A beautiful or creative cake is not just for bakeries to create and you to purchase. Although making a designed cake will take some time and lots of patience, there are multiple tips and tricks to make it an easy activity. Guests will enjoy eating the cake while thinking it took you days of slaving in the kitchen to create such a masterpiece. Add this to my Recipe Box.
Big Shapes
Before baking anything, decide on a design and theme for your cake. Whether you want a princess castle or a mountaintop scene, keep your cake base to large, easy-to-frost shapes. Cutting lots of small cake pieces to arrange and frost will result in a crumbling mess unless you have expert hands and frosting abilities. Use rectangles and squares as much as possible because the corners are easy to cover with frosting. A cake mold that results in a rounded top is also an easy shape to frost. Avoid triangles or shapes with lots of small pieces or corners, like a star.
Perfect Frosting
The one thing that will make your cake look neat, clean, and crisp is the frosting. A cake with smooth, even frosting on all sides will set the stage for additional decorations and colorful designs. To get your frosting this way, first frost the entire cake, beginning with the sides and ending with the top. Then, grab a cup of warm water and a butter or frosting knife. Dip the knife into the water and then run it lightly over the edges and the top, placing the knife back into the water after each run through the frosting. This is a simple and easy way to smooth out any rough edges and help even out the frosting all around for a beautiful, blank template for your creative designs.
Premade Details
Instead of trying to make tiny animals out of frosting or fondant, visit a craft store to purchase perfectly made miniatures. For a forested mountaintop, purchase tiny evergreen trees and woodland animals. A princess cake requires Her Majesty sitting atop a tiny plastic throne along with faux plastic gems lining the sides of the cake. For any lettering, such as "Happy Birthday!" or "Congrats!" use fondant like cookie dough and cut out the letters with small letter-shaped cookie cutters. This will result in an even, sharp-looking message that really pops off the cake instead of a scribbled mess with piped frosting.
Tags: your cake, even frosting, frosting cake, into water, lots small, will result