Lace Work on Cakes

Lace work is a very elegant cake decoration if you ask me. Imagine the beauty of intricate lace wrapped on a cake, and the best part is, the lace is completely edible.

Piped lace pattern in beige against a grey background

There are a number of ways cake decorators use to achieve this lace effect on cakes. While it might look very complicated to follow, there are a few simple techniques you can master to create this stunning cake deco.

In this post, I am going to share with you a very inexpensive way of creating lace on your cakes. You don’t need any special tools, except for your cookie cutters or other fondant cutters. If you don’t have the cutters, you can always pipe the lace patterns freehand.

Easy Lace Work on Cakes

Things you need for this cake lace technique:

Cutters (cookies cutters or floral cutters.)
Royal icing
Small round icing tip (and by this I mean the smallest possible to pipe the intricate lace pattern on your cake – I use Wilton round tip #1 )

In creating this lace, it is important to keep in mind that lace is normally intricate. As such, when you want to create lace on cakes using cutters, you will need to choose cutters that give thin outlines to your designs. Here, I am using a simple 5 petal gum paste cutter, but to create the intricacy, I cut out an outline of the 5 petal flower using a smaller petal cutter.

How to make the lace

Before you begin working with your fondant, it is always a good idea to sketch out how you would want your lace to look like. In this way, you can save time by avoiding trial and errors on the actual cake itself.

Once you have your sketch, you can cut the outlines of the petal shape in fondant using a number of different petal sizes. Once you have the cut outs, attach them to the fondant with some warm water. Mine were done on a practice board.

Next, fill up some royal icing into a piping bag with the small round tip attached. Pipe intricate lines inside the cut out patterns as well as lines outside the petal cut outs. The best thing about this piping is you can do it in whichever way you want. You can also use tips of different sizes, for instance a slightly larger tip to make the flower centers and then the finer tip to pipe the rest of the joining and finishing lines on the lace.

This lace motifs can be done all round the sides of a cake, or the entire cake. Pipe them close together for a completely lace covered look. On a tiered cake, lace work will look really elegant when done on alternate tiers.

Also, the choice of colors is important. Lace always looks good in whites, off whites, and other soft colors. For a bolder look, try using a bold colored background such as black for white lace and see the stunning effect for yourself.