Two tone icing can look very good on cupcakes and birthday cakes. When subtle it is pretty and petal like, when bold it can be very eye-catching.
You will find different suggestions on the internet as to how to make 2 tone icing but this is the method I use to produce the effects in pictures 1, 2 and 4.
Make up your white buttercream icing then put a couple of spoonfuls of the icing into a separate bowl and using gel colourings make the icing a very deep colour. Put a spoonful of the icing into your icing bag with nozzle fitted and on a clean surface flatten the icing in the bag as shown below.
Shake the bag open and fill with the white buttercream icing and then pipe onto your cupcakes or birthday cake. A deeper more pronounced edge colour will be obtained by putting more of the original dark buttercream into the icing bag initially.
If you reverse the colours ie. put the lighter colour into the bag before flattening the bag and then add the darker icing you will get an effect similar to picture 3 above.
Related posts:
I just LOVE two tone icing. They look much nicer and much more vibrant. I didn’t think about flattening the bag first.. thanks for that tips!
My neices first birthday is coming up and I need to make two toned cupcakes. Will definitely be trying your method.
wow wat a good technique at first i didint understand but wen i red it again it seemd soo easy n thers me think you layer the different colours in the bag cnt wait to try it
These look amazing! Such a helpful website! I have 2 questions:
What nozzle did you use for cake number 1?
Secondly, when I tried this technique but starting from the middle to make a rose shape it ended weirdly, with a lump of plain White buttercream. Is there a particular way to end two-tone icing?
Thanks, Hannah.
Thanks
You can see the different nozzles here http://www.cupcakes-to-your-door.co.uk/blog/index.php/2011/07/decorating-cakes-cupcakes-icing-nozzles/. It sounds as if there wasn’t enough coloured icing in the bag, as you end the swirl stop squeezing the icing bag and pull the nozzle away in the same direction as the swirl, this should make the end nicer looking.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! This blog saved my life… well I think my friend would have at least given me the evils if she had seen the state of the trail run cupcakes for her wedding. Great blog, learnt SO much already – keep up the good work.
Hi just what i was looking for. I’m planing on making 130 cupcakes for my daughters baptism and wanted to make 2 tone buttercream swirls then decorate with butterflies and blossoms (made of fondant). Does this work with Italian meringue buttercream? As Ive been told that this will stand up better in hot weather! (live in Corfu Greece and temperatures will be between 80-90 F). The cake will be outside for about 2-3 hours (in shade). What do you think. Thank you Estelle xxx
I’m sorry but I have never used italian meringue buttercream – I keep meaning to but keep running out of time! I imagine though it would work fine from what I have read. My main concern would be the fondant toppers wilting and so if I were doing it I would use flower paste or mexican paste instead or mix CMC powder into the fondant to dry it out, as I recall I think you need about a teaspoonful of CMC per 300g of fondant.
Wow! I’m so glad I found your website it has so many useful tips and I love seeing all those great cupcakes and cakes you make =)
Hi,
Two tone Icing is beautiful technique and I tried it last week. Very sucessful.
Thanks you very much for sharing.
Suzy
Wow this is such a simple technique, and there I was guessing you have placed one piping bag into another…. very smart indeed. Will try this for my daughters first birthday with buttercream and pink edges. I hope it works! (having a tea party for little madame… cant wait to try this!) Thanks.
Thank you. When you have made the cake why not send me a pic and I will put it into a blog post, it would be great to see what you make
.
This technique looks great! You can achieve much more subtle two tone designs than by streaking the piping bag. Can’t wait to try it out!
I agree and this is the one my customers always want. I found this method by being lazy and not wanting to wash the icing bag between using a dark pink and a white buttercream! If you do it the other way round, ie use a lighter coloured icing first eg mocha, and then fill the bag with a darker icing eg chocolate, you get a another really great effect that works well.
This is really useful! I haven’t seen this particular technique described before, I’ll try it out soon. Thanks!