Cake decorating can be fun both as a hobby as high culinary art. But cake decorating can be frustrating business if you don’t have the perfect foundation to work on. Here is a brief overview creating the perfect cake and foundation for your cake decorating experience.

Bake Your Cake for the Right Kind of Foundation

Before you can get down to the business of cake decorating you will need, of course, a good cake to work with. What is the perfect kind of foundation to work with? First, you will need to bake the right kind of cake. The right kind of cakes is smooth, golden brown and has a nice spongy surface and a springy outer crust. The right kind of foundation has very few crumbs and is level on both top and bottom. If you are new to cake decorating, try baking your cake from a box cake mix and follow the directions. It is an easy way to ensure that you get a good foundation.

Waiting for the Cake to Cool

One of the most important fundamentals of cake decorating is to always let your cake cool before you get out the icing. Some bakers even opt to freeze their cakes before they begin the process of decoration. At the very least, let your cake thoroughly cool off before you get decorating. This means that you should wait an hour at the very least. Decorating the cake while it is still warm can easily result in breakage and uneven application.

Leveling and Trimming Your Cake

Many bakers choose to level and trim their cakes before they begin to decorate. After the cake has thoroughly cooled off, take a knife and trim off dry edges. If necessary, level off the crown of the cake center. This way, you have a nice, smooth surface to work on. You can also choose to torte your cake before decoration takes place. Torting simply refers to the process of taking a layer of the cake and slicing it into different layers that you can then alternate the icing and decorating pattern with each different layer.

Apply a Base Icing to the Cake

The next step is to apply a base icing to the cake. There are so many different icing recipes and options out there—it can be quite confusing to the cake decorating novice. Generally speaking, it is best to choose a base icing that is appropriate for the type of cake you are making. The type of base icing you use will have to do with the type of cake you are making, the melding of flavors, the event and even the weather. Butter cream is a classic base icing, but it melts easily in humid or warm conditions. Fondant icing, on the other hand, does not melt easily. It is a mixture of gelatin, corn syrup and sugar, and makes a good choice for summer or outdoor events.

Applying Decorative Touches to Your Iced Cake

After you have smoothed on the base icing to your cooled cake, it is time to have fun with cake decorating. There are so many different options and design in cake decoration. In general however, most cake decorating begins by completing the bottom borders or lines first. After the bottom border has been established, you can move on to string work or swags. Then you can apply top borders, which may include flowers or other decorative flourishes. The last bit of cake decorating is usually the writing, if there is any writing, on the cake. Keep in mind that elegant cake decorating does not need to include complicated scrollwork or borders. A simple sprinkling of sugar or fruit can make a cake come alive.

Are you a wedding cake decoration novice and you find yourself with a wedding cake decoration disaster on your hand? If that is the case, you will find that it is nearly impossible to avoid wedding cake decoration disasters altogether. That is why you should always be prepared with a few cake decoration quick fix tips up your sleeve to make sure that a little problem does not keep you from achieving your ultimate goal of a lovely and uniquely decorated cake.

Tip #1- Bake Your Cake the Day Before You Are to Decorate It

This is a small and basic tip that can go a long way. Make sure that you bake your cake in advance of when it is to be decorated. Ideally, you will want a few hours between the times the cake has been baked to the time it will be decorated. This is important because you need the cake to settle and firm up before you begin to decorate it. Give the cake some time to settle down. If you try to decorate a freshly baked cake, you will find that it may be unstable, may give off too many crumbs, and will be difficult to work with.

Tip #2 – Apply a Crumb Coat to Your Cake

What is a crumb coat, you are probably asking yourself? For most cake decorators, the biggest enemy is crumbs. Crumbs can get in the way of even the finest icing and steadiest hands. Avoid crumbs by applying a special crumb layer to your cake. The crumb layer, as the name implies, is simply a thin layer of icing that is applied in order to contain the crumbs of a cake. After applying this thin crumb boat, refrigerate the cake so that the crumbs become glued to the surface of the cake. That way, they will not interfere when you get ready to do some serious cake decoration.

Tip #3 – Apply an Icing Dam to Stop Leaks

It sounds strange, but if you have a cake with layers, there is always the danger of leakage. Leakage refers to the filling of a cake that can spill out from the sides of the cake. Even if you are careful with the amount of the filling that you have applied to the cake, there is always the side that it will leak out. This can often create a bulge-like effect on the side of the cake. Use piped icing in order to stop such leaks by creating a type of icing dam. This easy trick can be used whenever a cake is leaving filling.

Tip #4 – Trim and Slice Before You Begin to Decorate

There is an easy way to avoid many potential problems while you are decorating the cake. You can avoid a cake that looks lopsided, or icing that does not apply smoothly, simply by leveling off the top of the cake with a knife. You will want to wait until the cake has cooled fully before you level off the top. You will also want to trim the side of the cake—any dry or too-crusty sections that will not take the icing well.

Tip #5 – Freeze Your Cake Before You Begin to Decorate

This is an easy tip that has been used with much success by novices and professional cake decorators alike. Make sure that you wrap the cake completely using several layers of plastic cling wrap. Then, on top of the plastic, you will want to wrap the cake in aluminum foil. This will help keep the cake flavorful and moist. Freezing a cake is an easy way to ensure that you have a good foundation to work with.

Are you new to the world of cake decorating and you are afraid of making mistakes? Cake decorating is one of those things that many people are afraid to try for fear that they will make a mistake. The truth is that cake decorating can be a lot more fun if you are expecting to make mistakes, and if you are prepared to resolve any mistakes that may come your way. Here are some easy ways to cover your tracks in case something does go awry in the kitchen or on the decorating table.

Crumb Control – How to Keep Crumbs From Ruining Your Cake Decoration

Let us say that you have all of your special decorating tools out and you are getting ready to put the decorative touches on your cake. Everything is going fine until it comes time to decorate and you realize that you have a lot of crumbs on your hand. What happens when those pesky crumbs begin to get mixed up with your icing? This can literally ruin the way that your cake looks. Fortunately, there are few tips and techniques that you can use in order to solve the crumb control problem.

Use the Crumb Coat to Keep Things Under Control

One easy way to keep crumbs under control is to begin your cake decoration by applying a single crumb coat. What is a crumb coat? A crumb coat is an easy way to combat the problem of crumbs. The crumb coat is exactly what it sounds like—a thinner layer of icing that you apply to the cake. You can thin down your regular icing in order to create a specific crumb coat. You can use many liquids that are already at your disposal in order to create a crumb coat. For instance, you can use water or milk to thin down the cake icing. You have to thin down your icing just enough so that it remains stiff enough to be applied, but you don’t want it to be too thick.

Let the Crumb Coat Set Before Proceeding

It is very important that you let the crumb coat set before you move on to further wedding cake decoration. An easy way to set the crumb coat is to put the cake in the refrigerator and let it set there. You can let it set for at least an hour, but it is best to let it set overnight. The longer you let the crumb coat set, the best chance you have that the crumbs will essentially become glued to the cake. Once the crumb coat has been fully set, you are ready to proceed with the rest of the cake decoration.

How to Deal With Ugly Cake Bulges

Yes, cakes can take on their own set of ugly bulges. It is often the case that novice cake decorators fill the cake layers, but then find that the filling is bulging at the side of the cake. Fortunately, there are many different ways to take care of this minor decorating problem. One easy way to take care of cake bulges is to avoid them altogether. You can avoid cake bulges by baking the cake well in advance of decorating it. This will give the cake time to settle. Cakes that have been freshly baked are considerably unstable and simply won’t hold in their filling as well as previously baked cakes.

Use the Dam Technique to Avoid Cake Bulges

Another easy way to take care of the cake bulge problem is to create a dam using your icing. It is a common problem for layered cakes to bulge from an overflowing of filling. Use piped icing to create a kind of dam. This will keep your filling from bulging.