I'm going to show you how to transfer any design onto a cake: pretty notebook covers,
wrapping paper, a patterned scarf! You'll need the design you choose and a piece of acetate,
some piping bags with any piping tips you have handy, and a cake with a crumb coat.
Wrap the acetate around your cake and add a few inches to leave room for frosting.
Pinch the acetate and cut it there so you've got a piece of acetate wide enough to go all
the way around your cake plus a few inches and at least as tall as your cake, too.
If you can find acetate on a roll that's easiest and I'll show you why later. Put the cake in the
fridge until you're ready to transfer the design onto it. Place the acetate down on the counter so
that it curves upwards and then tape it down onto the design you've chosen, facing that same way.
Now use your piping bags to pipe frosting onto the acetate, tracing the design underneath. You
can use whatever colours you like instead of matching the original design exactly. This side
that you can see is going to be pressed against the side of the cake so it doesn't matter that
it's messy but it is a good idea to spread it with an offset spatula for two reasons:
Firstly, to push the frosting down so that it's pressed against the acetate to prevent air pockets
and secondly, because you want the frosting on the acetate to be the same thickness all over
so that it lies flat against the cake later so as you spread each section you can scrape off any
excess frosting to make it level with the rest of the design. Since you're spreading the frosting it
doesn't really matter which piping tips you use although you'll be able to pipe more intricate,
detailed designs if you use small round tips to pipe with. If you don't have any piping tips you
can spread the frosting straight onto the acetate instead of piping it but your shapes will be much
less precise than if you pipe them. I should mention that I'm using my 4 Minute Buttercream
for this. I haven't tried it with whipped cream or meringue buttercreams but I suspect that they
don't set firmly enough for this technique to be possible. If you try it tell me in the comments
how it worked for you! After creating the whole design except for the background color, save the
leftover frosting for later and put the acetate in the fridge or freezer so that the frosting sets.
It will only take about five minutes in the freezer. When you take it out,
peel the tape off the corners and the weight of the frosting will keep the acetate flat now.
Pipe or spread your background colour onto the design, spreading it with your offset spatula
to push it down against the acetate in between the parts of the design you've already piped.
Those parts are now cold and hard so they won't be damaged as you spread on this final colour.
Spread this colour up to the edges of the acetate to cover it completely
and also spread all over the top of those hard parts because now that they're set they won't be
sticky anymore and you need that fresh sticky frosting to attach the design to your cake.
Take your crumb coated cake out of the fridge and it will be cold and firm and sturdy enough
to withstand the pressure you're about to apply to it. Lift up the acetate and lower the bottom down
so that it rests on the cake board to make sure the design goes all the way down to the bottom
of the cake and then raise the rest of the acetate until it's pressed against the side of the cake.
Let the acetate wrap around the cake and this is why using acetate from a roll is ideal because it
will curve naturally to wrap the cake with hardly any help from you. Once you've lined the acetate
up against the cake, use your hands to press it against the cake, rubbing up and down the sides to
attach the entire design to the cake. Press firmly enough so that the sticky frosting attaches to the
crumb coat of the cake but don't press so hard that you squeeze and distort the frosting design.
The end of the acetate will overlap the beginning and that's fine! Make sure the beginning is
pressed flat against the cake and press the end over the top of it and we'll sort that out later.
When the acetate is smooth and pressed securely against the cake all the way around, put the cake
in the fridge for at least an hour to allow the frosting to set so that you'll be able to remove
the acetate. For the next step you'll need a sharp knife, a frosting smoother, an offset spatula,
and the frosting left over from piping. When the frosting is cold and hard from the fridge, pinch
a corner of the acetate and peel it off. If you're enjoying this tutorial please click the thumbs up
button to like it and subscribe to my channel for a new cake decorating tutorial every week!
You'll see the residue of each color on the acetate but the frosting itself shouldn't peel off
with the acetate, it should stay behind attached to the cake in a smooth layer. This is what the
acetate should look like: the design has left an impression but the frosting has transferred onto
the cake, it's not left behind on the acetate. At the join of the two ends of the acetate,
use a sharp knife to cut off the excess frosting sticking out and then carefully peel off the last
section of the acetate. We'll tidy up this seam here in a minute. You can see that my frosting
goes up higher than the cake because the acetate was a bit taller than my cake and you can trim off
the excess with a sharp knife. It should slice away easily if it's still cold from the fridge.
Mine has started to warm up and soften and if you feel your knife sticking to the frosting instead
of gliding through it you can put the cake back in the fridge to chill it again before you do this.
Now spread frosting onto the top of the cake to cover up the crumb coat, making sure the
frosting goes all the way over the edges of the cake so that there aren't any gaps later.
Spin the cake around a few times as you press down with your offset spatula to
smooth the top of the cake. Fill in any gaps around the top of the sides of the cake,
where any pieces of frosting broke off when you peeled off the acetate or trimmed the top edge.
Then use a frosting smoother to scrape around the cake, paying attention to the top to take off
any excess frosting that you just spread on. The frosting design you transferred from the acetate
will be cold and hard so you won't damage it as you do this. Now that the top of the cake is tidy
it's time to hide the seam, where the two ends of acetate met after wrapping around the cake.
Use your frosting smoother to scrape upwards, taking off the excess frosting to leave the
sides of the cake smooth. For the part of the seam close to the top of the cake it's best to scrape
downwards instead of upwards because the frosting at the top of the cake is the most delicate so by
going in this direction you won't snap off any of the frosting with the pressure you're applying.
When the seam is smooth and it disappears into the design so you don't notice it was ever there
it's time to do any touch-ups in the design. You'll notice lots of little air pockets around
the design. Pipe or spread frosting over them and if you pipe it use an offset spatula to spread it,
pressing against the cake to push the frosting down into the air pocket.
Then use your frosting smoother to scrape over that section to take off the excess frosting and
reveal the design underneath. This only works because the frosting of the design has set and
it's cold and firm so when you spread frosting over it it sits on top of the design instead of
blending together with it so you can scrape over it to take off layers and layers of that fresh
frosting without damaging the design underneath. The reason there are air pockets is when you piped
the design onto the acetate at the beginning even if you spread that piped buttercream there will
still be areas where the buttercream doesn't push all the way down onto the acetate and that's where
the air pocket forms. Do your touch-ups one colour at a time so that you don't blend the colours of
this fresh frosting together. If you do feel the frosting of the design softening and your frosting
smoother starts to leave texture behind as you scrape put the cake back in the fridge to chill
it again for a few minutes, maybe 15 minutes, and then you can continue spreading and scraping.
If there are any air pockets in the design close to the top of the cake, when you spread on more
frosting and scrape it off you'll push some of that frosting up above the top edge of the cake
so you'll need to tidy up the top edge again with an offset spatula or a frosting smoother,
pulling it from the outer edge towards the middle of the cake to pull any excess frosting
with it. You can do as many touch-ups as you like as long as the frosting design is cold and firm.
You can do more touch-ups on top of the cake too, making sure the frosting there is smooth too.
Wipe any smudges off the cake board with a paper towel wrapped around your finger and you can
leave the cake as it is or you can add a border around the bottom as a nice finishing touch.
I'm piping this one with a #4 round tip. You can add a lot more detail to cakes decorated
with this acetate technique like adding shading by spreading on darker or lighter shades of frosting
and smoothing them against the design with your offset spatula or your frosting smoother.
Other options are to add edible glitters or luster dusts for some shimmer or sparkle or sprinkles add
some nice detail and texture, too. This technique has so many possibilities and i can't wait to see
how you use it! Please tag @britishgirlbakes in your photos on instagram so I can see what
you come up with! If you're looking for cake inspiration join my Club for access to ALL of my
online classes including lots of different designs you can create using acetate such as marble or
zigzags! Click the link in the top of the screen or in the video description to find out more.