Try some easy birthday cake decorating.
A birthday cake, the traditional celebration dessert, need not be elaborate or difficult to make. With a few icing supplies, readily available in the baking aisle of most supermarkets, and different-colored icings, you can decorate a cake with minimum effort. By choosing simple design elements, a personalized birthday cake becomes doable for even a beginner baker. Add this to my Recipe Box.
Foundation
A birthday cake is a food craft, and as such, it needs a sturdy foundation. You may make your cake any size or as many layers as you like, but a single-layer sheet cake is simple and provides a flat surface on which to decorate.
Theme
Choose something that represents the cake recipient or his interests. This can be a hobby, his career or just a favorite color. For instance, if the birthday boy is a golfer, you might choose to make the cake resemble a fairway by choosing green base icing and adding golf-related design elements purchased at a hobby store.
Base Icing
Make your own or use canned icing from the store. If you're using canned icing, stir it well to remove bubbles and lumps before spreading it evenly on the tops and sides of the cake. A large flat-edge spatula or a 6-inch drywall-taping knife helps smooth out icing.
Piping
Most birthday cakes have at least a small amount of piping. This is icing squeezed through a tube onto the cake to create stars, shell borders and to write the birthday recipient's name. Hobby stores sell beginner piping kits, but the easiest way to add this element to a cake is by purchasing a tube of pre-made icing that includes a few disposable piping tips.
Pipe a simple shell border by using a star tip and squeezing and releasing pressure on the icing tube as you pipe a shell shape around the bottom of the cake where it meets the cake plate. Wilton, a leading manufacturer of cake decorating supplies, offer free instructions and videos in creating basic cake decorating designs. (See Resources)
Use a small round tip to write on the birthday cake. If you find it difficult to write smoothly on the cake, try using a toothpick to transfer the writing pattern onto the cake before piping on the name. Some bakers find it easier to hold the icing tip approximately 1 inch above the surface of the cake and allow the writing to fall gently downwards on the cake.
Finishing Touches
You can pipe simple drop flowers and leaves on your cake or you can add store-bought design elements. Consider small lightweight toys or mementos and place one or two on the cake.
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