Scratch work and cornelli lace Cake Decorating and Baking Tutorial

In this lesson, Ceri teaches us the difference between ‘scratch work’ and ‘cornelli lace’ and the appropriate application of each. Scratch work is a lot quicker and easier and doesn’t really require any planning, but just a loose hand and some spontaneity – just make sure you’re not piping from right to left (if you are right-handed) or left to right (if you are left-handed) to prevent you from stabbing into the cake and creating incomplete lines. Cornelli lace gives the illusion of being one continuous line and so requires a bit more thought with regard to the overall design and where it begins and ends.

For the full tutorial see Vintage piping techniques

This is a very therapeutic process and the finished product is very effective. It can however be quite a time-consuming technique, so may wish to plan ahead if you want to cover a very large area with it.. Remember not to pipe over the paper template as it will stick to the cake or damage your scratch work when removed.

To finish off this section, Ceri adds some piped love hearts underneath each arch of the scratch work. He does this by piping small mirrored shells next to each other – very clever!