Delicious Cousine

Decorating Cakes, Icing And Baking

If you're looking to become a master cake decorator, you already know the road ahead of you is paved with constant training and practice. But once you get proficient enough to whip out works of art as fast as they leave the oven, you'll know you've reached level of skill few ever enjoy. Everyone, the novices and the experts, want their cakes to look great. So in this article I'll give a few tips you can use on your own decorations.Making sure that the batter is level in the pan is a good place to start. If it's uneven in the pan then when you stick it in the oven it will rise unevenly. You can prevent this by turning your pan in the oven around if you see one side rising too quickly. When it comes out if it's still uneven, just use a sharp knife while it's still warm to even it up.Now that the cake is out of the oven, you've got to let it cool for a full day. It doesn't matter whether the outside is cool to the touch, the inside will be warm for hours afterwards.After waiting a day (I know you want to get on it quickly) for you cake to cool, it comes time to apply the icing. Icing is the most important part of any cake decoration, unless you're using powdered sugar and stencils. Dip your icing spatula in ice cold water before running it over the icing.When your creating your icing, it should be stiff so it doesn't fall apart or become runny when you add liquid food coloring. You can thin it out later if it's too stiff with some milk, so start off by making it as stiff as you can. You want the frosting to hold together fairly well, but not so hard that it begins to crack when you leave it out on the stand for too long. If you do have this problem you can just patch up the cracks with more icing!To deal with frosting you'll need some professional cake decorating tools. Simple things like pastry bags, tips, icing spatulas, rubber spatulas, e.t.c. It's not a good idea to try and design a professional quality cake with a paint edger and Ziploc bags! Having the right tools really can make all the difference and get you the results you're looking for.Remember that decorating cakes can be frustrating, the icing can go runny when leaving the freezer, the images might not stick, you might drop it or someone might nudge it and ruin a days worth of work. But even though it's so frustrating, there's a really rewarding sense of pride when you realize that the cake on the stand is something you created! So don't give up, get the right tools, and keep doing your research, just like you are by reading this article.