American Baker in Germany

 I wanted to make a steampunk cake using only buttercream and no fondant. I started out making black, purple and gold buttercream.  I put the buttercream in piping bags. The purple buttercream with a Russian piping tip that will make a rose. The black buttercream with a petal tip and the gold buttercream with a small round tip. I frosted a 6-inch cake dummy with black buttercream. I piped a ruffle on the bottom of the cake with the black and a swag ruffle as well. Then I piped a couple of lines around the edge of the cake. I piped a bunch of purple roses on top of the cake and a few on the side. Then I piped some "cogs" on top of the cake which totally ended up looking like some sort of deformed 2D flowers with the gold buttercream and decorative squigles on the side of the cake. I piped some bows with the gold on the side of the cake. Finally, I piped a line of gold along the bottom of the cake.   I love how this cake turned out. It's gorgeous and spooky and definitely b...

 A few months ago, I was sent a box of baking supplies from the TDOZ Market. ( https://thetdozmarket.com/collections/baking ) One of the cool items in the package was a set of Christmas-themed Russian piping tips. I was super excited to try them, but Christmas was a long way away. Hence, I didn't try them right away. But now's the time! Here's the wide variety I have. How cool are these? But I chose two snowflakes, one Santa, one Christmas tree and the branch, candy cane, present and bell. Let's try them out. We'll start out with a snowflake tip. I started out with a practice pipe on a piece of cardboard. And I chose the best one from the cake so everyone can clearly see what it looks like. The next one is a different snowflake. This one didn't have nearly as much definition as I was expecting, but I kind of liked the result better... Yes, that's gorgeous. The next one is a bell shaped tip. When you can see the definition, it's really pretty. And now the...