Five Beautiful Ways To Decorate Cake

- Have you ever looked at

cake

decorating on Instagram and thought, "God, I could never do that?" Well guess what, yes you can. Purchasing a professionally

decorate

d

cake

can cost hundreds of dollars, it doesn't take much effort or extra talent to

decorate

your own cake at home. We'll show you

five

really simple decorating styles to bring your next cake to life. Honestly, just like cake, it's a really tangible way to show people you love them. First things first, we have to prepare our cakes to decorate them. Get some frosting, set the board on top and start building our cakes.

All you really need to do is put in a good amount of ice first, more than you think, honestly. You don't have to worry about it being perfect, you can install it if you want, but I don't know, it's really not the biggest deal in the world. And then for the top layer, you're going to place it bottom side down, that's a lot flatter and we want a really sharp edge for our cake. You may have to move it around a little to make sure it's completely level on all sides and then put a lot of frosting on top.

I like to take the back of my spatula and just spread the frosting over the cake. And then you'll use the offset spatula to flatten the sides and remove any excess frosting. This is your base, so to speak, on your cake to ensure that the finished layer turns out really nice and smooth. As you can see, there are crumbs that get caught in the mess, and that's why it's called a crumb layer. We will chill it until we are ready to decorate. To make this job really easy, all you need is a pastry bag, a spoon, an offset spatula, you know, I love those, a cake board, and a rotating cake stand if possible.

Lastly, you will need a rosette piping tip. Not all of these tools are necessary, I mean really all you need is a piping bag and a tip, but they make the job a lot easier. First things first, we'll place the tip of the piping on the bag, then turn it over and place the bag over your non-dominant hand with the top of the bag folded down slightly. And you'll actually use your thumb to help remove any excess frosting. Put the top back on and squeeze it between your thumb and hand, and all the pressure will come out of there.

So a lot of people want to press down in the middle of the bag, and that actually creates a lot of uneven pressure, and that's not what you want to do. In reality, it is also much more difficult. So when you're making your rosette, you start in the middle, you apply even pressure all the way to the end, and you just make a very easy curve and at the end, when you're trying to make the edge of your rosette, you just move your wrist a little bit, wrap it around and release that pressure. You just get off quickly, so to speak.

Oh, disassemble, that's a good word, yes, disassemble! And the first ones you make, they'll feel a little awkward, you'll have some that look better than others, but I'll say just do it. To fill those holes that will naturally be there, all you need to do is simply place the tip in that hole, apply a little pressure, and then move your wrist so that it almost looks like part of a Petal from a nearby rosette. The reason rosette cake is great is that you don't really need to be perfect, it looks great when it's ready. It's so elegant, it's very, very easy, it's just a piping tip with a color of icing, next thing you know it looks like you've been doing this for years.

So to start the ombre cake, you'll take the darkest color and place it around the bottom. Put two thick layers of frosting on the bottom and then make two stripes of the next color. Just choose the colors you want, you can do it from a dark blue to a very, very light blue. We're going for a more sunrise-like look, like we'd call this cake a tequila sunrise. I'll cover it with white, it will be a really nice color gradient. This tool is a bench scraper or dough cutter. You can drag it along the bottom of the stand so it's very, very level.

If you want a really clean stripe, you can start here, but we were going for that gradient look, so now we're going to use that excess icing and go up and down and go in different directions so that you're really getting a nice blend of all the colors together. The fun thing about this is, honestly, anyone can do it, it's so easy, and you really just have to know when to stop. That's usually my problem, is that I just want to go and go and have more fun with it. We just top it with some crushed graham cracker and an umbrella, because we can.

Just play with it, that's the fun thing about decorating cakes: they can be cutesy or fancy, or whatever you want them to be. I think we really just need a vacation, maybe that's why we chose the sunset. We'll show you how to make homemade succulents with buttercream. And to tint the frosting we recommend using gel colors, they are just a little more saturated. We are looking for a dark greenish gray type of color. I'm using a little bit of green, a little bit of brown and a little bit of blue. A little goes a long way, so start with a little and you can al

ways

add more.

Alright, I've got the green one, I'm also going to use some pink for these succulents, and this is, I don't know, what tip is this? Oh yes, it's a petal nozzle, yes, that's it. This one is great for making roses and succulents. And what we're going to do is put a pink stripe on one side of the bag. And, just like the ombre cake, it doesn't have to be perfect, just pipe it from the beginning of the piping tip, all the way to the top of the bag. And the rest we will fill with the color green.

And again, I'm going to use my thumb to scrape the frosting off as it goes into the bag. Let's turn it over, make sure there are no air bubbles, and set it aside while you grab some parchment paper. So just a small square is what we will use to make our succulents. And you'll just test the frosting to make sure the color comes out the way you want. Kind of silly, take it out until you're happy with the color. A new piece of parchment, and I'll make a mound of icing in the middle and then I'll make an X shape over that.

And then you'll make little C shapes around the X that you made. Do a quarter turn between each one. When you're trying to remove that frosting, I think it's best to go down to the parchment. And then continue until you are happy with the size of that succulent. With the same mouthpiece you can play with it and create different shapes. So you're going to turn the bag over to make sure the pink side is on top of the nozzle when it comes out, and you're going to do a circular motion, turning the parchment and making these little loops, loops. , go through until you reach the end.

And keep going up until you have a

beautiful

and unique little cactus, like this one. You can buy a set of pipes for beginners; all the tips we use here are the standard ones that come there. If you're nervous about spending a lot of money on frosting and still want to practice your flute, in cooking school they made us buy powdered instant mashed potatoes and practice with that. Top Tip: You heard it here first, don't take it too seriously, just have fun! And then, while they cool in the refrigerator, we'll assemble our naked cake. This one is really cool, it looks very stylish and is ridiculously easy to make.

Similar to our crumb coat, you'll take a bench scraper and scrape off all the excess. You're going to really push the cake and remove as much of the frosting as you can. Then he'll look, you know, naked. They are very fashionable right now, very fashionable. And then you can start putting on your succulents. These came straight out of the freezer, so they are very easy to work with. It seems very intimidating and you might not want to try it because you think people will think your pipeline is no good, but the point of this and why it's so cool is that there's so much stuff in there and it's like an overwhelming,

beautiful

, beautiful cake. and unique that you don't see everywhere, and you should go ahead and try it.

Now, the drip cake, very dramatic and elegant, and also very trendy. You make a very simple white chocolate ganache and then dye it this beautiful blue color. You pour the ganache in quarters along the cake. So the cake is very cold, the ganache is warm, and I'm pouring the warm ganache over the cold cake, it will set as it goes. I'll just use a dinner spoon and move the ganache in the direction I want, to make sure it pools on the sides of the cake. You could use a piping bag or a small squeeze bottle to do this, but we think it's a really organic and natural way, plus it doesn't need a lot of extra equipment.

You can top it with anything, candy, macaroons or just leave it plain, it also looks really beautiful with a clean and shiny top. Mirror polish is a real show-stopper, don't be intimidated, you can do it. You just have to be prepared, so make sure you have all your mise en place ready, because you have to work fast with this frosting. To make sure it is mixed very well, we recommend using a hand mixer. If you put cling film on top, that can help remove any extra bubbles, but as you can see, there are some left, so you want to get as many out as you can.

The ideal temperature for pouring mirror glaze over the cake is between 90 and 96 degrees Fahrenheit. The most important thing when making a mirror glaze is one, make sure it is frozen and two, make sure it is as smooth as possible. The frosting is warm when you pour it, so the cold cake will help the frosting set the cake really well. Grab an offset spatula and do some silliness! And then it really completes that marble look. And this is the fun part, this is when all the hard work pays off and you get to watch this fascinating process take shape.

Since we can't help it, we also had to add some silver leaf on top. Most of it will drain off, but you just want to make sure you get a good mix of the two colors. Hello! OMG, that's great! Every occasion, every party, has a cake, and these are just a few helpful tips to help you make yours really stand out at your next event. So all the care, all the effort, all the fun creativity that goes into making these cakes, don't be afraid to eat them in the end, that's the point, that they are something great to look at but also something great. to eat and enjoy with your loved ones.

Seriously, what are all those damn tips called? - Tips! - No, but all the different styles, like, I don't know, the one that makes it a little wavy? I don't know if... (laughs) I don't know the names of the tips, I only buy

five

mixed together, I don't know!