Sensational Buttercream Decorating

With years of experience and thousands of cakes decorated, Carey Madden has become one of the foremost experts in the field of buttercream decoration. Her work has recently been featured in Vogue, Mademoiselle and TimeOut magazines.

Buttercream is the lightest, fluffiest icing, simply made by beating together icing sugar and butter. When meringue is added, it is known as Swiss Style buttercream and is the icing choice for professional and home bakers too, because of its thick and luscious consistency - perfect for decorating cakes and cupcakes. The wholesome and delicious quality of buttercream is exemplified in these recipes that Carey Madden shares from her years of professional baking and decorating experience. The Getting Started section includes photos, descriptions and uses of decorating tools to her fail-safe recipes for cakes, cupcakes and icings. Then the 500 step-by-step colour photos for every recipe technique enhance her clear and easy-to-follow decorating concepts and techniques. There are 10 sumptuous 'foundation' cake and cupcake recipes for chocolate, vanilla, red velvet, carrot, pink velvet, chocolate courgette, gluten-free chocolate, gluten-free blueberry lavender, vegan spice and sugar-free banana cake. More than 35 decorating fundamentals and techniques provide all the skills needed to embark on the 70 fun and festive projects - from the elegant Chandelier Cake and Cupcakes to seasonal Snowflake Cake to the Circus Tent Finish Cake.