Cookie-cutters and store-bought fondant make it easy to achieve a professional look.
Plastic ornaments eliminate the need for techniques that cause frustration for untrained decorators, such as decorative frosting and handwriting. Decorations are available in a variety of shapes, including alphanumeric symbols and characters from your child's favorite books, shows and movies. Fondant molds and cake stencils can also help when decorating cakes at home. Taking these shortcuts saves effort at the finishing end of cake production, leaving time for you to make delicious cakes and frosting from scratch. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Dust off the cake with a pastry brush.
2. Select one or more base colors for your cake. Use green and brown for a soccer or football cake. Use white or pink for a princess cake.
3. Apply a thin layer of frosting to the cake. Refrigerate the cake for 30 minutes; this will form a protective layer around the cake and prevent crumbs from getting into your design.
4. Pile the rest of the frosting in the center of the cake. Work with one color at a time if using two base colors.
5. Smooth the frosting from center to the edge of the top and down the sides. Repeat with the second color.
6. Draw designs on the cake. Add horizontal lines for a sports field. Draw swirls and spirals for a confetti cake.
7. Place the tip of the spatula on the cake and pull straight up to create a small peak; this can be used to make textured grass or fur.
8. Use the side of a stencil or cake comb to rake the frosting into different patterns.
9. Hold a stencil over the cake and sift powdered sugar or cocoa powder over the stencil. Remove the stencil slowly so that excess powder does not fall and ruin the design.
10. Add plastic decorations in interesting positions. Place hockey players on a light blue cake with a brown chocolate candy, as a puck. Set a princess or doll in the center of a round cake and decorate the cake as her dress. Use letters to spell "Happy Birthday."
Tags: base colors, cake with, frosting from