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Kids Birthday Cake Ideas
Have you ever wondered what cake decorating you would use for your child’s birthday to make it stand out? Here are some cake decorating ideas to spice up the cake and the occasion. There are several types of cake that you can make.
First, you may decide to make a candy land cake. You begin by making a standard sheet cake using the flavor that your child loves best. Use a rectangular pan for this. You may want to fashion the cake decorating to resemble a game board using a candy land game board. This game features iced gingerbread men, peppermints, licorice sticks, colored gumdrops, circus peanuts, and chocolate candies. You can either look for these items and buy them or use construction paper to make your own by stapling them or taping them to a popsicle stick to stand it up in the cake.
Doll Cake
Doll cake
Almost all young girls love dolls. Surprisingly even some older ones do. It is not surprising therefore to discover that doll cakes are very popular with girls. Use a metallic, oven-safe bowl for baking the cake. Allow the cake to cool down sufficiently before placing it on a cake board that you have prepared for this. Place the cake at the center of the board such that the widest part of the cake is on the cake. Using a butter knife create a hollow spot in the top of the cake where you will insert the doll’s legs. The cake will form part of the doll’s dress. Insert a clean undressed doll in the cake after wrapping its legs in a plastic wrap. Insert the doll up to the waist line. Now ice the cake and the doll creating the impression of a fully dressed doll. In case you are interested you can buy accents in supermarkets to add more jazz to the dress.
Race Car Cake
While girls are interested, boys are fascinated by racing cars. Start off by baking two cakes. The first one should be in the form of a loaf. The second one should be in a rectangular pan. Remove the cakes from the pans after ensuring that they have completely cooled down. The loaf is supposed to look like a car. To achieve this, cut it in an arch – to look like the top of a car. Frost the sheet cake and then place the loaf cake on it. The cut loaf cake should be centered on the sheet cake. Apply a different icing color on the car (loaf cake). Popular colors for racing cars are red and blue. You can also apply more decorations on the car. These are available from local stores or supermarkets. You can use icing of a different color to outline the doors and windows on the car. Alternatively you can use string licorice for this. The final part is the tires. Use chocolate doughnuts for the tires. There you have it. A little boy would be thrilled.
These ideas break the monotony of standard cake decorations by providing new themes. Though simple in nature they can create an exciting atmosphere in a children’s birthday party.
Coolest Birthday Cakes
Courtesy Wikipedia
You can make the coolest birthday cakes using very simple cake decorating ideas. In fact, you can do this for any occasion. Cake decorating dates back a long time ago. It has evolved over time with new creativity from cake decorators. I will describe a few techniques that you can easily do to liven up your cake decorations.
In the recent past flower decorations have become very popular. I suggest that you use small edible flowers that you have cleaned properly. You have a choice of where to get them. However, if possible, that you get them from your own garden or from someone you are sure does not use poisonous chemicals on their flowers. Use clean lukewarm water to rinse them and blot them dry using a paper towel. It is best to pick the flowers when you are just about to use them. It is important for them to be fresh. You can brush them with a bit of luster to give them a wet look if you so desire. That makes the coolest birthday cakes.
Another popular cake decorating theme uses fruits. You can use oranges, mandarin oranges, grapes or other fruits. You should slice them first. Then apply beaten egg white on the pieces. Thereafter dip the pieces in either clear or colored sanding sugar.
Fondant icing can make very beautiful cake decorations if you know how. You have options. It is possible to make 3D cake decorations or flat decorations. It is very similar to modeling with clay. Look for items to model and make them.
Nowadays you can easily get ready to use frosting in tubes. You can buy various tips to make your decorations. The icing tubes are available in a few colors. You can keep them in a pantry shelf after use for use another time. Just remove the icing tip and put back the cap on the tube.
Did you know that you create variety on your decorations by adding different colors on your icing when frosting a cake? Food colors in can are available for spraying on cakes. This works for lightly colored frosting. If you have created a scenery, you can spray the colors to make look natural. For example you could spray trees green and the sky blue. If you have grass, you can spray it green also.
These cake decorating ideas can spice up your cake decorating for friends and family with variety at each birthday party or other celebration. You can surprise them with new ideas every time.
Cakes To Dream On
Do You Really Want to Make Cakes To Dream On?
Cakes to dream on must be very unique. Sometimes you may run out of ideas when you have just been asked to bake a cake for a special occasion. You often need a fresh idea for every celebration especially for friends and family. You may not want to repeat what they have already seen before. If you are the one asked to decorate the cake, then it is your chance once again to amaze them with your cake decorating skills. You really want them to remember and even dream about it.
I will give you a few cake decorating ideas to make cakes to dream on.
Use Characters
You can choose one out of hundreds of famous characters to decorate your cake. For example you can do a drawing of Dora the Explorer or Blues Clues.
Use Themes
You can choose themes from the 20′s, the 50′s or you may choose underwater adventure or some sport theme for your cake decorating. It is all up to your creativity. Some themes can really dazzle your guests. This can be real fun.
Motor Cake Themes
If you are making a birthday cake for a boy, you can decorate the cake with trucks, fire engines, helicopters or something else that they love. You could even create scenes of a fire being put out by firemen. If the boy is into sports for example baseball, you can create a baseball scene.
Animal Themes
Now in case the party is for a girl who loves animals you could think of decorating the cake with animal scenes. You can create a zoo scene or just draw a animals randomly. It is all up to your imagination.
Food Themes
| If you have been asked to make a cake for the opening of a new restaurant, you could create a building scene or a scene with a chef or display different dishes. It is also possible to design the cake in the form of a hotdog, a taco or a hamburger. |
|
Holiday Theme
There are many holidays spread out through the year. There is Easter, Christmas, Valentine’s day and so on. You could create designs with characters associated with these holidays. Wilton has pans and decorating supplies for different holiday cake designs. They have a heart for Valentine’s day and a 4 leaf clover for St. Patrick’s day.
Individual Cake Design Creations
You can also think of your own design from your own experience and also based on the cake decorating designs that you have made in the past especially with new clients – if it is a business.
Recognition As An Expert Cake Decorator
| Whatever the situation, you should always try to come up with an attention grabbing decoration. This will earn you recognition and praise from your friends and family and even clients – who are likely to order more cakes from you. Remember to make cakes to dream on and you will be the talk of the “town”.
Click here for more, check out the best seller “Cakes to dream on” by Colette Peters at Amazon. |
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Cake Decorating Books
Are you looking for cake decorating books? I was checking the other day and I found some resources that you could check out.
The first resource discusses cake decorating for beginnners but the second is more general:
Cake Decorating Books For Beginners | Hot News Today
There are so many cake decorating books for beginners out there, which ones are the best? Of course not everybody is looking for the same thing; you may be at a different level in your cake decorating than someone else. Whether you’re a …
Cake Decorating Books,Tools & Supplies | Grandma Luci’s Recipes …
cakedecorating.e-all-recipes.com Olivia’s Cake Decorating Just a small selection of my great grandmothers cookbooks. Grandma Luci’s recipe box full of our families tried and true. Olivia’s Cake Decorating Books, Bake Ware, …
These should get you going. You can also look at the related articles on this site.
Enjoy 
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Cake Decorating Tips And Techniques
Courtesy Wikipedia
This article presents some basic cake decorating tips and techniques that you can use almost immediately. Normally after baking a cake, you wait for it cool down then you decorate it. This calls for patience and some cake decorating skills. These skills will enable you to enjoy and have more fun in cake decorating.
I will start with some basics. You will need enough space to be able to do your cake decorating properly. Avoid cramped workplaces. You will also need to avoid using a place where you may be disturbed or interrupted frequently by other people.
I mentioned earlier that you need to wait for the cake to cool before starting decorating it. If you try to decorate it earlier, you will encounter many problems. When planning always allow time for this. This can be critical especially when you are supplying orders to your friends and customers.
You should then ensure that you have all the necessary tools and ingredients readily available. You should think about this in advance. You will need a syringe or piping bag, the type and size tips you will be using, and the coupler to attach the tips to the piping bag.
There are many ways to decorate a cake. You may need to frost the cake with royal icing, cream icing or fondant icing for example. In that case you would need to ensure that you put a thin frosting layer on top of the cake to hold the crumbs together. Thereafter you will need to frost over that layer ensuring that the icing used is of the right consistency. Avoid it being too thin or too thick or else you will get a bad result. If you find your frosting to be too thin, add some more confectioners sugar. This should be added little by little so that it does not become too stiff. If it becomes too stiff, you can add some little liquid.
Different cake decorating techniques use different icing consistencies. For example, using stiff icing if you are going to make roses or similar flowers with upright petals and will be piping figures on the cake. If you do not using stiff icing, the petals will start drooping. In case you want to make flat petals or stars, you can use medium consistency.
Thinner icing can be sued for writing on the cake or more delicate work, for example vines and leaves. A little light corn syrup added to your icing makes it flow more easily and also makes it more flexible.
After you have iced the cake, you can now decorate it. You should hold the icing bag properly to achieve the patterns you want. The direction and angle you hold the piping bag will determine the way the patterns and shapes that will be created. Fortunately, there are only two positions for hold the piping bag when making designs. You can hold it at 90 degrees i.e. straight up from the surface of the cake. You can use this for simple decorations without lots of movement such as center of rosebuds, adding eyes to a character or making starts and dots.
The other position is to hold the piping bag at 45 degrees or hold the bag half-way between straight up and the surface of the cake. You can use this technique for greater flexibility in creating sweeping styles and shapes with your piping hand. This can also be used for flower petals. You should be aware that some piping tips e.g. tips for basket weave, petal and ruffle, have irregular ends. There is a right and wrong way of holding the bag when working with them.
Armed with these basics here are some tips to start you off in cake decorating:
Bows
This technique gives your cake the appearance of a wrapped gift. A flat tip and medium icing is used. You make half of the bow by holding the bag at a 45 degree angle and weeping it to the left. You then make a similar movement to the right to make a figure 8. Then make two streamers by holding the bag and sweeping downward and out from the center of the bow once on each side.
Basket Weave
This technique allows you to make the sides of your cake to look like a basket. It is advisable to practice using a piece of waxed paper until you gain sufficient confidence on doing it on the cake. After gaining the confidence, use a medium consistency icing with the basket weave tip to apply vertical stripes and horizontal stripes across the vertical. Ensure that the horizontal stripes are a bit longer so that the vertical stripes fit across them. This will create a basket pattern when you are through.
Lacework
This technique is popular with wedding and baby shower cakes. It requires some practice before mastery. You need to hold the bag almost at 90 degrees and very close to the surface. Use thin white icing. You will be making an icing border and therefore you need to decide how far in the border should be from the edge of the cake. Then move the tip up and down and around to make many similar shapes but avoid touching or crossing the other designs on the cake. Carry on until you cover the desired area fully. Thereafter you can go over both sides of the border with thicker icing. This will create an eye-catching lacework for you.
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How to Make Candied Flowers for Cake Decorating
Did you know that edible flowers can be used as a garnish in cake decorating? There are many flowers that are edible. They are available from specialty markets that stock gourmet produce. They are rare in supermarkets. If you wrap them well, you can store them for up to a week in a refrigerator. However in that case they would only be suitable for making salads and not for cake decorating. If you want to use flowers for decorating cakes they must be fresh.
Ensure that the flowers you intend to use have not been sprayed with pesticides. You can check out the most popular edible flowers below:
- Violas, roses and pansies taste like grapes
- Chive blossoms taste like mild sweet onion
- Nasturtiums they have a peppery flavor
- Almonds, lavender, chamomile, lemon, borage, apple blossoms, orange blossoms, plum blossoms, squash blossoms and peach blossoms
- Jasmine, lilacs, violets, chrysanthemums, geraniums, daisies and marigolds.
Candied Flowers for Cake Decorating
You can use candied flowers for desserts and in cake decorating. Here is one recipe that you can easily make. It will take 8 hours and 15 minutes to prepare and will yield 2 dozen flowers.
Ingredients:
cup beaten egg whites; cup superfine sugar, 2 cups edible flowers of your own choice.
Making Candied Flowers:
Clean the flowers and use a paper towel to dry them. Apply a thin layer of egg white with a paint brush on each side of the flower petals. Then place the flowers in a shallow bowl of superfine sugar and sprinkle more sugar over the flowers to create a coating. Ensure that the whole flower composition has been sprinkled with sugar. Remove the flowers and place them on a sheet of waxed paper. You need to ensure that the entire flower is covered with sugar by sprinkling another layer of sugar until this is achieved.
Allow the flowers to dry on waxed paper for 8 hours. Store them in an airtight container at room temperature until the composition is needed later. Flowers are a wonderful gift of nature. They are becoming more and more popular in cake decorating as they give cakes a beautiful look. You are likely to get many compliments for your choice of decoration whether it is on a wedding cake, birthday cake, anniversary or any other special occasion.
Initially you may find cake decorating pretty challenging, but with time you will start enjoying it and it will be great fun. It can even be very lucrative as a business. If you have an artistic background or are generally artistic then cake decorating business can be a piece of cake for you. You however need to keep up with the latest trends in order to continue offering your clients unique choices if you are running a cake decorating business.
Just as with other things in life, there are people who hold on to traditional designs yet others look for new creative designs; so it will be in your business. You will need to cater for both types: those who want to stick with the white or ivory wedding cake design and those looking for new out of the mold designs.
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How to Make Icing
Courtesy Wikipedia
How to make icing is among the many things that a cake decorator thinks about. Icing is applied as a fishing touch on cookies, cakes and cupcakes. Several different types of icing exist for cake decorating. Icing can determine a lot how a decorated cake will finally look like.
1. Buttercream icing: butter cream icing is the most common form of cake decorating. This frosting can be bought readymade in grocery stores. It is easy to make and use. It consists of confectioners sugar, and butter or shortening. You can use eggs or milk for thinning the frosting depending on the texture you want. Confectioners sugar can be used to thicken the frosting in case it is too thin. Smoothening can be achieved by dipping the icing spatula in cold water to make the surface smooth. A smooth finish makes it easier to write on the cake. You can use buttercream to create flowers and different decorations with a pastry bag. This can be used to flower petals. If you wish you can create flowers for example roses from the icing and freeze them for use later. Buttercream can be stored in a freezer without hardening. You should however ensure that it gets back to room temperature before using it.
2. Foam icing: You use this meringue on lemon pies and Baked Alaska. It consists of beaten egg white to form stiff spikes. Flavoring and color can be added the meringue. This type of frosting does not permit use of intricate icing decorations and will not allow for use of icing bags with the icing. Use it when you want the icing to look fluffy without or with little ornate decoration.
3. Fondant: Decorations for wedding cakes and cakes for very special occasions very often go with this type of icing. It consists of water, powdered sugar, cream of tartar or glucose. It tends to be thick, doughy with a silky smooth texture. Fondant will give a cake a flawless surface with soft rounded edges. It takes a little bit of practice to become an expert on fondant. Fondant has a translucent quality and is often best when placed on a thin layer of buttercream frosting on the cake.
4. Fudge icing: This is made from peanut butter, chocolate, mint and almond. It is quite thick and contains shortening and butter.
5. Glazes: This is a thin and watery frosting that will harden into a shell after it is placed on the cake. It is mostly used on pastries. Glazes cause the pastry to remain moist.
Cake Fillings Used In Cake Decorating
Chocolate cake decorated with icing and fruit courtesy Wikipedia
One may think that cake filling is difficult. However if you know how it can easily make a beautiful filled cake. You need to know that cake filling flavors should complement each other, for example chocolate with hazelnuts, or almonds or orange.
There are cakes which cannot hold well without refrigeration. Mousse and whipped cream cakes are likely to separate get soggy and start dripping. Buttercream should be kept in a cool place to avoid frosting which can result in separation. Berries are likely to get soggy and drip. Also you should cakes covered with fondant at room temperature and never in a refrigerator.
You should always cater for any dietary restrictions of your guests. For example if you have diabetic clients, you should look for a small dessert that is sugar free for them. If in doubt always ask your clients in advance.
In situations where other food is to be served as well, you should use strong flavors and brighter colors in your cakes. This will make them stand out your cake decorating is more likely to be remembered by your guests.
Some cake filling ideas for you to consider:
- Mocha buttercream with a sprinkle of finely chopped heath bars, or with caramel sauce dribbled over the cake and sprinkled with chopped peanuts.
- Buttercream icing flavors- Mocha, Orange, Raspberry, Chocolate, Lemon, and extra Almond extract.
- Any variety of jam
- Almond, Lemon, Coffee, Raspberry, Hazelnut, or orange liqueur can be brushed on the cake before icing, for a flavor boost.
- Whipped cream, Chocolate Mousse, and Vanilla Custard.
- Davinci Flavored Syrups are great for a flavor enhancer that is non-alcoholic. These syrups come in over 100 flavors.
If you want to eliminate the problem of the cake filling oozing out of the sides, you can use a jam that is all fruit. Heat in a jar in a microwave without the lid. Within a half a minute the jam will have turned into a warm liquid. You should then stir small quantity of jello of the same flavour with the jam to intensify the flavour and then spread it on the first layer. You should then leave it for a few minutes to set. Thereafter you can apply the second layer without fear of any spill-over.
You may wish to set the first layer in a freezer for about 15 minutes to make the jam set better. You can also make a dam of buttercream around the edge of the cake to keep the filling in position. The icing will therefore not be stained by the filling and your decorated cake will remain beautiful. Cake filling is not that hard!
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Cake Decorating Tools
Angel Food Cake Pan Courtesy Wikipedia
As you start your cake decorating career or hobby, you may be asking what cake decorating tools are needed. A few things can get you going very quickly in your cake decorating. As part of your cake decorating set, you will need a heavy duty mixer, cake pans, mixing bowls, spatulas, metal icing spatulas, icing tips, icing bags and ready-made recipes for homemade royal icing. You may later decide to expand your cake decorating and baking inventory. Here is a list of items that may interest you.
- Butter cream icing 3 pounds. Ready to use for cake decorations and icing. Cost $8.95. 25 pounds – $46.90, 8 pounds – $16.00.
- Rolled fondant icing white3 vanilla, 2 pounds cost $8.90. Rolled fondant cake icing is high quality; non-stick icing that can be easily lout for cake decorating with a mechanical sheeter or rolling pin. It produces a satiny smooth elegant finish on cakes. It is also often used as a modeling paste in creating decorative flat or 3D pieces in cake decorations. It is very delicious and has a mellow flavor. It can be applied over a thin icing layer or powdered sugar layer to prevent it from sticking. Fondant produces very elegant and beautiful cakes. You can choose from different fondant flavours and different weights.
- Hexagon cake pan 16 gauge anodized aluminum, straight sides, hemmed rim for durability and even wall thickness. Also available cut corner sheet cake pan, petal cake baking pans, hear cake pans, square cheesecake pan and removable bottom, oval cake pan set, 10 x 2 aluminum baking ring, round cake pan sets, wedding cake pan set.
- Round, fluted cake pans.
- Non-stick angel-food cake pan.
- Magic Line Round Cake Pans are made to suit all of your baking needs whether you are a professional or a novice at cake decorating. Set includes one 6 inch, 8 inch, 10 inch, 12 inch, and 14 inch pan.
- Set of 2 round cake pans from 2 x 2 inch, to 20 x 2. Prices range from $4.84 to $34.10. 3 inch deep cake pans and pan sets at lower prices.
- French Chef Rolling Pin – $6.99.
- 3 tier Cake and Dessert Stand – $29.29.
You can search for cake decorating supplies online. You can locate the one nearest to your home and get your items there. You may need to visit several shops or you can just order online for everything. It is always advisable to compare prices before making a big order.
Cake decorating has become very popular and is now a large industry. Almost every party must have cakes. This provides a good opportunity for many to engage in the cake decorating business.
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Cake Decorating Business From Home
Many people do not think of starting cake decorating as a business from the beginning. They often start it as a hobby making cakes for friends and family occasions. They then start getting requests from other friends and family members to make cakes for them. This causes them to consider doing it as business to cater for other people in the community who may also require cakes for their special occasions. One nice thing about this business, among others, is that you can do it from home with all the freedom. You can work when you want and set your own prices as long you have demand for your cakes. Many artistic decorators have children at home and would like to stay and take care of them and still make a living. Cake making and cake decorating business can be very appealing in such cases.
What Do You Need To Know Before You Start
Courtesy Wikipedia
Have you thought about going into the cake decorating business? Have you thought of the possibility of doing if from home? For you to succeed, you will need at least two things. You need to have a well thought out business plan and you need to be good in time management. This can be a very profitable business if you work it out well. The business plan would have determined the profitability of the business in your particular locality. If there is sufficient demand for example. If your community has many young families who have small kids and birthdays are very common then a cake business could be appealing. In such cases you may expect good demand for your cakes.
Cake decorating business can be fun but it you should be aware that it also requires time, effort and money to get it off the ground. To start off you will need to know a few icing tips, you will need a heavy duty mixer, mixing bowls, food coloring, spatula, the right cake pans, enough room to work without being cramped and an oven. Though time consuming, cake decorating business is rewarding and enjoyable.
At the outset you will need to set the record straight. You will need to treat family and friends as customers. You should charge them the cakes they order i.e. no free cakes unless as part of a discount but that is to be discouraged also. You are in business to make money. It costs you to make the cakes. It is advisable to check nearby bakeries to find out what they charge for similar cake decorating. You should charge comparable prices. You should win customers through quality. Initially you will probably be making on average very little per hour as you only charge per cake and not for your time. As you get more and more orders you may be able pay yourself a salary. In fact you may approach nearby bakeries and stores to supply them. This may require that you invest in more equipment and hire some people to help you out. You may also require getting premises for doing the business! This may not be so appealing if one of the reasons you started the business was to stay at home with your kids.
Your business can make better cakes than the bakeries near you. You can also offer variety in cake flavors, unique decorating options. You can also offer discounts to regular customers from time to time. After some time you may become very popular. You can then start charging a premium once you are confident that your cakes are superior to those by the competition near you.
Advantages of Operating Your Own Cake Decorating Business
Here are some advantages of operating a legal cake decorating business from your home:
1. You choose when to work and when to take breaks.
2. You will not have most of the common overheads of operating a shop.
3. You will have more time to spend and care for your family.
4. You can set your own working hours e.g. even at night if it suits you.
However you need to very disciplined, organized and self-motivated. You will be your own boss. No one will be there to supervise you. You will need to know the basics of doing business e.g. keeping records, banking, etc…
Before you embark on cake decorating as a business, you will need to consult with your family. Are they for the idea? Since your weekends may be tied up baking cakes as most events take place during weekends will you sacrifice the time you normally spend with your family and will they be so understanding? You will also need to check with the local authorities to find out whether there are any special requirements, for example hygiene requirements that you are supposed to meet.
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