decorating cakes - how to guide...

ok ladies i thought I'd post some pointers so that you can all have a go at making what no doubt will turn out to be absolutely awesome cakes..

There are really neat books out there that tell you step by step how to make certain childrens characters but all you really need is a computer or a photo copier and you can enlarge any picture you want of your childs favourite character and turn it into a cake.

pointers are to make the cake the night before to save time - plus you can put it in the freezer for about an hour before decorating - it helps stop the crumbs from coming off and ruining the icing.

use a smooth butter knife - and dip it in hot water when smoothing icing, but be careful not to leave too much water on the knife or the icing will become watery and crack when it sets.

for any picture for a cake - simply get it englarged, and put it on top of the cake.. that way you can cut around the shape first, or you can just use a knife to make a rough outline around the edge (kinda like drawing on the top of the cake with a knife) then depending on what you wanna do... if you want to cover the cake in white butter icing and stick a pic on top, you actually cover the cake in the icing first, then lightly place the cut out pic on top and draw around to get the outline.. then take the pic off again, cut the main bits out like pieces of a puzzle and bit by bit put them together and draw around in between the pieces until you get the outline of the picture. from there, you can chuck out the paper pieces and concentrate on the colouring.

for simple ways to do it, like the care bear cake i just did for ayja.. do a plain outline first, then just fill it in with the right colours by using the smallest star shaped nozzle, dont do it in lines instead do it like alternating lines, so that you are filling in between the gaps... very effective and very quick.


from there, if you want a smooth look you can just use the edge of a butter knife to smooth the icing.. with the smooth stuff though its best to leave the outline till last unless you are sure you aren't gonna end up smoothing that around as well!


If you want to use the stuff like i used for Harmony's cake, which is like the icing on wedding cakes, then it pays to buy the gel colourings from any specialty cake place - (spotlight do sell them too i think)if you want really vivid colurs, cos normal food colouring takes alot and can make the icing sticky, plus it never really goes above pastelish colours.

cut off small amounts of the white icing - buy it ready to roll from the supermarket for about $3.. still cover your cake in butter icing first to help it stick and its nicer than egg white especially for kids cakes where kids might react to the egg. to colour the icing cut off small amounts, (to cover a large cake about half of the pack will be HEAPS.) and make sure your surface is well dusted with icing sugar. add a few drops of colour at a time and fold it in half to envelop the colouring. then just squish it and knead it till the colour goes right through it - can take a while to get more than a mottled look. keep adding little bits of icing sugar to the board to stop the icing from sticking. then just roll it out nice and thin and place it over the cake. its easy to mould too - like play dough - if it gets too sticky, add a little dusted icing sugar until it's like playdough again. if it gets too dry add warm water drop by drop, again kneed it till its back to the right consistency. to stick it to the other icing, just make sure the bottom of whatever you have sculpted is flat, and then add a drop of water to the bottom and smooth it in till it gets a bit sticky and place it on top of the cake, most of the time that will be enough, or you can stick a dab of the butter icing underneath it.

A good butter icing recipe that i use is as follows - this recipe makes enough to cover a large cake - (about 30cm by 45 cm at least, including colouring for each different pieces and outlines etc)

250 grams butter
1kg bag of icing sugar
some hot boiled water
vanilla essence
the colourings you need

cut up the butter into a microwave safe bowl
nuke it in the microwave till its soft but not melted.
add a few cups of icing sugar and about a tablespoon of hot water, and cream it like you do when you are baking, add about a teaspoon of vanilla essence. then bit by bit keep alternating icing sugar and small amounts of hot water until nearly the whole bag of icing sugar is gone. by then the icing should be pretty much white. from there you can put bits of it into different bowls and add a few drops of each colour to mix it into the different colours you need - it lasts for ages, if it seems to have crusted over while you work, just give the bowl a mix again and it will come right.

If you can't find a decent recipe for a cake - or hate baking - try using Greens butter cake mix from woolworths or new world - they are about $3 each and to get a large cake (the size i mentioned earlier) i use about 4 of them, but all up still cheaper than an expensive professional one... plus you get all the kudos from friends and family for doing it yourself.... (and the ladies on here lolol, ) you cake make up two at a time in one of those cake tins that is expandable.. goes from square right out to oblong shaped. can get them from warehouse for $7.   

I never grease tins, just line them with grease proof paper.

Most $2 shops have icing bags and they are pretty ok most of the time. proper ones are usually about $29 or even more.

All in all its actually not as hard as it sounds. its all pretty easy,

I hope that helps - i look forward to seeing all these kewl cakes...

you don't have to be artistic, just have a steady hand, and at first it might seem a bit of money to buy all the stuff to start out, but after a couple of cakes it all evens out especially when all your mates cotton on that you make neat cakes, I taught my older sis to do the same as me and now she is the official cake maker in her circle of friends. for their kids, their families, all sorts..

and for others that make the awesome cakes too, feel free to add any of your own tips that might help others.

Edited by mum2paris

Janine, I was looking at wedding cakes on a website and your cakes are SOOOOO much better than anything they did!! You need to go into business!!

Yep Annie - usually most bakers use the egg white or jam to stick the icing to the cake, but it also depends on who you are making the cake for.. adults are usually pretty ok with the egg white or the jam - (i think my sis uses apricot jam) but for kids it can be nicer to have the butter icing underneath... with harmony's one i voered the whole cake int he white butter icing then just stuck the blue and green ready-to-roll stuff on the top, leaving the sides already iced... that cute little orange squiggle around the edge of the cake was to hide where they join, lolol.

My big brother is a chef and i had to ask him for advice when doing harmony's one cos i hadn't worked with that type of icing before - but it turned out good.

Did you use the butter icing to do the pink stars on Ayja's cake i never seem to be able to make it thick enough, but that was with just using normal icing. Hopefully Rach and i can make Brianna a nice cake with all this good info.

yip only use butter icing because its nice and thick but can be made smoother so that it pipes easy just by adding a couple of drops of water and giving it a good stir.

Yes it’s best to the icing on the day it may mean an early morning but chances are that you will be awake early any way.
You can make and cut out the cake the night before just don’t make the party to early in the day for the first couple of times it also depends on how tricky your cake is - Ayja's took me all of about half an hour to do cos it was only 1 colour really, and i used the cheats way and used m&ms for the rainbow, harmony's took 5 hours, i finished it about half an hour before we were due to be at the party, so allow yourself time that way if the kids get under your feet (although sending then out with dad to get last minute stuff is usually what i do!!) you have a little time to play with... most of all, don't forget to eat brekkie before you start, otherwise by the time you go to do the outline, your hands will be less than steady.


Edited by mum2paris

Haha neither!!!

Cooking Guru (aka Janine) you dont have a good recipe for cupcakes either do you?!

What about icing an ice cream cake can u freeze the butter icing?
Thanx for writing this it came at just the right time i'm guna attempt a cake for my parents 25th wedding anniversary.
Also does any1 know where heart shaped cake tins are sold?

< language=> Just another tip from another home cake decerator that I have learnt esp with Butter icing on a hot day melts very fast & can become quite messey. I usually use the royal icing type thats in any good cake book.

Heres one of mine:

theres a fingertips "how t" programme on tv in the morns for kids and todays was making really cool flowerpot cakes.i cant remember the web addy but they say it at the end of each show.they used marzipan icing and apricot jam(to stck the icing to cake).they did look really cool i must admit

Yeah i saw that too, yummers.

And yep i did do a darker icing beneath for the outline, just coloured the icing light pink and grabbed out a few spoonfulls into a different bowl and stuck a couple more drops of colouring in it. the nose was just and outline of a heart filled in with the piping bag.

With the heart shaped tins - i have no idea where they are sold... i do know that i have one though - i got it from mum.. hhhm actually i think i may have seen some in the warehouse?