Wedding Cake: Basketweave Lessons

This weekend we were making a gorgeous fall wedding cake.  I went to school with the bride and she has been so incredibly great to work with, so it was important to us that we make it extra special.  Icing lace was not the answer for this cake, and we knew basketweave would be exactly what it needed.  Usually, my sister is the one that does the basketweave on cakes when we make them.  However, she was on a plane to LA.  SO, around midnight I decided that I was going to learn it.

That's right.  At midnight, I taught myself to basketweave.  Which is exactly why I am going to pass it along to you, because you can totally do it as well!

 I practiced this in two sizes multiple times.  Ironically, I later discovered I wasn't using the official basket weave tip (#48).

Now don't get me wrong, Wilton has multiple tips that are officially for basketweave.  But I like 48 the best, the size is perfect, and I suggest it.  It will be the later size on the cakes, this picture is when I used the bigger tip before deciding it had to come back down in size.  I think I had been using a 1D.  For a list of Wilton weave tips go to http://www.wilton.com/store/site/product.cfm?id=3E30C1CD-475A-BAC0-5CDB07AA69762110

Anyway, the basic method is the same and the size is up to you.  Here is how you do it:

First, put a vertical line down your cake, as straight as you can.  (Draw top up or bottom down, whichever is easier for you)

Next, put horizontal stripes over the vertical strip, overshooting it one quarter of an inch or so.  It's nothing to fret over, you will find this is a very forgiving decorating style. The number you need will depend on what tip you are using and how tall your sides are, but try to make the first round hit the top of the cake and come really close to the bottom.  The top is especially important.  Do it first or fix it later (as I did).  You need to leave room between each line the size of the tip.

The bottom isn't as picky, as you will put piping over it.

After you have the horizontal stripes across, put another vertical line that goes over the ends of those horizontal line.




You will then put in another round of horizontal lines that will start in between the ones from the previous row.

You want to get as close to straight as you can, and always keep your icing tight to your cake so it does not droop.


As you can see, this one is much smaller than the one above.  We ended up not liking the big for such a small layer, and decided to scrape it and start over with a smaller weave.  Always do your smallest layer first, because if you hate it you only have to alter one.  I don't think I would mix sizes, personally.

You will keep doing this all around the cake, and when you are done add your piping to the top and bottom.

 Here are the top layer and middle layer after they were completed.


Some people do not base ice their cake under basketweave.

The great part about basketweave is you can make it as easy or miserable as you want.  You can use the smallest or largest tip.  You can make the verticals closer or more spaced out.  You could even alternate colors if you wanted.  I am serious, it is forgiving.

Just don't have icing that is too soft.  That can be an issue.


My mom was awesome and swooped in to finish the piping for this cake while I slept for a few hours to get back up and decorate again.  We power nap in shifts.


We added chocolate leaves, roses, gumpaste leaves, chocolate branches, and german chocolate candy acorns to make a fall garland to cascade down the cake. 


This is my favorite angle, thank you mom for taking it, because it shows how the density of leaves progresses as the cake goes down.

I absolutely love working on cakes with my family, and I love being able to contribute to someone's special day.  I sincerely hope they love their cake and have a lifetime of happiness together.  They really are such a great couple.

Here is the cake from the front.  I could not be more pleased with it!  After this, it is on to prepping for the next cake in late October, and working on my gumpaste skills for a range of decorations.

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