Learn how to make this gorgeous two tier buttercream and cake lace Vintage Birdcage cake with a beautiful piped buttercream terrarium.  Watch and learn how to colour and pipe gorgeous buttercream succulents, then arrange onto the cake in our free tutorials below.  Learn how to cut and arrange simple edible cake lace strips to make an intricate vintage style birdcage which is fully edible.  What’s more, this cake can hang – watch to the end of the video to see (the internal structure to allow this will be shown in a future tutorial).

You can watch the Vintage Birdcage Cake Tutorial & Terrarium assembly here:

and learn how to pipe your buttercream succulents in this free tutorial here:

and for a small charge of less than $1 (or 50p, or similar in other currencies) you can permanently purchase a full length tutorial on YouTube explaining which colours to use, how to blend them and how to fill piping bags with multiple colours – everything you need to  make the succulents look like mine do. Just click on the video below, and if that doesn’t work try this link here.  (Please note this is only available in certain countries).

Read on for the equipment list and written instructions.

Products Used:

Click on the links below to see or purchase the exact products I used.

• Rainbow Dust Pro Gel colours, or gel/ dropper colours of choice
• Claire Bowman Eternity and Ophelia cake lace mats
• Claire Bowman Gold Cake Lace mix
• Piping tips used :
  • Wilton 61 small curved petal tip
  • Wilton 81  chrysanthemum tip
  • Wilton 79 chrysanthemum tip
  • Wilton 127  very large petal tip
  • Wilton 124  large petal tip
  • Wilton 102  small petal tip
  • Wilton 1 small round writing tip
  • a small star tip (optional)
  • several DIY Piping Cones or more Wilton 1 tips (see my tutorial on YouTube)

In addition you’ll need 3″ round and 7″ round cakes (leave the dome on the top and don’t level), coated in my buttercream.  One batch should be sufficient to coat both cakes and pipe the succulents (make extra if you want to fill the cakes too or coat more generously) – you can get the recipe here:

Sawsen’s Egg Free Swiss buttercream (SEBC) recipe – vanilla, chocolate, caffe latte, maple syrup, strawberry milk, cream cheese flavours & more!

as well as standard cake tools, scrapers, spatula and such.  If you wish to see my recommended tools and products click here.

Instructions:

1. Prepare and ice your two cakes in my buttercream, without levelling the tops to keep a slight dome (or you can carve them to shape).  If you don’t know how to build a cake you can see my tutorial here, and to get a smooth finish in buttercream refer to my video tutorial here.
2. Stack your cakes one above the other, dowelling in between if required.  You can see my dowelling and stacking tutorial here.  Alternatively, you can use a hanging cake structure if you are experienced enough to do so.  Chill the cake well.
3. Prepare two strips of Ophelia and two of the largest strip on Eternity cake lace mats using the gold premix, according to the instructions on the packet.  I dried mine for 15 minutes in a very low oven, but you can air-dry overnight if you prefer.  Carefully peel away the lace from the mats.
4. Taking a sharp pair of scissors, cut the thick band away at the bottom and sides of each strip – we will use these to make the spokes of the birdcage.  Cut the Eternity strips as shown, and place onto the cake as in the video.  The lace should adhere to my buttercream without needing anything more to attach it (you may need edible glue if using a different buttercream).
5. Build up the design by cutting short sections of the bands reserved in step 4, and attaching them like spokes as shown.  Cut away triangular sections of the remaining Ophelia mats to detail the top of the largest tier.
6. Once you’re happy with the design, chill the cake well.
7. Prepare your buttercream succulents by dividing and colouring the remaining buttercream as shown in the videos above, and filling the appropriate piping bags.  Pipe buttercream succulents as shown and freeze solid.  Reserve any spare buttercream to fill gaps on the finished cake.
8. Use buttercream to adhere the frozen succulents to the cake as shown, building up the design starting with the largest succulents first.  Finish by piping trailing vines and small succulents around the cake.
9. If you made a hanging cake, suspend it from a hanging cake stand for an extra wow factor!

I hope you enjoyed this detailed tutorial! Please stay tuned for another tutorial next week by subscribing to my YouTube channel or this blog (enter your email address in the box at the bottom of the page).  Thank you for watching!

 

*Please note some of the links in the post above are affiliate links, meaning I get a small commission from them at no extra cost to you (it’s already built into the normal price).  Please do click on the links, even if just to take a look.  Thank you for supporting this blog!