Tiger Plaque Cake Decorating and Baking Tutorial

In this lesson Calli shows us how to prepare the plaque using a printed out image of a tiger along with tracing paper. Once you have marked your key areas you are ready to move onto preparing the paints. Calli uses a mixture of cocoa butter and dusts to create her paints.

You will notice as you watch Calli just how important a soft touch and taking your time is. Never rush painting and always keep looking at your subject. Calli has the image in front of her and is continuously looking up at it so as to not assume anything. Be careful where you are placing your hand as you paint as the warmth from your hand will melt the cocoa butter. Calli suggests placing down a piece of kitchen paper down to rest your hand on where you have not yet painted.

Here Calli starts to build up the texture and the colour of the fur using a mixture of various shades of orange and yellow. You will notice how the smallest amount of paint can completely change a colour so be very subtle with your colour mixing and perhaps paint onto a piece of paper before committing to the plaque.

In this lesson Calli begins to build up the left eye carefully mixing oranges with and yellows while using white the give the illusion of reflection. Again it is a slow but precise build up of little strokes of the brush with constant attention to the original image.

Calli uses a stiff brush with a little black paint on it and uses short strokes up the way to create the fur effect. She then switches the yellows and oranges and does the same technique in reverse slightly into the black strokes to add to the realism of the fur.

Here Calli begins to work on the nose working with the oranges, yellows and browns. She advises that using your finger to blend the colours is a great way to softly merge colours but it’s best to do it while the paint is wet.

In this lesson Calli begins to work on adding fur and texture around the mouth creating greys and working lightly with the brush. If like Calli you find there is a bit you feel you could have done better simply use a very small sharp knife to gently scrape it away and start again. This is the magic of working with cocoa butter.

Calli now starts to focus on the finer details around the Tiger such as the ground beneath it’s paws and face. She shows us how to create the illusion of depth of field by making the face feel more in focus than the foreground. She also shows us techniques for adding depth to colours and creating various shades.

Here Calli goes on to add the last little bits of details but as you will see it is open to interpretation as to when one is finished. It can be difficult to stop so every now and again take a break and step back and take a look with fresh eyes. In this lesson we see Calli use a scriber tool to add in even finer hair and general detail by scratching into the colours revealing the white paste below.

In this lesson Calli gives us some vital information and advice regarding the finished plaque and how we should store it and so on. She sheds more light on the working practices of working with cocoa butter and the paints used. Brilliant and very vital information.

Paul and Calli share some insider information vital for any professional cake designer looking to earn money from this beautiful piece of edible art.