The Cincinnati Bengals are going to the SUPER BOWL!
As a lifelong fan, I am still having to tell myself this is really happening. I was born, raised and still live in the great city of Cincinnati. The last time the Bengals were in the Super Bowl I had just turned 2 years old 2 days prior… This team is my team. I wanted to use my creativity to commemorate the joyous occasion.
My blog usually features fiber art tutorials and techniques, but I do occasionally have recipes and gardening posts. So today I am sharing how I created my celebration cake for the Bengals being in the Superbowl.
I will be making a delicious chocolate cake, and you can find the recipe here. But the real art comes in the form of the icing. I made what they call a “frozen buttercream transfer.” Below you can find my buttercream recipe as well as the steps I used to create the frozen transfer.
Julia’s Buttercream Frosting – IMPORTANT NOTE: My buttercream recipe doesn’t fully freeze due to the butter to sugar ratio. You can also add a whole other stick of butter if you want a super solid icing transfer which makes placing it on the cake MUCH easier. I just like the less butter version.
Ingredients:
- 1 stick of softened salted butter (2 if wanting a super solid transfer)
- 4 cups of powdered sugar 10x
- 6-7+ tablespoons of 2% milk (the + is to thin the icing for piping)
- 1 tsp of almond extract
- 1-2 tsp of vanilla extract
Instructions:
Begin by printing off your image. If using wording or letters make sure it is in reverse. Tape or attach your image to the back of wax/parchment paper. Then, tape it to a flat portable working surface that can be placed in the freezer such as a cutting board or small baking tray.
Next, gather your ingredients. Place your softened butter, sugar and extracts into your stand mixer (or you can use a hand mixer). Start by adding 5 tbsp of milk and begin mixing. Add more milk as needed to thin. Mix until smooth.
Next add your food coloring. I used gel food coloring so that no extra liquid is added. You can use liquid food coloring but keep in mind, adding more liquid will make the consistency of the icing thinner. Once your colors are mixed. Place in piping bags with a size 2 or 3 piping tip.
Begin by piping your image. Making an outline works best. My outline was the orange frosting as well as the white. My fill icing was mostly the black and just a little of the other two colors. Between each color I placed the design into the freezer for about 5 – 10 minutes to harden the icing.
Continue filling in your design with icing. Do smaller areas first before filling in the larger areas. Once your transfer is completely filled in, cover your entire design with a layer of buttercream. This gives your design stability and helps ensure it will rest flat once placed.
IMPORTANT NOTE: My buttercream recipe doesn’t fully freeze due to the butter to sugar ratio. You can also add a whole other stick of butter if you want a super solid icing transfer which makes placing it on the cake MUCH easier.
Allow your transfer to harden. Bake your cake and frost as usual. Carefully peel the parchment paper away and place your transfer onto your cake. The transfer will stick out slightly higher than the iced cake. Fill a piping bag with a decorative tip and icing and pipe a border around your transfer.
You can make your transfer several days in advance for time’s sake. I will update this post when my cake is complete!
Continuing to bloom by choosing JOY ~ Julia
