Cherry Murphy from Cherry Cakes is back today with the most bespoke of cake decorating how-tos: using custom-printed edible paper!
All you’ll need is the artwork of your dreams (thanks Elizabeth Barnett!) – and time for the printing, pick-up or post, plus that delicious Italian Buttercream recipe we learned earlier in the month!
For this cake, Cherry has had an artwork by Elizabeth Barnett printed on edible paper. From left to right: bowl used as cake stand from Country Road, and pyrex jug and beater from Minimax. Photo – Eve Wilson, Styling Lucy Feagins / The Design Files. Styling Assistant – Nat Turnbull.
Preparing the cake and applying the first piece of paper. Props from left to right: Artwork on edible paper by Elizabeth Barnett, bowl used as cake stand from Country Road and apron from Muji. Photo – Eve Wilson, Styling Lucy Feagins / The Design Files. Styling Assistant – Nat Turnbull.
Top details to keep everything in place. Props from left to right: Artwork on edible paper by Elizabeth Barnett, bowl used as cake stand from Country Road and apron from Muji. Photo – Eve Wilson, Styling Lucy Feagins / The Design Files. Styling Assistant – Nat Turnbull.
Finished with fresh flowers – next week’s lesson! Artwork on edible paper by Elizabeth Barnett. Photo – Eve Wilson, Styling Lucy Feagins / The Design Files. Styling Assistant – Nat Turnbull.
Cake decorated with painterly, floral edible paper by Cherry Murphy of Cherry Cakes. Props from left to right: Wasara plates from Make Designed Objects, jug from Mud Ceramics, artwork on edible paper by Elizabeth Barnett, bowl used as cake stand from Country Road and apron from Muji. Photo – Eve Wilson, Styling Lucy Feagins / The Design Files. Styling Assistant – Nat Turnbull.
Covering a cake with edible paper is a really lovely and relatively simple technique that achieves a beautiful finish.
Edible paper can be ordered online, and you can use any image you like, so your options are really limitless.
I order mine from a Melbourne-based business called Three Sweeties, and it costs about $30 per page. We used two pages on this six-inch cake to achieve full coverage.
1. First start with a smooth cake. If your buttercream is bumpy or uneven this will show through the paper. I often use an offset spatula to smooth down the sides and the edges. Take your time to go over the cake a few times. If you start with a neat cake, you will finish up with a neat end product.
2. Use the ruler to measure the height of the cake, and then cut the paper so that there is half a centimetre of overhang at both the top and the bottom.
3. Turn a small bowl upside down as a sort of cake stand and place the cake on top so that you have access to both the bottom and top of the cake.
4. Carefully peel the paper away from the plastic sheet that it comes on. If it does not come away easily, place it in a ziplock bag in the freezer for five minutes. This should firm it up a little and help you to peel it away.
5. Wrap the paper around the cake, smoothing from the middle as you go, and leaving half-a-centimetre above and below the top and bottom.
6. Take the second piece of paper, and cut so that it will cover the remainder of the showing cake. Again, smoothly place onto the cake.
7. Using the scissors cut small incisions every centimetre in the excess paper that is both above and below the cake. Carefully fold the paper flat over the top and base of the cake to create a neat edge.
8. Once the cake is covered in paper, some finishing touches like fresh flowers can be added (I’ll be taking you through this in detail next week!)
