Happy fall, y’all! 

And long time no see! Feels like ages since I’ve posted on my own blog, because well, it has been. I abandoned my cake life and have been wasting the days away on a tropical island, fruity drink in hand. 

Bahahahaha! I wish. 

What I’ve really been doing is werk, werk, werking my fingers to the bone. We moved (hooray!), I had knee surgery (boo!), my oldest started kindergarten (waaaah!), and I’ve been recipe testing and cake designing in every spare moment. There is SO MUCH cakey goodness headed your way. I seriously can’t wait to share all that I’ve been up to, but all in due time. Books take a while to put together. 😉

In the meantime, I’m officially back from outer space and will be posting on a more regular basis. To catch up on the cakey goodness I’ve been whipping up for other sites, check out the new Writing tab on the blog. 

You know what else happened while I was recipe testing and cake designing – video. (Insert eye-roll emoji here.) Don’t get me wrong, I love video. My Craftsy classes were a blast to film and Darby Smart ordered up a few fun cake decorating videos from me when they launched their new app. I just thought I’d have a choice as to whether or not I would participate in video making. After watching blog post after blog post of mine (here and for the other sites I write for) being turned into videos by a few random folks with zero credit, I realized I don’t have a choice. Nobody likes a polly-pissy-pants, even when polly-pissy-pants has a point, so I won’t go on too long about this. Bottom line is I’m over it (mostly), I’ve figured out how to fumble my way through iMovie, and YOU will be getting even more tasty content from me. If you can’t beat them, at least beat them to it. Follow me on YouTube for the latest videos.

I still <3 words and pictures. Think of the videos as supplements. Instead of over-describing how to pipe a buttercream rose in 10 paragraphs, you can now watch me do it in 30 seconds. That’s pretty cool.

Speaking of buttercream! Want to learn how to pipe a few simple buttercream leaves? Of course you do. These are so very easy to pipe, even for someone (like me) who doesn’t love piping. Best part is that it doesn’t matter if you screw up! Fall leaves are supposed to be all sorts of sizes, shapes, and colors. Make a bunch in seasonal shades and layer them on top of your cake for a gorgeous and quick fall buttercream design. Note on coloring – no need to purchase super specific shades of food coloring. Stick with basic yellow, green, orange, and red. Add a drop or two of brown to turn bright shades into jewel tones. I used a standard American buttercream on my cake, but a meringue-based buttercream would work just as well.

How to Pipe Buttercream Fall Leaves

Supplies

• Wilton Tip 104
• Wilton Leaf Tip 67
• Couplers (optional)
• Flower Nail
• Piping Bags
• Parchment Paper, cut in to small squares
• Buttercream
• Gel Food Coloring

(As always, there are affiliate links in this post which enable me to keep sharing free tutorials while also supporting my cake stand habit. Thanks! 😉 ) 

Rounded Leaf

Fill a bag fitted with a coupler and petal tip 104 with tinted buttercream. Using a coupler is always optional, but highly suggested if you’re going to be piping lots of leaves. Little secret – don’t clean the tips when you move them from bag to bag. Let the colors blend together to create leaves with variegated color. Attach a parchment square to your flower nail with a dab of buttercream.

Hold the bag so that the opening of the tip is parallel with the top of the floral nail with the small end of the tip towards the center of the nail. (If you’ve piped flowers before, you’re essentially making a pansy petal, but holding the tip backwards.) Apply pressure to the piping bag while quickly moving the tip out an back in a looping motion. Repeat the same process next to the first loop, but this time make the loop a little shorter. The third loop will be the center of the leaf. Spin the flower nail and turn the piping bag so that this loop sticks up next to the one before it at a 90 degree angle. Repeat with two more loops down the other side, mirroring the first two you piped. 

Carefully slide the parchment square off of the flower nail and place it on a plate or cookie sheet. Let the leaf sit flat or prop one of the edges up to shape the leaf as it hardens. Pop the sheet in the freezer until the leaf has completely hardened, about 15 minutes.

Veined Leaf

Fill a piping bag fitted with a coupler and leaf tip 67 with tinted buttercream. Add a parchment square to your flower nail with a dab of buttercream

Hold the bag close to the surface of the flower nail. Position the tip so the the opening is parallel with the top of the nail. Apply a good amount of pressure to the piping bag as you pull it across the parchment paper. The more pressure you apply, the more ruffled the sides of your buttercream strip will appear. Release pressure as you pull the tip away from the nail. 

At the base of the buttercream strip, tuck the tip under the ruffled edge and pipe a shorter line coming out from the center strip at a 45 degree angle. Repeat on the other side. Stop here for a simple leaf, or add two very short lines stemming out from the center line just above the bottom lines. 

Carefully slide the parchment square off of the flower nail and place it on a plate or cookie sheet. Let the leaf sit flat or prop one of the edges up to shape the leaf as it hardens. Pop the sheet in the freezer until the leaf has completely hardened, about 15 minutes.

Arranging Leaves

Pull the sheet of harden leaves from the freezer and work quickly to move the leaves to your cake. Return the leaves to the freezer if they begin to soften. Carefully peel the leaves from their parchment paper backing and arrange them on your cake. To add more dimension, pipe a line of buttercream on the cake and place the leaves so that they sit on and bedside that line.

If you use this tutorial to create your own masterpiece – show me! Share your cakes with me on social media with the hashtag #erinbakes. I can’t wait to see what you come up with. 🙂