Cake! magazine by Australian Cake Decorating Network August 2018 Cake! Magazine | Page 22

Step 36: Step 34: Dust your work surface with cornflour and roll out between 2mm spacers. Place the icing on a piece of baking paper and lay the houndstooth texture mat over. Press with your hands. Try and get the impression as even as possible. Cut a straight edge with a pizza cutter and your quilters ruler. Print out your Argyle template (provided) and lay the icing over this, lining up the straight edge at the base. Indent firstly with the blade following the pattern and then cut. Step 37: Step 38: Step 39: Continue cutting the pattern. I prefer working in small blocks no bigger than your blade so I get a single clean cut. This is important so the pattern lines up really well when you piece it together. Lay the pieces under a plastic flap while you continue cutting. Roll out the grey icing and texture. Step 33: Step 35: Step 43: Step 42: Texture the dark brown and continue cutting the shapes. Add tylo powder to some black icing and knead well. You will only need full diamonds shapes in the black. Brush the base tier with Crisco. The pieces will adhere, but the vegetable fat allows you to adjust positioning where needed. Step 40: Step 45: Step 46: Step 47: Step 48: Repeat cutting diamonds and triangles. Continue adding more pieces to build up the pattern in small sections at a time. Trim if needed to keep everything lined up. Alternate colours to keep the pattern balanced and trim top edges with your blade. There will most likely be a diagonal band left when you finish the pattern. Cut pieces to fit and gently press over the whole pattern with the smoother to make sure everything is secure and even. Step 41: Step 44: Begin applying the triangles along the base, alternating colours.