Quick Prep
small and medium paper cones piping tips: #0, #2, and #3 round tips
10 oz (283 g) Meringue Powder Royal Icing (page 273) 2 oz (47g) Chocolate Icing for Writing (Chocolate Glaze for
Piping, page 268)
warming tray for the Chocolate Icing for Writing 4 oz (114 g) piping gel
This set of skills creates beautifully tailored writing. Each exercise has its own rewarding challenges. Pay close attention to detail. Neatness is essential to success with these writing styles. Pull the templates for Wedding Bliss, Glorious Divorce, Season’s Greetings, and the stylized Happy Birthday (see Appendix 1, pages 320–322).
For the Wedding Bliss exercise, load 1 Tbsp (14 g) royal icing with the #0 round tip in a small paper cone. Place the exercise under Mylar, plastic wrap, or parchment paper. The keys to this exercise are patience and accuracy. When pip-ing curves and circles, carefully drag the
tip just above the surface. When forming down strokes, move the tip in a zigzag motion from top to bottom (rather than side to side, as in Lesson 1). This tech-nique forms small beads on top of the downstroke and adds elegance to the writ-ing. Be sure to use strokes of different weight: lighter strokes for curves and cir-cles and heavier strokes for downstrokes.
This is similar to copperplate calligraphy writing.
Repeat this exercise three times with the template and then three times without it (see Illustration 5.5).
E L E G A N T W R I T I N G S 75
Illustration 5.4
Using the #101 petal-shaped tip to write letters adds an extra dimension to any writing activity.
Illustration 5.5
This writing technique involves lighter strokes on the curves and heavier strokes on the downstrokes.
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Glorious Divorce is made in the same way as piped alphabets. A small amount of corn syrup or corn oil is added to melted chocolate to give it body and allow greater piping control.
Place the exercise under the parchment paper.
Load a paper cone with 1 Tbsp (14 g) Chocolate Icing for Writing. Remember, there is no tip in the paper cone when using this icing.
Cut a small hole in the bag and place the tip just above the exercise template. Follow the line of the pattern, lightly dragging the tip at the beginning and end of each letter. Practice Glorious Divorce several times with the template and then several times without it (see Illustration 5.6).
The Season’s Greetings and the stylized Happy Birthday are the finale of this lesson. Each greeting requires a technique known as outline and flooding.
Each letter of the greeting is outlined with Meringue Powder Royal Icing and its interior is filled in with softened Meringue Powder Royal Icing or piping gel. This exercise is done just once because it calls for so much drying time.
First, transfer the greetings to a piece of cardboard, using the transfer tech-nique covered in Lesson 7. Next, color 1 Tbsp (14 g) Meringue Powder Royal Icing with chocolate brown gel food color. Place the colored icing in a paper cone fit-ted with the #2 round tip. Carefully outline each of the letters in Season’s Greet-ings. Next, load 2 Tbsp (28 g) Meringue Powder Royal Icing in a paper cone with the #3 round tip. Carefully outline each of the letters in Happy Birthday.
Now, divide the 4 oz (114 g) piping gel into 1 oz (28 g) containers. Color the gel with holiday colors (red, yellow, green, etc.). Load each color in a paper cone without a tip. Carefully cut the bags. Place the tip of the paper cone inside the outlined letters. Squeeze some of the gel into the outline. Use a toothpick to spread the piping gel so it fills in the outline. Continue to fill the Season’s Greet-ings outlines with the colored piping gel (see Illustration 5.7). Let dry.
76 L E S S O N 5 T H E A R T O F W R I T I N G
Illustration 5.6
To achieve the best results with Chocolate Icing for Writing, it is important that the icing flows with the right consistency.
Decorator’s Hint
Remember, when piping with Chocolate Icing for Writing, make sure the icing flows with the right consistency before beginning the exercise. First practice pip-ing some of the letters of the greetpip-ing to see if the icing flows correctly. If the icing flows too quickly, let it rest for a few min-utes in the paper cone until it gets firmer.
If the icing isn’t flowing, scrape it back into the bowl and let it sit over a warm-ing tray for a few minutes. Stir the icwarm-ing as it sits on the warming tray. Fill a new paper cone and practice lettering again.
] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ]
Illustration 5.7
Using piping gels in different colors to fill outlines makes for a festive presentation.
For the Happy Birthday greeting, meas-ure out 6 oz (170 g) Meringue Powder Royal Icing and color with gel food colors. Soften the colored icing by gently stirring in 1 to 2 tsp (3.5 to 7 g) tap water. The icing should become soft and have a flood consistency.
Check for the right consistency with the tech-nique in Lesson 7 on Flood Icing techtech-niques.
Load a medium or large paper cone with the flood icing and cut a small hole in the cone.
Squeeze some of the softened icing into the first letter in the Happy Birthday outline and spread it over the space with a toothpick.
Carefully flood each of the remaining letters.
Let dry for 2 hours.
Once the greeting is dried, pipe fine cor-nelli lace over each of the letters. This is achieved by placing 1 Tbsp (14 g) Meringue Powder Royal Icing in a small paper cone with the #0 round tip. Holding the tip at a 45-degree angle, drag it to the surface of each letter, moving in tight and random little curves. Do not allow the lines to intersect.
The lace should look like one continuous
long, curvy line (see Illustration 5.8). (See Lesson 7 for more information on cor-nelli lace.)
This lesson is complete. With plenty of practice, you can make cake writing an art.
P E R F O R M A N C E T E S T 77
Illustration 5.8
Additional details can be piped onto outline-filled letters.
L L L L L L L L L L
L L L L L L L L L L
E N D - O F - L E S S O N R E V I E W
P E R F O R M A N C E T E S T
Make a half-recipe of Meringue Powder Royal Icing (page 273) and a half-recipe of Chocolate Icing for Writing (Chocolate Glaze for Piping, page 268).
Pipe the following greetings:
1. Why is it important to write well on cakes?
2. How can you achieve good writing skills?
3. What mediums can you use to write on a cake?
4. When learning how to write, why is it important to learn how to trace first?
5. What is the fallen technique?
6. What is the contact or drag technique?
1. All three alphabetic charts (Writing Exercise Patterns A, B, and C)
2. Happy Birthday
3. Bon Voyage 4. Glorious Divorce
5. With Sympathy (requires the #101 petal-shaped tip)
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