanilla buttercream and put it in a cup or bowl. Using a toothpick, add small amounts of the buttercup yellow gel food coloring to the buttercream. Stir together, adding a little food coloring at a time until you achieve the color you want. Repeat this step to make the sky blue and brown colored frosting. Note: Using gel food coloring will not dilute or affect the texture of your buttercream.
5 Done	To make the black frosting, mix your chocolate buttercream with lots of black gel food coloring. To achieve a deep black, you will use the entire 1 ounce of black gel food coloring.
6 Done	Fill your piping bags Fit a piping bag with a coupler and the #3 decorating tip. Place the bag into a tall glass and fold the top of your bag over the rim of the glass. Spoon the brown frosting into the bag, pull the bag out of the glass and twist it closed. Repeat this step for the other colored frostings using the #5 decorating tip for the sky blue and buttercup yellow. Use a #22 decorating tip for the black.
7 Done	Print the image or logo you want to trace, in color, on standard paper. The cake you see here is a 6 inch cake, so, I printed the image 5 inch square to allow space between the image and the edge of the cake.
8 Done	Cut parchment paper larger than the image so that it overlaps the image about 1 inch on all sides. For example, if your image is 5 inch square, you'll cut the parchment paper to 6 inch square.
9 Done	Tape the image to your lazy susan. Next, tape the parchment paper over the image and onto the lazy susan.
10 Done	Starting at the center and using the brown colored frosting, begin tracing the outlines of the image. The lazy susan makes this part way easy! Trace, turn, trace, turn.
11 Done	Starting from the center and using the sky blue colored frosting, fill in the blue sections of the image.
12 Done	Next, starting from the center and using the buttercup yellow, fill in the yellow/gold sections of the image.
13 Done	Once you've fill in all the colors, let the buttercream dry for about 10 minutes. Using a small piece of parchment paper and a finger, smooth out the buttercream by lightly rubbing over the entire image. This will remove any bumps so your transfer will lay flat on the cake.
14 Done	Place the lazy susan in the freezer for 30 minutes to harden the buttercream. Butter-based buttercream freezes harder than shortening-based buttercream which makes it more stable to work with. Plus, it tastes waaaay better and leaves you with a good mouth feel.
15 Done	While the buttercream transfer is in the freezer, use this time to assemble your cake. Measure and cut your cake to size. Again, this cake is 6 inches square. You will get two 6 inch squares from a 9 x 13 inch cake.
16 Done	Place your covered cake board onto your cake turntable. Put a dab of buttercream on the center of the cake board to secure the cake to it. Center one of the cake layers on the board.
17 Done	Add a layer of black buttercream on the top of the first cake layer and spread it evenly from the center to the edges of the cake.
18 Done	Flip the second layer of cake over and lay it, centered, on top of the first layer. Press it down gently.
19 Done	Using a 9 inch angled spatula, begin applying the black frosting from the top to the bottom. On this cake, I applied a heavy crumb coat only.
20 Done	Put a dab of buttercream on the center of the top of the cake to secure the transfer.
21 Done	Pull the lazy susan from the freezer and set it close to your cake. Carefully remove all of the tape from the lazy susan, gently lift the parchment paper up, flip the transfer over while supporting it with your hand, center it over the cake and lay it down softly. DO NOT press down on the transfer or it will crack and ruin all of your beautiful work!
22 Done	Slowly and carefully, peel off the parchment paper.
23 Done	Now, let's add the finishing touches to your cake. Using the black frosting, in a piping bag fitted with a coupler and the #22 tip, add decorative borders to the top and bottom edges of the cake. And, you're done!