Posts tagged cake decorating ideas
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. |
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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 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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Cake Decorating Ideas
Did you know that the first cakes baked in America were small loaves of sweet bread? Look how far we have come. Home bakers should not be intimidated by the elaborate cakes being made today. You do not need to be a pastry chef to make beautiful cakes, you just need the know-how and practice. Of course the right tools will go a long way in your cake decorating endeavors. Here are a few ideas you might like to try.
Courtesy Wikipedia
Every cake worth merit starts with a smooth icing. The cake needs to cool completely before they are iced and decorated. To keep crumbs from ending up in your icing and ruining the look of your cake, start with a thin base coat of frosting that is not quite as stiff as the regular layer will be. Once this coat is on, set the cake in the refrigerator for 20 minutes. This will set the icing and any crumbs will be caught in this first layer. Now you can spread a regular layer of icing without worrying about crumbs.
Use an icing spatula to apply and smooth the second coat of icing. Once the icing is on the cake, start smoothing on the sides by running the spatula around the perimeter of the cake. One trick for smoothing the frosting is to dip the metal icing spatula in cold water, this will aid in smoothing the frosting. To smooth the top, dip the spatula in cold water and holding it horizontally over the top of the cake. Start at the point farthest from you, holding the spatula in both hands, skim the top of the icing by bringing the spatula straight toward you.
Simple Designs
Some cake decorators say learning to smooth the icing is the hardest part of cake decorating. Practice will make you a pro in not time. Once you have it down, show it off, even a cake without many decorations that is clean and smooth will make an perfectly elegant offering.
Instead of icing, cake tops can be dusted with powdered sugar. You can choose to use a stencil for a more decorated appearance, or just the powdered sugar for a clean look.
Edible decorations are a beautiful yet simple cake decorating technique. The use of sprinkles, candy, nuts, and coconut pressed into the icing before it sets, will make your cake stand out.
To apply a textured look for your cake decorating, use a small cardboard comb, available in baking supply stores.
Piping is achieved by using a pastry bag fitted with a metal tip that is held on by a coupler. This is your most important tool for cake decorating. You can make lines, words, shells, flowers, and many other designs on the top or sides of the cake. Fill the bag with no more than 1 cup of icing at a time, twist the top of the bag and keep steady pressure when piping the design. Use your other hand to guide the tip. It is wise to find out everything you can about piping before you begin.
Fondant a smooth white paste, is used in complicated cake decorating. Fondant is kneaded and rolled to cover cakes with a sleek smooth layer of icing. It is also used to make designs that are 3-D. It is less tasty than buttercream, but the cake will look sleek and elegant.
