Antique Green Buttercream

Am I reluctant to leave these cupcakes from our Roses and Succulents class behind? 

Oh, yes.

 Because the only classes left for the year are Christmas themes. Christmas, Christmas, and more Christmas! 

Which I am actually really looking forward to... But really, Christmas?! 🙈

So, before we move onto all things Christmas, a final bit about these cupcakes...

To get "succulent" green for the pastes (see the previous post for pictures) I did my usual trick of adding a touch (just a tiny touch) of black to antique the shade.

 But I was wary of doing that with the buttercream, so I used a bit of purple instead. 

If you've ever washed black gel colour off anything, you'd have seen how much purple there is in black. So I knew that it would take me in the colour direction I wanted without making the buttercream look too flat and grey (and inedible!). 

Also, purple minimises yellow tones, which is helpful with buttercream because of its inherent warm undertones. 

This buttercream is coloured with leaf green, turquoise and a little regal purple (all Cake Flora or Americolor gel colours).

To get the subtle two-tone effect, smear just the inside of the piping bag with light purple buttercream, and then fill the bag with the green.

 Pretty huh?

Happy decorating!

xxM