Cake Decorating Basics – Learn How To Decorate A Cake

Sticky: Welcome to Our Cake Decorating Resources Site!

February 6, 2012 Kathy

Hello! I started this small site because I have some very special people in my life (you’ll meet some of them here) who are really into cake decorating.

They also want to pursue cake decorating as a serious business – and run a serious business from home -but resources are sometimes a little difficult to locate.

So, I began doing a little research of my own, and found (and did my best to categorize) information and resources, supplies, and instructions… Well, one thing led to another and I got a little carried away! 🙂

One of the very best I’ve ever seen – anywhere – is what is widely known to be the best cake stacking system, and it’s also very artistic. It’s called Cake Stackers – and the photo of the “Topsy Turvey” cake you see to the left is created using their system! Click Here to check them out!

If you are into cake decorating and want some easy-to-locate and easy-to-use resources and supplies – I have done my best to find the best cake decorating techniques, tools, videos, supplies, courses, and books that I could.

Here is what you will find here – in no particular order of importance (click on any of these categories to be brought to a page where you’ll find the related posts):

This is just the “tip of the icing!” 🙂 (little pun…) – Seriously, as I locate additional resources and categories, I will add them here! In the meantime, enjoy the posts, and again, Welcome! 🙂

How To Fill A Pastry Or Icing Bag – VIDEOS!

January 2, 2012 Kathy

Learning how to fill a pastry bag or icing bag is one of the very basics of learning how to decorate a cake, wouldn’t you agree?

I’m also aware that HEARING someone TELL you how to do it is just not the same as SEEING someone SHOW you how to do it! 🙂

I can almost hear it… “Ok, Kathy, it’s SO EASY! All you gotta do is put your tip into the bottom of the bag, scoot the bag over your hand and put the icing in. Simple!”

Uh huh. (more…)

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Piping a Message Onto the Cake

December 13, 2011 Kathy

Piping Messages on Cakes

Ooh boy… This arguably MUST be one of the more “scary” things to do! I say this ONLY because my handwriting is not so hot to begin with, and doing this type of piping would give me a serious case of “performance anxiety!” 🙂

BUT… (of course) the people I know in the business simply say, “It’s just practice!” And I KNOW that… But I also know that some of you who might be doing this for the first time might feel a little nervous about it. (more…)

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Basketweave Technique, Tips and Video

December 9, 2011 Kathy

The Basketweave Piping Technique

One of the coolest “illusions” I’ve seen on cakes is the “Basketweave” piping technique. I love it because, done right, it honestly does look like the icing or frosting has been woven!

As you can see from the Amazon image of a typical basketweave tip (a generic brand, Size 2B tip) at the left, the edge on at least one side of the tip has a striated or serrated type of edge to give it a “ribbed” look. If you apply the icing with the SMOOTH side up, you will have a smooth, rather than ribbed look. (more…)

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Cake Decorating DVDs or Course Online Anyone?

December 5, 2011 Kathy

Cake Decorating DVDs and Videos

Hi everyone! I got to thinking about cake decorating dvds and videos today as I was pondering holiday gift ideas for someone very special to me who loves learning cake decorating techniques but who is also on a budget and so needs cheap cake decorating supplies (she’s a young mom!).

Naturally, anyone can go find cake decorating videos YouTube style (and I PROMISE that I’ll post a good series of them on this website so that you don’t have to spend time on Youtube finding them as well). But, sometimes, “free” is not always the highest quality – or even complete. There are a lot of people who would love to learn cake decorating but don’t have tons of money to spend on a live class or a bunch of supplies.

So, what would be the next best thing for someone wanting to either start out learning how to decorate cakes as a total beginner or someone who already has the basics down, but wants to learn advanced cake decorating techniques? (more…)

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Basic Cake Decorating Pastry Tips

June 21, 2011 Kathy

Here are the Basic Tips You’ll Need to Get Started…

When people first start out in cake decorating, and are really looking for the BASIC tips, it may come as a VERY pleasant surprise that it does NOT cost that much to get started!

The folks at Wilton Industries recommend only 4 very basic cake decorating tips for beginners (the different tips you see at the end of the frosting bag that makes all those wonderful cake decorating designs!).

ALSO… if you scroll down, you’ll see a nice video I found that illustrates a few of the basic tools you’ll need to learn how to decorate a cake (If you want great prices on these tools, check out the VERY inexpensive selection at Amazon, right near the video! – OR…HEAD OVER TO OUR DISCOUNT & CHEAP CAKE DECORATING SUPPLIES STORE NOW!) (more…)

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Decorating with Fondant

June 20, 2011 Kathy

Decorating with Fondant is SO MUCH FUN!

It’s time to talk about Fondant ! I think people love this stuff because of how absolutely beautiful you can make almost any cake (or cupcake!).

I have devoted an entire section here to introduce the concept of fondant decorating, which I’ll bring you to in just a moment.

First, I need to mention a friend of mine, CJ, who makes some of the most gorgeous cakes I’ve seen in my neck of the woods.

If you happen to be in New Hampshire and want a specialty cake and don’t feel like learning how to decorate a cake yourself, then please contact CJ at Sweet Wishes Cakes. She’ll set you right up! 🙂

Anyway, one of the interesting things CJ says that I did not know about decorating with fondant is that fondant helps the cake remain moist.

And that makes a lot of sense considering that it provides an almost solid-looking “cover” in sense. It’s almost like “wrapping paper” for your cakes! Take a look at the photo here and you’ll see what I mean. (more…)

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Supplies You Need

June 15, 2011 Kathy

Tools for Cake Decorating – Basic – But VERY Important When Starting Out

Our Niece's Wedding Cake - My Mother-in-Law made the cake and sister-in-law decorated it. Photo copyright by Kathy Tremblay Yes, there ARE a few cake decoration supplies, tools and equipment you need if you’re going to learn how to decorate a cake – or even a cupcake or a cookie!

But you truly do NOT have to spend a ton of money on this stuff folks. My mother and father-in-law make the most gorgeous cakes and desserts, and they use a bunch of the basics – pastry bags, tips, spatulas… and of course, yummy icing and the colors necessary to make those gorgeous pastels.

Really, just the basic supplies. I always enjoy visiting them when they’ve got a big project going on.

For example, my father-in-law works part-time at a golf course, and every year the golf course has this huge end of season get-together for one of the tournaments. He and my mother-in-law always create a LOT of amazing treats and desserts for this event.

We conveniently visit while this is going on, and we get to sample the “mistakes.” 🙂

Anyway, so of course there are a few essential tools, baking and cake decorating equipment that you should put on your shopping list. One of them is the Cake Stackers support system, an ingenious way to transport and set up cakes in a variety of creative ways that will have guests wondering, “HOW did they DO that?” It’s wonderful! Check them out by clicking: www.cakestackers.com (more…)

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Icing is CRITICAL as You Learn How to Decorate a Cake

June 13, 2011 Kathy

As you learn how to decorate a cake, one of the VERY first things you are going to need to understand is the importance of icing (aka “the frosting!”). Yes… You CAN just go on over to the store and buy some icing in a can off the shelf if you want to just get started with the actual decorations – but personally, I think you should have an understanding of 1) why the icing is so important and 2) HOW to make your own.

When you learn how to decorate a cake, you will soon discover that the ICING is not only what you will use to COVER the cake with, but it will also be the base of your beautiful decorations – such as the flowers, leaves, and other lovely accents that adorn those amazing creations you see in your neighborhood’s bakery window.

So, one of the most basic and wonderfully yummy frostings is Buttercream Frosting (or Buttercream Icing) that we just mentioned.

So, I would like to share with you a few bits and pieces about this if you would like to see it.. I’ll have a video here as well. So, without further ado, let’s go over to our “Learn How To Decorate A Cake – Buttercream Frosting” page to learn more now!

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Welcome to Learn How To Decorate a Cake!

June 10, 2011 Kathy

Hi everyone, and welcome to my Learn How to Decorate a Cake website! I’m just getting started today, and have a ton of stuff I’d like to share with you that I’ve been learning about, and hope you’ll come back soon!

This site was started because of some of the people in my life are really into cake decorating, and I started trying to help figure out some resources that they might enjoy or could use. One thing led to another, and well, here we are!

One of the things that people have been going crazy for is the amazing Cake Stackers, undoubtedly one of the BEST cake support solutions available today. Learn more here at www.cakestackers.com and you’ll see what we mean!

In the meantime, please keep checking back!

Thanks! 🙂 Kath

(PS: As we go on, we’ll be talking about the amazing folks at “Yummy Arts” and other teaching resources and how they can help you learn amazing cake decorating techniques! To see what they’ve got going on at their membership, Click Here!

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