CHRISTMAS TREE CAKE PROJECT

Instructions

Step 1: Colouring Gloss Frost and Assembling Piping Bags

1. Start by zapping your Colour Mill Gloss Frost bucket in the microwave for approx. 30 seconds with the lid off to soften. Give it a good mix - if it's still not soft enough, pop it in for another 30 seconds and mix again.
2. We're only working with one colour, so we can save dishes by adding colouring straight into the Gloss Frost bucket! Squeeze a generous amount of Colour Mill Oil Blend Green into your first bucket and mix until fully blended.
3. Grab 3 piping bags, popping your #32, #1M and #4B tips inside, snipping off the tip of the piping bag so the piping tip just peeks through. Fill each piping bag with your green Gloss Frost.

Step 2: Time to Pipe!

1. Starting with the #4B piping tip, pipe buttercream 'kisses' in random placements all over the tree. To pipe a 'kiss', hover your piping tip approx. 1-2cm off the surface of the cake at a right angle to the cake. Squeeze to release buttercream without moving the piping tip until you've reached your desired size, stop squeezing and lift the piping bag away to create a nice peak.
2. Next, with the #1M piping tip, fill gaps by piping large swirls.
3. Finally, with the #32 piping tip, fill any last gaps and top off the design with piped 'squiggles'.

Step 3: Top off with Decorators Dough

1. On your Loyal Self-Healing mat, knead the Decorators Dough to soften. Once nice and pliable, lightly dust the mat with cornflour and roll out the fondant until approx. 3mm thick
2. Use a star-shaped cutter to cut out approx. 10 stars. Sprinkle edible glitter over the top of the stars and place onto your tree, pressing them lightly into the buttercream. Make sure one star goes on the top of the tree!
3. To create the ribbons, use a round cutter to cut out 4 circles. Cut each of these circles in half.
4. Apply edible glue along the flat edge of your semi-circle, gluing the other semi-circle over the top with approx. 5mm of overlap. Fold this in half length-wise. This is one side of your ribbon! Repeat this step to all semi-circles. Dab a small amount of edible glue to the point of each bow loop and glue two together. Cut out a small strip of fondant and stick to the middle of your bow.
5. Finally, cut out a long skinny rectangle from your fondant, cutting out a triangle from each end to create the ribbon tails. Cut this in half, glue the flat edges together and then glue to the back of your ribbon. Place these ribbons onto your cake, pressing lightly into the buttercream.
6. Sprinkle with your choice of sprinkles and ta-da! Stand back and admire your work.