Get creative with cake! Try a new way to let your creativity flow… with buttercream! In this hands-on online workshop, you’ll get an introduction to the palette knife painting technique using Swiss meringue buttercream with Libby Brewer-Dulac from Sift Baking Co. Taking the lead from artist Michael Lin and his current MOCA exhibition Archipelago, we’ll look to everyday fabrics for inspiration to bring design to your dessert.
Workshop Facilitator:
Libby Brewer-Dulac – Toronto based, East Coast born multidisciplinary artist and self-taught baker
“Everyday design, art and architecture bring inspiration, and I’m lucky if they come together in cake form on my turntable.”
An artist and tinkerer since childhood, Libby found a playground in OCAD’s Interdisciplinary Studies program. There, she practiced making and breaking things in ceramics, metal, wood, glass, plastics, paper, paint, and digital arts. Because of the very nature of cake and its ability to bring joy, her current medium of choice is buttercream.
Libby found inspiration in Carlos Bunga’s cardboard constructions while visiting his 2020 exhibition at MOCA. She created an olive oil cake filled with blueberry hibiscus, iced in colour-blocked Swiss meringue buttercream. Libby shared the cake on Instagram and once MOCA saw it, we just knew we had to collaborate.
View Libby’s other cake creations at @sift.baking
Materials to gather/prepare ahead of time
Before the workshop, you’ll need to gather and prepare a few materials, including a baked cake, as well as buttercream or frosting. You can use Libby’s recipe for chocolate cake with Swiss meringue buttercream if you like.
- A baked, layered and crumb coated cake of your choice on a cake board or a serving plate – it could be three layers tall like mine, or it could be a simple single-layer cake. If it’s tall, you can paint top and sides, if it’s short, your top is your canvas. Crumb coated: spread a thin layer of buttercream over the entire cake to seal in the crumbs and prepare for painting
- Buttercream (Swiss Meringue is best) or frosting – enough to cover the cake plus about half a cup for painting
- Edible colours – gel food colours like Wilton or Chefmaster are best for vibrant colours, natural powdered colours can also be used but sometimes impart their own flavours
- An offset cake spatula – alternatives: a butter knife, the back of a teaspoon
- Other food-safe tools for making marks in your buttercream – examples: a silicone spatula, bamboo skewers, wire mesh sieve, your Grandmother’s cookie cutters
- A cake turntable or lazy susan – alternatives: the turntable from your microwave, a small bowl upside down, with a dinner plate placed on top
- Another dinner plate to act as your palette
- A soft cloth or kitchen towel for wiping off your tools
- Inspiration! Take a cue from artist Michael Lin and find patterns from textiles around your home, wrapping paper, your favourite shirt or throw pillow
This event takes place on TD Community Sunday.
TD Community Sundays are made possible through TD Community Sundays by TD Bank Group through its corporate citizenship platform TD Ready Commitment.
