How to:
Creating and Applying a Chevron Pattern
This design can be made with a two-tone color combination as I did, or feel free to experiment with a few different colors for the chevron stripes and background. For multiple cake tiers, each tier can alternate with a different color pattern.
TOOLS:
- yellow and white Fondant (page 57)
- powdered sugar in a muslin bag for dusting
- silicone rolling pin
- 2 damp tea towels wrapped in plastic wrap (see page 134)
- pastry wheel or utility knife
- ruler
- 1:1 mixture of water and corn syrup
- paintbrush
Knead the yellow fondant on a
nonstick surface to bring to room temperature. Dust your surface
with powdered sugar. Using the silicone rolling pin, roll out the
fondant into a rectangular shape about ¹⁄16 inch thick. Rotate the fondant
evenly as you roll, as you would for a piecrust. If the fondant
begins to stick, dust more powdered sugar on the surface. Cover
with a plastic-wrapped tea towel to prevent the fondant from drying
out.
Use the pastry wheel or utility
knife and the ruler to cut the fondant into a rectangle, so that
the height is the same height as the cake tier you’ll be applying
the design to. For instance, this cake tier is 6 inches tall, so
the height of the fondant rectangle is also 6 inches.
Using the utility knife or pastry
wheel and the ruler, trim the rectangle vertically into 1-inch
strips. Cover the strips with the plastic-wrapped tea towel to
prevent the fondant from drying out. Cut as many strips as you can
get from the rolled out piece of fondant and set aside, covered.
Depending on the circumference of the cake tier, you might have to
roll out more, but work with what you have to get started. Because
fondant dries out so quickly, I find it easier to work with small
quantities at a time.
Knead the white fondant on a
nonstick surface to bring to room temperature. Dust your surface
with powdered sugar. Using the silicone rolling pin, roll out the
fondant into a rectangle about ¹⁄16
inch thick. Rotate the fondant evenly as you roll, as you would for
a piecrust. If the fondant begins to stick, dust more powdered
sugar on the surface. Cover with a plastic-wrapped tea towel to
prevent from drying out.
Using the pastry wheel or utility
knife and the ruler, trim the fondant into 2-inch strips in varying
widths, from ¼ inch to ¾ inch. Cover the strips with a
plastic-wrapped tea towel as you work to prevent the fondant from
drying out. Set aside.
Remove one of the 1-inch yellow
strips from the tea towel and set it on your work surface. Lightly
dot a white strip with the water–corn syrup mixture with the
brush.
Apply the white strip, wet side
down, diagonally across the yellow strip. Repeat with additional
white strips, brushing them with the water–corn syrup mixture and
spacing them randomly to create a sporadic pattern.
Use the pastry wheel or utility
knife to trim the strips to create a flush edge on each side.
If applying to a fondant cake, dot
the back of the fondant strip with the water–corn syrup mixture to
adhere it to the side of the cake tier. If applying to an iced
cake, place directly on the chilled icing.
Apply the strip to the cake
vertically. Repeat, placing each 1-inch strip flush with the
previous one and alternating the angle of the stripes each time to
create a chevron pattern.