Cake Decorating – Frosting Tips For Beginners
How many times have you walked through Walmart or Publix seeing beautifully made birthday cakes? I bet you thought, “what makes a perfect cake?” Whether it’s a birthday cake, wedding cake, or cupcakes for the office, presentation is key. At least once we’ve all wondered how to produce such works of art. So here are some tips and tricks to help you.
Before you even ice a cake it should be level. One way to help achieve this is to use Bake Even Strips. You wet them and attach them around your pan to help your cake bake more evenly. You can also use a cake leveler to easily cut off the dome that may form. I like this option because you can munch on the excess.
The next most important step to making a bakery worthy cake is to ice the cake smooth. The best way to do this is to put a thin layer of icing on the cake called a crumb coat. As the name suggests this layer catches any crumbs that would fall off the cake that you would not want to see in your final layer of icing. After the crumb coat, put a layer of thinner consistency icing on the cake, starting on the top and working your way down the sides. Once you get the cake covered and smooth as possible allow the icing to crust. Once the icing crusts, cover your hands in corn starch and smooth over any trouble areas. You can also easily cover small problems with decorations.
Decorations can be simple or complex. Even a small design can be made fancier by using a different tip. For instance instead of using a regular round tip for letters, you could write using a star tip instead of a round tip. An easy way to put a design on your cake is to use piping gel. Simply put the design you want under a piece of waxed paper and outline the design on the waxed paper with piping gel. Once the design is traced place the waxed paper design side down and run your finger gently across the design. This will give you an outline on the cake that will help guide you.
I hope these tips have helped you get started with cake decorating. You can learn to do it in your spare time and without spending a lot of money on classes.
