Sunday 10 October 2010

Did you know today is National Cake Decorating Day? Cake Decorating 101

Did you know today is National Cake Decorating Day? Cake Decorating 101

The purpose behind cake decorating is to turn an
ordinary cake into a spectacular piece of food
art. Decorating a cake can be as complex or as
simple as you wish. Even a simply decorated can
be highly effective, so you don't need to be
afraid that you don't possess the skills needed
to be good at decorating – much of it is about
applying your creativity along with a little
know-how on effective decorating.

!! Steps !!

* Visit a cake decorating supplier. It's worth spending time to
wander around a cake decorating store to see what's available and
what tickles your fancy. If there are items that you'd love to
learn how to work with, consider talking with the store assistant
to find out more and make a decision about what to try at home.
Choose the right type of cake to decorate. Decorating a cake
requires additional effort; hence, it makes sense for the reason to
decorate it to be a good one. For example, it wouldn't be worth
trying to decorate cakes that are to be eaten warm from the oven,
such as a cake topped in syrup or sauce. The point of such cakes is
that they're already as good as they need to be. And some cakes are
fine without decoration or with decoration, such as fruit cakes, and
it is really the occasion that helps you to decide whether or not to
decorate. Cakes suitable for decorating include:

* Cupcakes

* Christmas cakes

* Wedding cakes

* Children's party cakes

* Special age birthday party cakes

* A doll cake (known in the cake decorating
world as a "Dolly Varden" cake)

* Farewell cakes

* Novelty "geek" cakes, often based on a
computer, electronic, science fiction, etc., theme; often very
fiddly work!

* Gift cakes

* Cakes for fundraising at bazaars, fairs,
galas, etc.

* Photo op cakes – cakes being photographed
for a special occasion, a blog, a Flickr photostream, an
instructional article, etc.

* Cakes being entered into competitions.

Decide on the type of frosting or icing you'd like to work with if
icing a cake. It's important to feel comfortable with the frosting
or icing techniques required for decorating cakes; some are more
complicated than others and if you're just starting out, it's
recommended that you don't take on difficult decoration projects
until your confidence increases. Typical frosting or icing styles
include:

* Buttercream or Vienna cream – this is an
easy-to-use frosting that fills gaps and covers up all sorts of
unsightly cake bumps and dips! It produces a whipped cream style
of appearance and can be smoothed down or allowed to settle in
peaks. Buttercream frosting is easy to color and flavor, with
typical flavors including chocolate, vanilla, lemon, coffee, and
strawberry.

* Fluffy frosting – this uses a frosting
created by beating in an electric mixer. This must be applied on
the day it is to be served; it has a marshmallow type consistency.
In storage, the frosting becomes a little crisp and loses its
gloss.

* Sugar paste – sugar paste is rolled
fondant. It's usually easiest to purchase it ready-made from cake
decorating suppliers.

* Royal icing – this is similar to sugar
paste and is often available ready-made.

* Pastillage – this icing comes from the cake
decorating supplier in powder form and is very useful for
intricate decorating work that you need to keep in shape. It's a
sugar paste dough or gum and can also be made from scratch. The
icing dries very quickly, and once dry, it is so hard it will
"snap" if bent. It has a high ability to resist breaking down in
the presence of moisture. The downside to this icing is that
you'll need to work with it very fast, before it dries. If you
want to use pastillage for modeling, you'll need to mix it 50/50
with sugar paste.

* Petal paste – this icing is ideal for
making flowers, as it produces extremely fine detail. It's a good
idea to slightly dampen your fingers when working with this paste.

* Sugar glue helps to hold modeled pieces in placeSugar glue –
this isn't icing but a "glue" that allows you to stick together
pieces modeled from icing.

* Modeling paste allows for all sorts of creationsModeling paste
– this is a combination of sugar paste mixed with gum tragacanth
to make an edible modeling paste.

* Pre-made icing sheets with printed designs
– these are popular for children's cakes and feature such
designs as movie, cartoon, and TV show characters. Follow the
instructions provided on how to apply these to the cake's surface.

* Dusted icing sugar – while very simple,
this can be very effective on the right type of cake, especially
where the cake's constitution is already sufficiently rich without
adding icing or frosting (such as flourless cakes and dessert
cakes).

Think beyond icing or frosting. There are many other means for
decorating a cake besides icing or frosting. You can use such items
in combination with icing, or add them direct to the cake. These
include:

* Fruit – fresh fruit pieces, dried fruit,
fruit arranged into shapes such as flowers or animals, glazed
fruit (with jam, etc.), toffee-dipped, crystallized rind, etc.

* Flowers – edible flowers can make a cake
appear very elegant

* Cream – thickened cream can be shaped into
quenelles, spread over a cake, used for filling or piped on

* Candies – all sorts of candies can make
excellent cake designs

* Drizzled chocolate – either randomly
drizzled, or in a pre-determined pattern

* Dusted cocoa or other chocolate – chocolate
curls, sprinkles, pieces, shapes, etc.

* Nuts – especially halved, slivered, or
shaved nuts

* Streusel topping – baked on, no need to
decorate other than a quenelle of cream next to each serve

* Toffee strands, shards, or shapes – you'll
need to practice making these until you get the knack of it but
toffee can work well as a decorative element on a cake

* Coconut (shredded or desiccated) – coconut
can be colored using food coloring (use wet hands or wet gloved
hands to rub the coloring through); it can also be toasted

* Jam or preserves.

Learn some other essential techniques required for decorating cakes
successfully. There are a number of helpful techniques that can help
your cake decorating experience:

* Painting on sugar – use food coloring and a
small, fine paintbrush for painting color on sugar paste, petal
paste, pastillage, and royal icing. The paintbrush must be barely
dampened, in order to avoid causing color run on the icing or
sugar model.

* Stippling – use a medium sized brush with a firm head to dot
paint across a smooth icing surface.

* Piping on icing or frosting – piping is an
excellent way to create designs on the surface of a cake. Designs
can include flowers, hearts, writing, borders, patterns, etc.
Piping equipment can be purchased commercially, or you can make
piping bags using paper or plastic at home.

* Shaping cakes – the ability to create
amazing shapes in cakes is about breaking down square, rectangle
or circular cakes through "sculpting" and reassembling them into
the desired shape. Use a sharp, serrated knife to cut a basic
butter cake or madeira cake into the appropriate shapes, following
the instructions of a recipe. If you accidentally cut off more
than you wished, "glue" it back on using buttercream.

* Always decorate the rim of the cake unless this would detract from
your design. Take a piping bag and make draping designs around the
cake. In general, leaving the rims and sides un-iced makes the
cake look "unfinished".

Use color creatively. When choosing the color
themes for your decorated cake, consider the
following things to help you choose the right
colors:

* Is the cake for someone who adores a particular color?

* Is the cake a character cake that needs to be colored in a
particular way? Many children's cakes will be like this, and you
can use photos online to guide your coloring choices.

* Is the cake for a special occasion, such as a graduation party? In
this instance, you might like to use the person's future college
colors!

* Use sprinkles, other frosting colors, or different types of
chocolate for extra color.

Candies make great windows for transport themed cakes!Learn how
to turn an ordinary piece of food into something decorative.
There isn't enough space to explain the art of making
decorations out of candies, dried fruit, vegetables, other baked
goods, etc., but it's important to be creative when you're
trying to make features for a cake. For example, you can make a
perfectly acceptable mouse by using a date with two small
candies tucked in for ears and a long rope of licorice sticking
out as a tail. When placed on a cake, it makes for a realistic
mouse. Or, use round candies as porthole windows in a ship,
sliced marshmallows as flower petals, button candies as keys on
a keyboard or phone pad, form a white ball of frosting as a golf
ball, etc., and many candies can be put to imaginative use as
eyes, whiskers, ears, noses, tails, etc.

* Use online searches for cake decorations (photos, blogs, etc.), to
inspire new ideas for using food items creatively on your cakes.

Use ready-made decorations. While there is no
need to over-complicate a cake with anything
inedible, sometimes adding plastic or paper
decorations can add special touches that none
of the previously discussed methods can
achieve. Some examples include:

* Wedding cake toppers such as depictions of
the bride and groom, bells, doves, or an archway.

* Animals for a farm, theme park, or zoo scene.
Where making all these animals in modeling paste might be too
time-consuming or frustrating, turning to the plastic equivalent
is a cinch. Just be sure that they're thoroughly washed first.

The serving plate is also an important decorative elementUse
beautiful serving plates. Ensuring that the cake plate is
suited to the overall design will ensure the cake's final
decorative touch.

* Plates with patterns should not clash with the decorative design.
Yet, with a cake that is more plainly decorated, a patterned plate
can set it off perfectly.

* Basic white plates are elegant and easy to match to all decorative
styles.

* Bold colors on plates can work well provided it doesn't clash with
the cake's main color.

* Glass plates are lovely with decorated cakes; there is an old
world effect brought about by a cake on glass.

* Cake stands are perfect for many decorated cakes; they lift the
cake up for ease of viewing and make it the centerpiece of the
table.

* If you don't want to use a plate or a cake stand, consider using a
cake board. Cake boards make it easy to handle the cake for
transportation, whether it be from your kitchen to the dining
room, or from your kitchen via the car to somewhere else
completely! These can be made at home using cardboard or thin
wooden board covered with foil, or they can be purchased
ready-made from a cake decorating supplier.

!! Video !!

!! Tips !!

* Food colorings come in powder, liquid, and paste forms. The
powders and pastes tend to have more intense colors than the
liquids. Dissolve powders in a small amount of hot water before
use, while pastes and liquids can be added direct to frosting and
icing. When adding color, always err on the side of caution and
add more if needed.
Color mixes are as follows:

* Orange = yellow + red

* Purple or violet = blue + red

* Aqua or teal = green + blue

* Light or lime green = yellow + green

* Taking culinary and baking classes can boost your knowledge in
cake decoration.

* If you find you enjoy cake decorating, consider buying secondhand
and new cake decorating books off online auction sites or from
bookstores, to increase your decorating knowledge.

* If you're not sure about the design, always get a second opinion
before presenting the cake.

* Gift wrappings for cakes can be considered another element of cake
decoration, and can be as elaborate as you'd like, and even match
your cake design if wished. Some presentation wrappings to
consider include candy bags for cake slices, boxes, cellophane
bags or wraps, baskets, cloth, glass containers, and wooden boxes.
Whatever you choose, be sure that it is food-grade, non-toxic and
will fit the cake or cakes properly.

!! Warnings !!

* Food coloring stains. Be sure to wear an apron or other form of
covering to protect your clothing. Wear latex gloves when
handling; although it will wash off, it can take several days
before this happens.

* If you don't want to use an icing base that relies on egg white,
use either a pasteurized egg white, or a no-egg replacer
equivalent.

* Don't use hard boiled candies or small toys on cakes for children
under 3. They can present a choking hazard, even if you mean to
remove them – it's too easy to be distracted during a party.

!! Things You\'ll Need !!

* Decorative items

* Food items

* Icing or frosting ingredients

* Serving plates or cake boards

* Design inspirations

!! Related WikiHows !!

* How to Learn About Common Cake Decorating Terms

* How to Transfer Cupcake Batter from the Bowl

* How to Create a Marbled Effect in a Cake

* How to Stop Sponge Rolls from Breaking or Cracking

* How to Make Frosting

!! Article Tools !!

* Read on wikiHow

*

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