Cake Decorating Basics

I am by NO means an expert at this, and there are lots of websites and resources out there with all kinds of instructions and tips for making beautiful flawless cakes. But I thought I'd share what I've learned in the last couple of years anyway. :)

I started with a basic kit of supplies:

-Three Wilton piping bags, one extra large

-Two straight line tips in different sizes

-Two star tips in different sizes

-A grass tip

-Some kind of a wide flat attachment to the extra large bag for piping wide flat lines of frosting onto your cake to spread out as the base frosting layer

-Wilton food coloring box of 8 colors

-Frosting spatula

Preparing your cakes:

-When your cakes have cooled, the first thing I do is look at the tops. Usually they're uneven. This is due to my oven being uneven, or my counter top. Who knows. :) I usually take a long bread knife and get at eye level with the top of the cake, and then slowly shave off a little bit at a time until it looks more level with the edges all the way around.

-Then I place one cake on the serving platter, bottom down. Next, I put about two cups of frosting on that cake, and smooth it out with the frosting spatula. If my cake is still a little high in the middle, this means that I'll work hard to distribute the frosting to where it's thicker on the outside and thinner in the middle, in an attempt to level it out again.

-Next, I place the second cake, top down, on top of the frosting. I want the bottom on top so there is a nice smooth edge to the top of the cake. I'm not sure if you're "supposed" to do this, but it always works well for me. I pretty firmly but evenly push on the cake top to mash the frosting out to the edges evenly. If you don't get the frosting to fill in the full gap between the edges of the cake, it will sag and then the middle will be much higher than the edges. Add some frosting and fill it in if you need to.

Once you've got the cake stacked:

Brush the top and sides with your fingers lightly to remove any loose crumbs. You don't want them getting stuck in your frosting.(If they do anyway, you can pry them out with a toothpick). I put about 2 cups again of frosting on top of the cake. With the spatula, I smooth it out to the edges. You want to hold the spatula or knife at an angle and either push or pull the frosting so it's moving evenly and smoothing out. If you end up with too much on top, just push it down the side. Once the top is smooth and even, add some more to the sides if necessary. Take a glob (about 2 T?) and stick it to the side. Then hold the spatula, handle up, at an angle and pull it toward you as you turn the platter or cake base. This takes some practice. If the frosting is getting dry and difficult to smooth, grab a bowl of water and dip your spatula or knife into the water and start again. Keep dipping in water and scraping off the excess frosting on the edge of the bowl.

-If you're doing a design on the cake, I always take a tooth pick and kind of sketch it into the first layer of frosting, then pipe the border, then fill it in.

-Once you're done frosting, for a nice finished look, take a paper towel and fold it into a sharp point, and run it around the platter to pick up any frosting spills, make it clean, and give a nice edge to the bottom of the cake.