Basic Cake Decorating Ideas And Tips - Learn Cake Decorating At Home And How To Make Your Cakes Stand Out

Summer is here and weekend party lovers just love having friends around for food and nibbles in the sunshine. Many of you love preparing the party food but just seem to have trouble making that cake centre piece look as good as it should. For those that are serious about their cake decorating hobby should maybe learn cake decorating at home with an online cake decorating course, but until then here's some handy hints you may find useful.

When you learn cake decorating at home you have to begin with the basics. These are the cake decorating tips that are essential and things that you need to know before you can start. You will need a workplace that will give you enough room to be able to decorate your cake in comfort. When you learn cake decorating at home the first thing you learn about cake decorating is that the cake must be completely cooled before you make any attempt to decorate it. If the cake is still warm, you will run into many problems.

When you learn cake decorating at home you need to be focused on the job in hand and make sure you have gathered all of the tools and ingredients you need for decorating your cake. Some items you will need are: a syringe or piping bag, the type and size tips you will be using, and the coupler to attach the tips to the piping bag. You will need to plan how you will decorate the cake ahead of time, so you can have all of the tools you need on hand before you begin decorating.

To start with you need to ice or frost the cake with royal icing, butter cream icing, or fondant icing, making sure you place a thin layer of frosting over the top to hold the crumbs together. When that is done, you will frost over that layer. It is important to make sure the icing you use is the right consistency. If the icing is too thin or too thick it will affect the end result of your cake decorating. If you are creating a decorated cake and you think your frosting is too thin, you can add a bit more confectioners sugar. Make sure you add this a little at a time as it can become too stiff if you add too much. If you feel your icing is too stiff, carefully add a bit more liquid.

Icing is used in different consistencies for different cake decorating techniques. When you are making roses, or any flower with upright petals, and will be piping figures on the cake, you will want to use a stiff icing or your petals may droop. To make stars, flowers with flat petals, and shell borders, you will want to use a medium consistency. A thin icing is used for writing on the cake, and thinner, more delicate work such as vines and leaves. If you add about 2 teaspoons of light corn syrup to your icing, you will find the icing will flow easier and make it more flexible.

A thin icing mixture should be used for writing characters, and thinner, pointier shapes and styles such as leaves and vines. Add a couple of teaspoons of light corn syrup to the icing mix to make it more flexible and easier flowing.     

Once the cake is iced, it is time to begin decorating. The way you hold the icing bag is important, as the direction and angle you hold the piping bag will influence the way the patterns and shapes you create, will turn out. Thankfully there are only two positions to hold the piping bag to make certain designs.

The first position is to hold the piping bag at a 90 degree angle, straight up from the surface of the cake. This is used for the simpler decorations that don't involve a lot of movement in making the design. The centre of rosebuds, adding eyes to a character or making stars and dots. The other position involves the piping bag being held at a 45 degree angle, or holding the bag half-way between straight up and the surface of the cake.

In this position you have more flexibility to create sweeping styles, and create shapes with your piping hand. You can use this angle for flower petals, or writing on the cake. Some of the piping tips, like the tips for basket weave, petal and ruffle, have ends that are irregular. There is a right and wrong way to hold the bag when working with them.

Now that you know the basics here are a few tips to start you on your way to making a decorated cake.

Bows: This technique will make your cake look like a wrapped gift. Use a flat tip and medium icing. Hold your bag at a 45 degree angle and sweep your bag left, making half of the bow. Make the same movement to the right, making a figure 8. Hold the bag and sweep downward and out from the centre of the bow, once on each side to make 2 streamers.

Basket Weave:  Using this technique will give the sides of your cake the look of a basket. You may want to practice on a piece of waxed paper until you feel confident enough to begin on the cake. Using the basket weave tip and an icing that is of medium consistency, take turns applying a vertical stripe, following it with a horizontal stripe across the vertical. Make sure the horizontal stripes are a bit longer so the vertical stripe will fit across it. Soon you will see a basket pattern become apparent.

If you don't feel confident to do a cake then how about cupcakes. They can make a great centre piece when done right, they're easy to make and can be very simple to decorate and your friends and children will love them, honestly! When decorating cupcakes as a beginner it's best to stick with the most basic vanilla flavoured frosting and your favourite food colours

Simple Star Burst Effect: Using two different colours of vanilla frosting pipe a spiral on to top of a cupcake making sure you leave the middle empty. Using your second colour do another spiral but on the inside of the first one. When that is done, take a toothpick and drag it gently from the centre to the outer edge of the cupcake. This blends the two different colour frostings making a really pretty looking star burst effect. If you used black food colouring this would give you a spiders web effect. How about adding the names of your friends on them, blue for the boys and pink for the girls. A smiley face always brings a smile to everyone else. Use your imagination and get creative.