Page 17 - Dainfern issue 10 2021

LIFESTYLE

disappointing than accidentally piping
the wrong colour directly onto a cake
or turning around to find half of your
succulents hanging squished to your
sleeve. Keeping your tools clean makes
for clean work and immaculate results.

SELECTION OF SUCCULENTS
When deciding what type of succulent
to pipe, remember to be patient with
yourself while you are learning. If you are
a beginner, rather choose a succulent that
requires one nozzle and one colour. If you
are more advanced, you can experiment
with realism – I often use a good
reference picture or a real specimen to
push my colour matching skills. Try to
achieve the perfectly balanced green by
Grace Stevens experimenting with the tonal value and
adding black or brown.

ARRANGEMENT AND TEXTURE
During a class, I had a very nervous
student who had tagged along with a
friend. Once she piped her first succulent,
her reservation melted quicker than
buttercream in an African summer and
she left beaming enthusiastically about
the bouquet of succulents adorning her
SUCCULENT SUMMER cupcake.

To get the most out of your succulent
CUPCAKES arrangement use succulents that vary in
texture to create dimension. If you are
more advanced and want to add flowers,
make selections that won’t compete with
the textures in the succulents so that the
Tips for piping scrumptious confectionary succulents eye can easily follow the design of your
cupcake.

TRANSPORTING YOUR CREATION
Succulents are a perfect place for
beginners because they are easy to
transport to show off to friends and
family. Unlike the more complicated
designs of traditional flowers, they can
easily be piped directly onto the cake or
piped well in advance and refrigerated
or frozen until you need them. If you are
transporting them, it’s best to do so in a
covered cardboard box as they will crust
over if left out at room temperature, not
to mention it makes them far less fiddly
to handle.
We have long adored the geometric
curls, glorious textures and extraordinary
colours of succulents. Knowing the
simple piping techniques behind them
takes them from being an indulgence
we dream of right to our tables. This
modern, arid aesthetic is hot in the icing
and gardening worlds, turning regular
cupcakes into the perfect prickly treat for
your next picnic.
For more summer secrets, follow
Grace on Instagram@
grace_stevenschef, or visit her website
at www.gracestevens.co.za.
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