How to Do a Basket Weave with Frosting

The basket weave is a traditional technique, using buttercream frosting. It can create an amazing realistic appearance and it’s much easier than it appears.

Basket Weave Supplies:

5 cups medium brown icing

2 cups light brown icing

2 pastry bags

2 couplers

2 #6 round tips

#48 Basket Weave Tip

Tape Measure

Knife or metal spatula

How to Do A Basket Weave:

After crumb-coating your cake, create your favorite buttercream icing and either use a medium brown frosting coloring and a light brown frosting coloring.

Wrap the base of the cake with a tape measure:

Using a knife or metal spatula, mark off the cake in 1/2 inch to 1 inch increments. I used 1″ in the example below.

Using the medium brown icing pipe over the knife imprints, making vertical lines around the side of the cake.

Hold the bag of light brown icing perpendicular to the cake, with the opening of the tip aligned vertically.

Nestle the tip against one of the vertical lines at the top edge of the cake.

Squeezing the bag with moderate pressure, move the tip toward the next vertical line, lifting the tip slightly away from the cake as it moves over the past line

Release the pressure when the tip meets the edge of the line that follows.

Leaving a blank space exactly the same width as the basket weave tip, make another band of icing below the first one.

The picture above is using cookies as the vertical lines and a larger basket weave tip.

Continue adding bands with equal spaces between them down the side of the cake.

For the second set of the bands, begin with the tip nestled up against the  center line of the first set of bands, in the space between the top two bands.

Squeezing the bag with moderate pressure, move the tip toward the next vertical line, lifting the tip slightly away from the cake as it moves over and past the line.

Release the pressure when the tip meets the edge of the line that follows.

Continue adding bands with equal spaces between them down the side of the cake to the bottom edge.

Continue making columns of alternating bands all the way around the cake until all the space s are filled and the sides of the cake are covered in a basket weave of frosting.

Switch the tip on the light brown icing to a #6 tip and pipe a smooth scallop border around the bottom of the cake.