Basket Weave Using Buttercream

So if you follow my posts much, you may have noticed I was a bit behind last week. I didn't host my weekly link party, and I was one post shy of what I usually do. I started a new job a couple of months ago, and it has gone from moderately busy to hectic! I expect it will start to calm down a little again, but until then I may have to cut back a tad. I enjoy trying out new recipes and love sharing my creations with others. So for now, I'm going to cut out my weekly link party, but still try to stick to 2-3 posts a week. I plan on sticking to my usual posting schedule (cake decorating on Mondays, recipes on Wednesdays, and miscellaneous on Fridays).

If you missed my cake decorating post last week, I recently made a crochet themed cake for my mother-in-law's birthday! Last week I showed you how I used a Play-Doh tool to create yarn balls for the cake. This week, I'm going to attempt to explain how I made the basket weave on the side of the cake. Now, I didn't get a ton of pictures as I was rushing to finish the cake, but I hope I can still explain how the technique is done!

For the basket weave technique, you need a flat tip with a ridged edge side (Wilton #47 works great). You can use a smooth flat tip, but the ridged edges make it look like a wooden woven basket. Fill a pastry bag with the tip and some medium consistency buttercream.

• Start by covering cake with a layer of buttercream, you will want it to be thinner on the sides as you will be adding quite a bit of buttercream.
• Make indentations in the icing in equal increments, usually I do it around 1/2-3/4 inch thick. It doesn't really matter what exact size it is, just that you do it consistently.

• Start at one location and pipe a line of buttercream along the indentation, from bottom to top. Pipe with the smooth side facing the cake.

• Pipe horizontal stripes across the vertical line, leaving a space between each strip (see diagram below).

• Move to the second indentation and make a second vertical line
• Repeat the process by making horizontal lines, in the location of the blue lines below.

• Repeat the process over and over by following the process of making the brown lines and then blue. Repeat until you cover the whole cake.

• Finish by piping a line across the top, to serve as a border.

Hope you enjoy this tutorial! The basket weave adds such a unique and beautiful touch to any cake. It looks great for Easter, Mother's Day, a flower themed cake, or (of course) a crochet themed cake!