February Cake Decorator Spotlight
Crumbcoat Confections
For February Cake Decorator spotlight, we have Holley from Crumbcoat Confections who is known for her AMAZING piped buttercream floral cakes. SO incredibly talented!
Hi Holley! Can you share some about yourself? How did you get your cake decorating journey started?
I started decorating cake at a grocery chain as a way to support my family while my husband was in college. I was taught basic quick icing, buttercream borders, and roses at the store, I have also learned by taking at classes at cake shows, and lots of trial and error.
Is making cakes a business or just for fun?
I have a small cake studio, where I decorate custom cakes, teach classes, and hold Holiday pop ups.
I am in awe of your gorgeous buttercream flowers! Did it take you years of practice to get perfect piped flowers?
Thank you! I have been practicing flowers for about two years. I always wanted to be able to make different varieties of flowers in buttercream, so I decided to start practicing a couple of years ago, and now they have become a staple in my designs.
What buttercream do you use for piping flowers?
I use a Korean Glossy buttercream that I developed myself after much tweaking. There are many really great recipes out there!
Is there a cake decorating tool that you can’t live without?
My hem gauge! I use it for smoothing my cakes as it is super light.
Where do you find your inspiration from?
I love nature, textiles, paper, fashion. I love texture and contrast!
For 2020, what do you hope to accomplish for your cake business/content?
I am working on a buttercream flower class and a few others this year. I am also taking some art classes in my spare time, I have always wanted to learn to paint and draw!
Can you share some tips for someone who is hesitant on buttercream flowers? (I am!)
Make sure your icing is chilled a little so that your petals hold shape, melted icing will result in droopy petals. Freeze flowers before adding them to the cake, this will help avoid breakage. Making buttercream flowers can be therapeutic, enjoy the journey!
Do you have a favorite cake trend besides piped buttercream flowers?
I love palette knife painted cakes and hand painted cakes.
What do you enjoy doing besides making cakes?
I love walking my dogs, and traveling, I love learning about new places and things!
My Favorite Cakes
Buttercream Watering Can
This is a 100% Buttercream watering can with hand piped buttercream flowers. Inside of the cake is scratch made vanilla cake with our yummy handmade Strawberry puree. The spout and the handle have a chocolate dowel for support, but the rest is all buttercream!
Beautiful Inlay & Tiled Buttercream Cake
This cake with peonies and ranunculus with tiling done with inlay and hand painting.
Beach Chairs & Beach Cake
Beach vibes for a special birthday for a young man that loves his time on the beautiful beaches of Florida! I got to play in all sorts of cake techniques with handmade Gumpaste Adirondack chairs, water color painting, and palette knife waves.
Gorgeous Houndstooth Cake
This cake is all buttercream inlay. I think this is my favorite pattern yet; though I ain’t gonna lie this one was a challenge. I think it’s a bit of an optical illusion, so I kept getting confused. (I’ve been told that’s not too hard to do, confuse me, but I digress.)
Wood & Florals Cake
This is all Buttercream wood texture. I am a sucker for contrast so I wanted to make the flowers super contrasty and whimsical to contrast the darkness of the stump.
Whimsical Semi Naked Cake
This is a whimsical semi naked pumpkin spice cake. It was decorated with our handmade caramel drips, fresh blackberries, sugared cranberries, whole nutmeg, cinnamon sticks, star anise, eucalyptus, and tiny roses.
Beautiful Pottery Cake
I’ve been thinking about doing something with the blue painted pottery idea for a while, and of course, I had to include some flowers.
The first time I ever saw this kind of pottery I lived in Alaska, my husband was deployed and I was at the home of a dear friend, who had brought pottery pieces back to the States with her from her time in Europe.
Lovely Floral Cake
This was a vanilla cake with our ever popular strawberry puree and Swiss Meringue Buttercream.
Sculpted Bulldog Trooper Cake
This sculpted cake was for a retirement.
Thank you Holley for sharing your wonderful and unique cakes! Be sure to follow her @crumbcoatconfections/ to stay updated on the amazing cake inspiration. She also has online classes on inlay buttercream along with others in her bio if you are interested in how to do inlay buttercream!
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