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Cakeheads is an online cake-decorating school and community created by cake artist, Shawna McGreevy. For more than 10 years, Cakeheads has helped cake decorators of all skill levels learn professional cake-decorating techniques through detailed, step-by-step video instruction, project tutorials, recipes, and an active online community. The mission of Cakeheads is to make professional cake decorating approachable and achievable for everyone—from beginners learning the fundamentals to experienced decorators looking to expand their skills and creativity. At the heart of Cakeheads is an extensive library of hundreds of cake-decorating tutorials and projects. Members learn how to create beautiful, elaborate cakes while also mastering the individual techniques behind them. The library gives members the ability to learn at their own pace and return to techniques and projects whenever they need them. The tutorials range from fundamental cake-decorating skills to highly specialized and advanced projects, making the library useful to decorators at virtually every level. The tutorials cover a wide range of skills, including preparing and baking cakes, making buttercream and ganache, leveling and filling cakes, achieving sharp edges, covering cakes with fondant, stacking and supporting tiered cakes, creating decorative elements, sculpting, painting, working with edible paper, cookies, macarons, and many other specialty cake-decorating techniques. Cakeheads also provides foundational instruction for decorators who want to build strong skills and understand not only what to do, but how and why each technique works. Community is an important part of the Cakeheads experience. Members have access to a supportive group of fellow cake decorators where they can ask questions, share their work, get advice, troubleshoot challenges, and celebrate their accomplishments. Cakeheads is built around the idea of *Learn, Grow, and Connect*—giving decorators the education, inspiration, and community support they need to continually improve their craft. Cakeheads is founded and taught by Shawna McGreevy, a professional cake artist and educator. Shawna brings years of hands-on cake-decorating experience to her teaching and specializes in breaking complicated techniques down into clear, approachable steps. Her teaching philosophy is centered on helping decorators understand the techniques behind professional cake decorating so they can confidently apply those skills to their own creations. Shawna has been featured in several different magazines such as Cake Masters and American Cake Decorating Magazine and has been a featured artist at the Cake, Bake and Sweets Show, Australia and the Cake Fair in Florida. She’s also taught cake classes around the world, was nominated for the Cake Masters Cake Hero award and has been chosen as one of the top ten cake artists in the United States, 2017 by Cake Masters Magazine. In short, Cakeheads combines professional instruction, an extensive on-demand video library, practical techniques, creative projects, and an encouraging community in one place!

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Cherry Blossom Tree Cake: Part Two

48m

Using Karen Portaleo's Edible Artists Oil Paints and some buttercream to create this cherry blossom tree.

Link to the Google document with the cherry tree inspiration painting by WOW art: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1auq2Mqq-Mm0VcayLc83KAuIWWVrJtroTEcRYoKlJVdw/edit?usp=sharing

Prepping the cake for the painting:
- Bake and create cake tier: torte & fill two 8" round cake tiers and stack them with supports to create one single, double-barrel tier
- Cover with fondant (or leave as buttercream finish - see notes)

I recommend covering the cake/tier in fondant. If you choose to not cover your cake in fondant and just use a buttercream finish instead, you should let it crust before painting, and note the technique will be slightly trickier - use an all-butter based buttercream if going this route.

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LINKS & SUPPLIES

Related tutorial: Section 4 of the fundamentals course (torting and filling): https://cakeheads.vhx.tv/videos/cakeheads-session-four
Related tutorial: Fault line Cake WITH Buttercream Stripes, and Building a Double Barrel Tier: https://www.cakeheads.com/tutorial/fault-line-cake-and-buttercream-stripes-honeycomb-themed-building-double-barrel-tier (no separate video available)
Related tutorial: Transferring/Painting an Image, Covering a Double Barrel, & Airbrushing (covering with fondant): https://www.cakeheads.com/tutorial/transferring-painting-image-covering-double-barrel-airbrushing (no separate video available)
Related tutorial: Number 50 Cake (chocolate heart mold technique): https://www.cakeheads.com/tutorial/number-50-make-any-number-cake-buttercream-flowers-ruffles (no separate video available)
Related tutorial: Live! Teddy Bear Macarons with Nick Ang: https://cakeheads.vhx.tv/videos/live-teddy-bear-macarons-with-nick-ang
Related tutorial: Painted Buttercream Finish & Palette Knife Leaves (3D cherry blossoms): https://cakeheads.vhx.tv/videos/turquoise-teal-painted-buttercream-with-palette-knife-leaves-red-accents

RECIPES
- SUPER Easy Meringue Buttercream (Vanilla or Chocolate!)