Cake decorating can be loads of fun, whether you are making a simple buttercream swirl or an elaborate cake for a special occasion.
It’s an opportunity to get your creative juices flowing, use your imagination and come up with something delicious.
Chisholm cookery teacher and Elfreds of the Peninsula owner Fred Johnson has been cooking and baking for more than 40 years.
Throughout his illustrious career, Fred has cooked at all sorts of exclusive functions, including events attended by members of the royal family.
More recently, he began teaching cake decorating at Chisholm.
In this article, Fred shares his top cake decorating pointers.
Tip 1: Plan and prepare
The first step is to plan out your cake. Will you create something with a minimalistic style, or aim for something fit for a queen?
Draw it on paper if you don’t already have a photo you’re working off.
Also, think about how many people your cake needs to feed, what your budget is and your ingredients.
Next, make sure you have all the baking and decorating supplies you will need, for example:
- Mixing bowl or mixer
- Wooden spoon
- Whisks (thick and thin)
- Rubber spatula
- Scales, preferably electric, measuring cups and spoons
- Cake tins/trays
- Baking sheets
- Piping bags and nozzles
- Parchment paper for piping bags and tray lining
- Knives (serrated is best if you are cutting the cake into multiple layers; palette knife for spreading coating)
- Squeezy bottle for drip cake
- Pastry wheel
- Scrapers
- Cake wheel
- Ruler
- Thermometer.
Declutter your workspace and clean all surfaces before you get started. Make sure you’re working on a level surface.
Tip 2: Stick to the recipe
If you’re a person who likes to mix things up and improvise, now is not the time.
When baking a cake, stick to the recipe and follow the steps meticulously. Substituting or cutting corners can make a huge difference to the finished product.
If the recipe says to preheat the oven for 10 minutes, preheat it for 10 minutes. If it says to line your baking tins with parchment and/or oil them before you start mixing the ingredients, do so.
Sticking to the recipe will mean less room for error and a better overall result.
Lastly, be careful about metric versus imperial measurements – avoid mixing the two.
Tip 3: No ‘open, shut them’ antics
Avoid the temptation to open and close the oven door while your cake cooks.
Each time you do, the temperature will drop and this may affect the cooking time or worse still – cause the cake to droop.
Instead, set your timer and look at your cake’s progress through the oven glass door. It’ll be just as exciting. Promise!
Tip 4: Allow the cake to cool completely
To test whether your cake is done, insert a wooden skewer into the cake. There shouldn’t be any wet cake mix visible when you pull it out.
Once cooked, leave the cake cooling in the tin for up to 10 minutes, then turn it over and allow it to cool further on a cooling rack.
Make sure the cake has completely cooled down before you begin icing it. There are a few reasons for this:
- If you try to slice the cake while it is warm, the moisture inside can escape as steam and you may end up with a dry cake.
- The cake can disintegrate if you try to handle it while hot.
- The buttercream or covering you are using will melt when applied to a warm cake.
Tip 5: Prep your cake for coating
Before decorating, brush away any loose crumbs from the cake and from the surface you’re working on. You don’t want to end up with a lumpy, bumpy finished product.
You can dust stray crumbs off with a brush or use a dry, clean sponge to gently rub them off.
Hint: Using a crumb coat (or apricot glaze) is a great way to ensure you achieve a clean, crumb-free finish on your cake. “It’s like a primer,” says Fred.
Tip 6: Be daring with your decorations
Feel free to be as creative as you want at this point.
There are all sorts of different options in terms of coating. Popular choices include:
- Buttercream or frosting
- Royal icing (good for Christmas cakes)
- Melted chocolate and ganache (for example, for chocolate mousse cakes)
- Drip coating effects
- Marzipan
- Icing sugar
Use edible flowers, macaroons, ribbons, fruit, chocolate, marshmallows, lollies or other goodies to add flair to your creation.
You may even want to go with a theme, for example a unicorn cake or pirate ship cake.
Above all else, make sure you have fun and enjoy the process! It’s great seeing your idea come to life.
“Don’t be disappointed or put off by your first attempt,” says Fred. “Try and try again.”
