ruffle & dot cake

I shared this unique cake decorating technique for the first time in my book, Surprise-Inside Cakes. (Quite honestly, developing and sharing brand new frosting techniques is a bit of a passion of mine!)

I thought that a little video might help to show you how I do this technique.

A few disclaimers:

My first couple rows of piping are a bit wonky because I was trying to pipe at an awkward angle. When YOU pipe, get right in front of where you want your row, hold your bag completely upright and use guidelines to keep yourself uniform.

I use Fat Daddio’s gel tips (not an affiliate link) and I LOVE them for this cake. Their version of the #104 tip is by far superior when it comes to uniform piping. Highly recommend! The round tip is the equivalent of a #12 tip. You can use anything from a #5 to a #12 for this cake. These tips do require a special coupler set, but you can also just go without a couple set for small projects.

My peach frosting was very warm and did not hold it’s shape as well as the chocolate. (sad face) To avoid this, make sure your frosting consistency is like toothpaste. (If too soft, try adding a small amount of sugar to thicken up) When you have the right consistency and pipe out the vertical dots they will hold their shape better and be a bit more defined.

Here is the Holiday Candle Cake from my book and you can see the red dots are a bit more defined! (It is even more clear IN my book if you happen to have a copy!)

To make sure my ruffles are perfectly (or imperfectly!) straight I use a bench scraper and press into the cake gently. This leaves a guideline that will be covered up by frosting.

Here is a recipe for Whipped Chocolate Buttercream.

Here is a recipe for Vanilla Buttercream.

I recommend this delicious Chocolate Cake recipe for the interior!

This is a really fun and easy way to decorate a cake! Just imagine all the fun you can have with colors and flavors.

I am planning on doing a rainbow version next!