Writing And Piped Designs
Taste of Home
Part of the appeal of bakery-bought cakes is the perfect penmanship that those cake decorators have. But its really not too hard to replicate at home. All youll need is a piping bag, a fine piping tip, a toothpick and some patience.
To start, write or print out the message or motif youd like to be featured on the top of your cake. If youre very new to piping, do a test run on a sheet of parchment or waxed paper to get used to how the frosting flows out of the piping bag.
After a little practice, trace the design onto a sheet of parchment or waxed paper and lay it on top of your cake. With a toothpick or sharp skewer, prick the design until you have a dot-to-dot of your message. Carefully remove the paper and connect the dots with your piped frosting. Thats all it takes to write on a cake! And once you have a few cakes under your belt, you can do this freehand.
For Decorating A Cake You’ll Need A Few Essential Items:
First of all, you need a turn table to put your cake on. Having a turn table makes it easier to make smooth lines because you simply put your scraper on the cake, spin the table, and your work is done for you!
Unfortunately, I didn’t have access to a turn table. But I took the plate out of my microwave . It works just as well, and is super cheap.
You’ll also need a spatula to put the icing on your cake. The spatula is to help you put a lot of icing on your cake so that when it comes to scraping, you’re left with the perfect amount. Then of course you have the scraper, which is used to make those smooth lines on your cake. And lastly you have the piping bag and your tip, which is what will give you your awesome design.
Once You Learn How To Decorate A Cake You’ll Be Whipping Up Gorgeous Celebration
For special occasions, theres no better dessert than a delicious and perfectly decorated cake. While many of us enjoy visiting our favorite bakery for an elegant treat, it is absolutely possible to get stunning results right at home. All you need to learn how to decorate a cake are a few basic tools and a bit of patience.
Now, bake up your go-to layer cake, and lets get frosting.
On This Page
Don’t Miss: Nothing Bundt Cakes Gluten Free Ingredients
Water Color Affect To The Sides Of The Cake
This impressive way to spread the icing will leave the wondering how did you do it! And it is quite simple. Start out by piping a line of icing around the sides.
- Ready to decorate the cake.
- Starting the water color technique sides. First thing to do is to put a link of white colored icing around the sides at the base.
- Above the white goes a line of blue colored icing.
- Now a green colored icing row.
- Next is a red colored icing line.
- Lastly is a yellow colored line which should be just about a the top of the side.
Next you smooth the sides by holding a spatula or bench and spinning the cake to smooth everything flat. Once you have gone completely around you and make patches as needed.
- Holding the cake spatula at a right angle to the side.
- Now you spin the turntable and flatten the icing out. Notice how it spreads and fills the space in between and the colors run together like you are painting.. If you have spots that need more icing, just add some more and smooth the side again.
Onto removing any icing on the top of the cake. Since we will be covering the cake with stars, we only need to get the big pieces off and do not care if it spreads on the top.
- Completed the sides. Now it is time to clean up the top.
- Since the top of the cake will be covered with stars cleaning up the icing op the top is easy. just use a spatula and work from the outside to the center. Do not worry if you leave icing on the top, it will be covered over.
How To Fix A Leaning Cake
If you notice that your cake is sliding as youre assembling, you can try resetting it and placing it in the refrigerator for 15-30 minutes.
Once the cake is fully stacked, I like to use drinking straws or dowels to help hold the cake layers in place . Drinking straws are the easiest.
Simply cut them shorter than the height of your cake and use 3-4 spaced evenly in the cake. This is best done before adding the final layer of frosting on top so that you can cover the holes from the straws.
Of course, be sure that you are starting with nice and even layers as mentioned above. You want to cut the dome off the top of your cake.
You May Like: Wedding Cake Pool Steps For Above Ground Pools
How To Make A Layer Cake
This post may contain affiliate sales links. Please see my full disclosure policy for details
Youll love this quick and easy tutorial to build a perfect layer cake. Ill show you how to prepare the pans, level your cake and frost it too. Whether youre a beginner baker or a more experienced baker, theres always something new to learn.
I absolutely love making cakes. Theres no doubt about it, its a labor of love, but theres nothing better than presenting that cake to family and friends.
If youre a beginner baker, or new to making cakes, dont worry, Ive been there too. Even though I took a cake decorating classes its taken me years of practice and many cakes and Ive learned these tips and tricks along the way. There are so many truly talented cake decorators out there! I cant wait to share these tips with you in this step-by-step tutorial.
You can do this with a box of cake mix or using a recipe made from scratch. I do find that cake mixes can be difficult to work with because theyre so light and fluffy, it can be hard to frost them without the cakes falling apart. However, its totally doable!
Lets dive in.
Preorder Now & Get A Freebie
SO! If you’d like to pre-order the book, I’d like to send YOU a little freebie as a Thank you! Pre-order the book before it is released in December, email me your order confirmation to , and I’ll email YOU an exclusive bundle of printables that you’re going to LOVE and will be a perfect compliment to the book!
- Preorder on .
- Find it in a local bookstore through IndieBound.org.
I’ll share more details about the freebie later, but for now, all you have to do is place your pre-order and forward your confirmation email/receipt to this address: bookfreebie rosebakes com . and you’ll be set!
You will not get this immediatley but they’ll be sent on the official release date, December 24th! It’ll be like a little Christmas Eve gift from me to you
Okay… that’s all I’ve got for you today but I promise to be sharing more over the next few weeks and from the bottom of my heart…
Also Check: Wedding Cake Pool Stairs For Sale
Go Forth And Make Beautiful Desserts For Birthdays Special Occasions Or Anytime
With our guide and 10-step tutorial for basic decorating, you should now have all the confidence in the world to beautify your desserts like a pro. Really youre ready!
As with any baking venture, it helps to be as prepared as possible. Gather your tools and ingredients, establish an organized game plan, and be ready for Plan B if disaster strikes. You can always use my frosting-free way to decorate, if all else fails!
Fingers crossed!
Be patient as you go through the steps it may take a few tries to get the motions correct. As you continue to decorate, frosting and piping with ease will become second nature.
Once you learn the basics, you can certainly add your own flair and find your own favorite designs and decorations to personalize your creations.
Do you enjoy decorating? What are your tried and true tips? Share your advice with other readers in the comments section below.
Dont forget to Pin It!
Get Ahead With The Proper Tools
A cake is only as good as the tools used to make it! Read our list of tools that you will need to have on hand. We explain some of these items in more detail in a separate review.
These include:
- Extra bowls
- Washcloths or paper towels
Now that youre equipped with all the right tools, lets move on to how your cakes need to be prepped before decorating!
You May Like: Nothing Bundt Cakes Seasonal Flavors List
How To Make A Box Cake Taste Like Scratch
Ill let you in on a little secret, there are plenty of professional cake decorators out there who dont bake from scratch, they use a box mix and add ingredients to it to make it taste more like a scratch cake. This is called a doctored box mix and is quite tasty!
The most popular doctored cake mix is WASC which stands for White Almond Sour Cream Cake. But you dont have to use a white box mix, you can make the same adjustments to a yellow or funfetti box mix and it will taste just as good. If you want to use a chocolate box mix then check out the Chocolate WASC.
If you want to make your WASC into funfetti then add in 1/4 cup of jimmy sprinkles or confetti sprinkles. Mix into the batter at the very end of making the cake batter.
Cut The Top For A Flat Surface
In order to end up with a finished dessert that has perfectly even and angled edges, there is one essential step to take, well before you frost your dessert:
Take a look at your cake rounds. If the tops are curved with a little hump or mound, it is absolutely necessary to cut off the tops.
I may have failed shop class in middle school, but I do understand that it is much easier to build off of a flat structure than one that is rounded.
From a visual standpoint, your finished product will look cleaner, neater, and more professionally designed with all of those gorgeous right angles!
To achieve this perfect pastry plateau, use a serrated knife or cake leveler and carefully saw the rounded portion off of the top to make a flat surface.
Go at a slow pace especially if you are using a serrated knife to ensure that you are a cutting an even line across the entire round.
After gently brushing off any crumbs, your layers are ready for decorating!
Don’t Miss: Strawberry Pound Cake Lotion
How To Make Buttercream Recipe
Whilst Im sharing my ganache recipe, buttercream is a great cake filling to make if your new to cake making, and perfect to add to the top of cupcakes. This was one of the first tutorials I ever made and I still make it in exactly the same way. The recipe is a basic American buttercream and consists of butter, icing sugar and I like to add a splash of milk. The thing to remember when creating this buttercream is the more you mix it the creamier if will become.
S For Perfect Cake Decorating
For the professional baker, high quality and beautiful cake decorating is a necessary skill. Decorated cakes are some of the most popular items purchased at a bakery. Because consumers can purchase most baked goods at large grocery store chains, as well as the corner market, they may only be compelled to visit a bakery for specialty items that require talent and expertise,
skill, and experience. By improving your cake decoration skills, you will please customers and have them return to your baking establishment for every special event. Here are five important steps for perfect cake decorating.
Cool Cakes Completely
First, it is absolutely crucial to cool cakes completely on a cooling rack before you begin decorating the special event cake. There are two main reasons for this important step. First, cakes may change dramatically in shape during the cooling process. When cakes are removed from the oven, their moisture content is quite high. Steam within the pores of the cake can make them appear fuller or rounder. As the cakes cool, this moisture is lost, and the cake loses some of its shape. The second reason for allowing cakes to cool completely before decorating is the affect that even a warm cake can have on icing or frosting. Temperatures above room temperature can cause the sugar in cake frosting to melt or soften, which will result in a poorly decorated cake.
Level Cake Surfaces
The Crumb Coating
The Secondary Frosting Layer
Piping Decorations
You May Like: Wilton Party Cake Serving Chart
How To Slice A Cake
Taste of Home
After all the hard work of baking and frosting, you want every slice of your cake to be picture perfect.
To slice a cake cleanly, grab a sharp knife and dip it into hot water. Then wipe the knife dry and cut into the cake in one fluid motion. The heat from the knife will soften up the frosting and the sharp edge of the knife will give you the best looking slice. Wipe the knife clean and repeat for each slice.
How To Make Dark Color Buttercream
For the base of these colored buttercreams, you can use this easy vanilla buttercream! Start by adding dark cocoa powder to the buttercream before the gel food color. Adding the cocoa powder creates a base color thats easier to start from instead of bright white. Plus, it counters the bitter taste from the gel food color, so its easier to get a dark red or black buttercream.
You May Like: Nothing Bundt Cakes Gluten Free Flavors
Cake Decorating For Kids Using The Water Color Technique On The Sides And Multi
My finished Easy Decorated Cake for beginners. I used a water color technique and a rainbow stars.
Everyone asks me how to decorate a beautiful cake for a beginner. Well, this cake is for you. It looks fancy and people will think you spent a lot of time decorating when, with just a few tricks, you easily did it in a flash. Thats right you can do it too. Follow along and I will show you how it is done.