Back to basics - Buttercream

I always dread decorating with buttercream, the only reason being that it involves too much mess. I substituted fresh fruits, nuts or candies in place of buttercream for making my cakes look presentable. After taking a Wilton class almost 10 years back, I planned to give buttercream a shot again. To my surprise, the results were not that bad ... wondered what changed in these years - may be I gained some patience and some experience too working with cakes.

I used the Piping Gel Transfer method mentioned in the Wilton decorating book, this was something new I didn't learn in the class. It basically is taking an outline of a picture/template and transferring it on wax paper using Piping gel. Then the wax paper was placed on the cake and pressed and wax paper was then peeled off. The gel outline got transferred on to the cake surface - sounds darn easy, but still needs some practice.

I tried various piping designs on the Cupcake as you can see. The side of the cake was Basket Weave, which again was my first attempt. The cherry on the top was made using Fondant. Lessons learned - always have more icing in the bag then you think you would need, it saves a lot of time and mess.

Overall, I think the results were not bad, and it also made me feel less fearless of working with buttercream. What has been your experience with Buttercream ???