With any craft, cake decorating included, there are basic principles that will help ensure successful results every time. First, using good-quality equipment and materials is a must, and here you will find sound advice for choosing and buying the essentials. In addition, a beautiful cake doesn’t just materialize; for the best results, you will need to plan your cake designs in detail from the cake base to the most subtle of decorative touches. This chapter will serve as a useful starting point to help you plan a cake that will perfectly suit the person or occasion for which you are making it.
For the very best results when icing cakes, you must have the right tools. Although a vast selection of equipment is available from various outlets, it is best to purchase from specialty cake-decorating retailers. You may pay more for the professional equipment sold by such stores, but the higher quality will help you produce the results you desire. The best equipment, carefully used and stored, will last for a very long time and may never need to be replaced, thus paying for itself several times over in its lifetime.
Although there are many companies that sell cake-decorating equipment online, beginners should look at tools in person before actually buying them. Start with the following essentials:
acrylic board
acrylic rolling pin
crimpers
icing smoother
icing spatula
icing tubes (a small selection)
patterned side scraper
straight side scraper
turntable
Use either imperial or metric weights—one or the other—in a given recipe. Do not mix the two because conversions are only approximate, and even small differences could ruin a recipe.
These items will enable you to use royal icing or fondant and crimp or pipe a design. As your cake-icing skills improve, you can purchase more equipment as you need it and quickly build up a good “toolbox.”
You must always use, wash, and store your cake-icing equipment very carefully to avoid damage and to ensure that it lasts. Keep all of your implements together in a spotlessly clean, dry place away from any cold or damp areas. Store icing tubes in a box specially designed to keep them upright; this will prevent the ends from being damaged (it will also allow you to easily find the one you need at a glance). Always clean the tubes with a tube brush specially designed to clean the pointed ends without damaging them. Thoroughly dry all equipment—tubes, crimpers, cutters, pans, and anything else made of metal—to prevent rust and discoloration that, in turn, can stain future icing or sugar work. Here are more useful tips:
Store acrylic or plastic boards flat in a dry place to prevent them from warping or being scratched. Scratched acrylic or plastic surfaces harbor dirt and may impart impurities to your sugar work.
Wash and dry canvas piping bags thoroughly. Damp items will encourage discoloration and the growth of mold.
Store straight edges and side scrapers carefully to prevent any damage to their surfaces; otherwise, this will affect the smoothness of the icing.
Have your scale checked and serviced regularly to ensure that it accurately measures ingredients.
Acrylic rolling pin and board
These tools may be expensive, but they provide nonstick surfaces and are easy to clean, practical to use, and available in a variety of sizes. Use them for rolling out small pieces of fondant or marzipan for decorations.
Acrylic skewers
Skewers support the tiers of fondant-covered cakes. They clean up easily and can be cut to size before being covered with the cake pillars.
Brushes
Fine artists’ brushes, available in different sizes, have many uses for painting flowers and sugar plaques with food coloring; they are also useful when making icing run-outs.
Cake board
Often made of corrugated cardboard or another stiff material, cake boards serve as a base on which cakes are decorated, lifted, stacked, and transported.
Cake pillars
Plastic pillars may be round, square, or octagonal and usually have a hole through the center so you can place them over acrylic skewers to support tiered cakes (for example, fondant-covered wedding cakes).
Cheesecloth
Cheesecloth is used for covering royal icing to prevent a skin from forming; because cheesecloth is white, it will not discolor the icing. Keep the cheesecloth clean and dry while in storage.
Crimpers
Crimpers come in a variety of shapes and sizes and offer many different patterns. You may purchase them in sets or individually.
Dowels
Dowels in different thicknesses are useful for holding drying leaves and petals to give them more realistic, curved shapes.
Floral tape
Tape, often seen in shades of green, used by florists to tape stems together or cover floral wire.
Floral wire
Wire comes in various gauges and colors for wiring sugar flowers onto stems and for making floral sprays.
Flower nail
You can make your own with a wine cork and a large nail or you can buy one from a kitchen store or cake-decorating specialist. Flower nails are invaluable when piping flowers.
Use this essential tool to smooth fondant to a flawless, glossy finish.
Icing syringe
Ideal for simple piping, icing syringes usually come with a selection of tubes.
Icing-tube brush
A necessary tool for cleaning icing tubes without bending or distorting the ends.
Icing tubes
Straight-sided metal tubes are the best because they produce clean, sharp results and they fit into parchment-paper piping bags. They are available in a range of different designs and sizes and are ideal for piping cream, meringues, and buttercream frosting.
Piping bags
Piping bags are made in a variety of materials. Nylon piping bags are soft and flexible, making them suitable for cream, meringue, and icing. Buy small, medium, and large piping bags. You can also make your own from parchment paper and a variety of straight-sided tubes or even without a tube.
Side scrapers
Side scrapers are made from plastic or stainless steel and are used for smoothing icing on the sides of a cake. The plastic versions are more flexible and easier to use. Patterned side scrapers come in a variety of designs and are ideal for finishing the sides of a cake with different designs.
Small cutters
These are used for cutting out various shapes, numbers, and letters in fondant, marzipan, chocolate, or fruit zest to use as decorations. Tiny specialty cutters are available for making cutout flowers from fondant and marzipan.
Stamens
Stamens come in different colors and finishes from cake-decorating retailers and are used in the center of molded and cutout sugar flowers.
Straight edge
A good straight edge is rigid and will not scratch or bend when used on top of a cake to obtain flat, smooth icing. Straight edges are available in various lengths; as a general rule, a 12-inch (30-cm) straight edge is easier to handle on cakes up to 10 inches (25 cm) in size. Those made from stainless steel are best.
Turntable
This is the most essential piece of equipment for easy movement of cakes while icing and decorating. Check that the turntable is stable and make sure it revolves smoothly. Buy the best quality you can afford.
Tweezers
Tweezers with rounded ends are indispensable for delicate work.
Cake-Icing Equipment: 1. Acrylic rolling pin, 2. Acrylic board, 3. Icing smoother, 4. Floral wires in various gauges and colors, 5. Patterned and plain side scrapers in plastic and stainless steel, 6. Icing-tube brush, 7. Fine straight-sided metal tubes in a variety of sizes and designs, 8. Parchment-paper piping bags, 9. Floral tape, 10. Stamens, 11. Turntable, 12. Garret frill cutter, 13. Fluted cutter, 14. Cutting knife, 15. Rounded-end tweezers, 16. Crimpers, 17. Small scissors, 18. Scribing tool, 19. Modeling tools, 20. Acrylic skewers, 21. Flower nail, 22. Flower cutters, 23. Artists’ brushes, 24. Stainless-steel straight edge, 25. Small cutters, 26. Large piping tubes, 27. Nylon piping bag
Before starting to make a cake for a special occasion, think through the whole idea and plan every detail carefully. Don’t rush into it with little thought of the final shape, size, or finish. There are many factors to consider in the planning stages, before you even buy the ingredients.
The occasion for which you are making the cake, such as a birthday, wedding, baptism, or anniversary. This plays a big role in the type of cake you will make.
The person for whom you’re making the cake. Consider the recipient’s age and sex as well as any particular interests, skills, or hobbies that can influence the design and theme of the cake.
The required ingredients to make the cake. Chocolate or vanilla? A light sponge cake or a rich fruit cake? There are many options.
The shape and size of the cake. Round, square, oval, horseshoe, heart, flower…the list goes on. You may need specially shaped pans, which you can buy or possibly even rent from a supplier or bakery. You’ll need cake boards of the corresponding shapes and sizes, too.
The design of the cake. The design is always a personal aspect of cake decorating, and we all know our strong points and favorite techniques. It’s not sensible to attempt aspects of sugarcraft in which you are not experienced.
How much time you have available to make and decorate the cake. The time factor can also affect your choice of design. If you are short on time, it’s better to make a simple, well-finished cake rather than an intricate cake that may be ruined by rushing at the last minute.
The color scheme and type of icing required. Does the event already have a color scheme? If possible, try to acquire samples of the fabric, flowers, or ribbons to use as a guide when choosing icing colors as well as colors for the cake’s decorations.
The cake’s final destination and how you will transport it if necessary. Avoid fragile decorations, like extension work, for a cake that has to travel a long distance because any breakage will spoil the design.
Once you have considered all of these factors, you can confidently begin to create detailed plans for your cake.
A cake designed for a special event is often the centerpiece of the occasion. Prominently displayed, it will be viewed from all angles, so you must plan the design and decorations with this in mind.
Once you’ve decided on the shape and size of the cake, you can plan your design. The base color of the cake has a strong impact on the finished design. White, champagne, or pastel shades are the safest colors to choose for special-occasion cakes, but bolder colors may be appropriate for children’s cakes or novelty designs.
When it comes to the base covering, there are three main choices: (1) the clean, sharp, classic lines of royal icing; (2) the rounded, smooth finish of fondant; or (3) the softer effect of a buttercream-frosted finish. The covering dramatically affects the appearance of the cake as well as your decoration choices. Run-outs, also known as floodwork, look wonderful on a royal-iced cake, just as frills and flounces look perfect on a fondant cake, and instant decorations, such as crushed nuts, candied fruit, and sugar-frosted flowers, complement frosted creations.
Cake Designing
The inspiration for this cake design was a remnant of upholstery fabric. The fabric design was simplified to make the pieces easier to cut out of fondant. The design was drawn on tracing paper to provide a template and then each piece of the design was cut out separately and applied to the dry fondant cake. To ensure an accurate fit of all the pieces, they were arranged while still pliable and then pressed lightly into position.
Each of the items shown here has a design, pattern, or print that you could use when planning a cake design. Lace designs may be used to make piped lace pieces; pieces of embroidery or embroidery transfer designs can form the basis of a piped design. Designs on china can inspire border piping or eyelet-lace work. Fabrics, wallpapers, and greetings cards offer bold prints that you may adapt for run-outs, cutouts, or motifs for sugar plaques or food-coloring pen designs.
If you need some inspiration for the design, look at fabric and wallpaper books, china or ceramic pieces, or embroidery patterns for designs that you can re-create in icing. Look at photographs of cakes to find appealing designs to which you can add your own personal touches. Don’t be afraid to mix and match ideas and techniques. Simple methods presented in this book include ribbons, embossing, and crimping. As your skills improve, you can move on to run-out motifs and letters, ribbon insertion, collars and corner pieces, and piped work, all of which require precise templates before embarking on the design. You’ll need to employ a bit of math along with careful measuring and cutting; accuracy is the most important factor.
Making and Using Templates
Templates are very useful for inscribing shapes and designs on the tops and sides of cakes. Always keep the templates that you make. Label them with the cake size so you can reuse them; you may even be able to adapt round templates for square cakes. Following are some examples of how you can make your own templates. For ready-made templates that you can adapt for your own use, see pages 213-217.
Top Templates
To make a top template for a circular cake, trace a paper circle that is the same size as the cake’s diameter and then cut away about 1 inch (2.5 cm) all around the circle. Fold the circle in half and then in half twice more to make eight sections. Alternatively, fold the circle in half and then fold this semicircle in three to make six sections. Either way, you will always end up with a cone shape.
To make a scalloped template, place a suitable round object at the base of the cone, draw a pencil line around the shape, and carefully cut it out. When you open up the template, the edge will be scalloped. To adapt this design, place the round object halfway over the end of the cone shape and draw around the shape, rounding the curve inward instead of outward. You may also apply this technique to a square template.
To use the template, hold it gently on top of the cake and draw around it with a scribing tool. You can then pipe over the outline and fill in the shape with trellis or cornelli work (see pages 149 and 150).
How to Make a Top Template
1. Cut out a circle of paper to the diameter of the cake, then trim about 1 inch (2.5 cm) all around.
2. Fold the circle to make eight sections and then position a round object, such as a cup, so that the rim touches the base of the cone. Draw around the cup to form a curve.
3. Cut out the round outline to form a scalloped template. Alternatively, draw and cut out an inverted curve on the base of the cone using a small plate or saucer.
4. To transfer the design to the top of the cake, center the template on the cake and draw around it with a scribing tool.
Side Templates
To make a side template, cut a piece of parchment paper to the exact height and circumference of the cake. Make sure that the strip of paper fits accurately around the cake before you begin making the template. If you are making frills to decorate the cake’s sides, you will need a template to determine exactly where you will apply the frills. Fold the side template into as many sections as there are to be frills around the cake. Place a round object halfway over the base of the folded template and draw around it with a pencil to make a scalloped edge. Cut the template out, affix to the cake, and scribe the scalloped drops to make the frill spacing or to use as a guide for piping dropped-loop thread work.
1. Cut a paper template to the exact height and circumference of the cake. To form a scalloped side template for spacing frills or for a scalloped piping design, fold the strip into as many sections as you need.
2. Draw around a cup or other suitable round object to form an inverted curve and cut carefully around the outline.
3. Fix the template to the cake and follow the scalloped outline with a scribing tool. You can use the marked “drops” for positioning fondant frills or as a guide for piping work.
Other Templates
Run-out templates: Because cakes vary in size, sometimes even just slightly, you will have to design a new run-out collar template for each cake you are decorating. First, measure the top of the cake and replicate it on a paper template. Add the collar design to the template, allowing 2 inches (5 cm) all around the template to incorporate the design. Popular designs include inward and outward scallops and hexagonal, round, and square shapes.
Ribbon-insertion templates: For ribbon insertion, the template must fit the top and sides of the cake. Accurately draw two lines the width of the ribbon and mark the spaces where you will insert the ribbon. You can use straight or curved lines, but make sure that the lines are evenly spaced; otherwise, when you transfer the design to the cake, the ribbon pieces will look uneven.
