PAINTING WITH ICING
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You won't need to be an artist to create this icing painting. (Use a template of desired scenery).

This picture was painted using royal icing.

You can certainly do the same thing in buttercream. This picture would then be created right on your iced cake.

To keep it, you can use royal icing on cardboard or a circle of fondant. To place on cake: raise it a bit with some sugar cubes (glued to the back with royal icing). Remove the painting before cutting the cake. You can frame it, but not under glass. After a few years, if you do nothing to preserve it, the icing will start to crack and fall of. Possibly you could spray this with shellac but you may lose some of the color shading. A bit of experimenting on a sample will help you determine this.


Click picture to enlarge

TO CREATE: No tips were used. This was all done with icing and a brush.

  • Decide where you want the sun (or light) source to be located. (In this painting, it is at the upper-left at about 2:00). You can see this because the painting is lighter on the left, closer to the light.
  • I started off with a template (pattern), applying it to the iced cardboard. (Check out my STENCILING to learn how to work with patterns).
  • Dab the brush in water to smooth and blend colors.
  • SHADING: Dab your brush into 2-3 color-shades of icing and apply together, blending as you go. Add light-to-very light shades for 'light' shining on your scenery.
  • Painting must be done in 'layers.' Observe that the 'sky' was applied first, then the 'horizon' then the barn, the ground, the tree, etc.
  • Scenery in the front should be ON TOP of the sky, ground, etc. (1. Such as the barn, 2. tree, 3. fence posts, etc).
  • Use brushes that work well for you. I like to use a fairly large-pointed type. The brush should be big enough to pick up globs of icing.
  • Flowers are merely dabs of icing in a raised affect.


    • TIP: You can also use this technique for PARTS of other cakes. Raised affects add 'life' to your cake pictures.


    Another beautiful example: (I'd LOVE to give the creator of this cake credit. Please email me.)

    Click picture to enlarge
    This was done by a bakery. I don't know which or when. I have no instructions. I will tell you what I can see from the picture. This cake is done all in buttercream icing.
    1. First they iced the cake white over all. (Or airbrush it is fou have one). Then put blue icing globs for sky and smooth out for the blend using an angled spatula. Only spread across, not both ways, or it will look marbled.
    2. Do the same for green, but don't use airbrush or it will be too smooth. (Kelly Green food coloring will look best).
    3. Spread blue icing into the green for the water. Spread blue piping gel over the blue icing for shine like water. Spread white over the water for a "Bridge".
    4. Put the background icing trees and flowers on next, in colors shown. I imagine they used a parchment cut cone for all the colors and no tip. But you could use a 59s (tiny curved tip).
    5. Add white picket fence. You could use tip 46 on the smooth side then make points using a tip 4.
    6. Add the horizontal tip 46 white 'board' at top of fence.
    7. Add tip 81 lily of the valley.
    8. Use a small writing tip to make the Blue Bonnets around the 'pond'.
    9. Writing is no larger than tip 3.
    Hope this helps. It is so beautiful that I really wanted to share it with you.

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