Here are my favourite 10 freezer hacks for cake decorating! They'll make your cakes neater from the frosting to piping, stencils, wraps, carving and more!

1. Freezer hacks for messy piping

When you're piping with any kind or shape of piping tip, the warmth of your hands will soften the buttercream. Your piping will have less definition and more blobby-ness! Fix it with the first of my freezer hacks for cake decorating. Put the piping bag in the freezer and set a timer for 1 minute. Don't leave it any longer or the buttercream will freeze hard against the metal piping tip. After a minute the buttercream will be firmer and your piping will be neat again.

2. How to frost a cake neatly

When you've assembled your cake, layering fillings with the cake layers, don't frost it yet. It will be crumbly and wobbly and slide around on the turntable. Instead, put it into the freezer for 15 minutes or you can use the fridge for 30 minutes. When the cake layers are cold they'll be firm and less crumbly. The filling will set and hold the layers in place so they don't slide around when you frost them. This first layer of frosting is called a crumb coat and it will trap crumbs that come off the cake. Before spreading on the final layer of frosting, read number 3 of these freezer hacks for cake decorating!

3. Keep crumbs out of your frosting

After smoothing the crumb coat, chill the cake in the freezer for another 15 minutes. If you don't have space in your freezer, put it into the fridge for 30 minutes. This will set the crumb coat so it's firm instead of soft and sticky. When you spread another layer of buttercream on top, this layer will sit on top of the firm crumb coat. It won't mix with the crumby buttercream and your final layer of frosting will be crumb free.

4. Freezer hacks for cake with buttercream flowers

This next one is really cool. Pipe flowers onto parchment or wax paper or a silicon mat on a tray. This is a 2D star tip but you can pipe more elaborate flowers like roses or whatever you like. Then put the tray into the freezer for 5 minutes. When the flowers are frozen just lift them up and press them onto the frosting on a cake!

This also works for metallic decorations. Pipe your buttercream details and then freeze them for 5 minutes. Now paint them with edible metallic paint, which you can buy or make your own using any clear alcohol or clear vanilla extract mixed with edible gold or silver luster dust. Lift the frozen metallic buttercream details up and press them onto your cake. If they don't stick, use a dot of fresh buttercream as glue to stick them on. Metallic cake decorations are so eye-catching and fancy!

5. Freezer hacks for cake stencils

Freezer hacks are essential for cake stencils. Any cake has to be cold with firm frosting before you wrap a stencil around it. You'll know the cake is ready when you can poke it gently without leaving texture or an imprint behind. Now the frosting won't be damaged by the pressure of your hands, the stencil, or the buttercream you spread over it. When you peel the stencil away the frosting will be immaculate!

This works for character cakes made with layered stencils too, a technique I teach on my cake school. Start a 7-Day FREE trial of my All You Can Cake membership for access to EVERYTHING on my cake school!

6. Use the freezer to make wrapped buttercream designs

The freezer makes it possible to create a wrapped buttercream design on parchment or wax paper or acetate. Pipe onto the paper or acetate and then pick it up and wrap it tightly around a chilled cake. The piped buttercream then needs to go into the freezer for 15 minutes. When you peel the paper or acetate away, that cold and firm buttercream will stay behind. It will surround the cake with a neat, flat design. You can create such unique cake designs with this technique like this mosaic, making edible art on your cakes!

7. Make a chocolate collar cake using the freezer

Use the freezer in the same way with chocolate. Melt it and put it into a piping bag or a Ziploc bag with a whole cut off one corner. Drizzle the chocolate over parchment or wax paper or acetate to make whatever design you like. Wrap it around a cake and then put the cake into the freezer for about 15 minutes. Peel the paper or acetate off, leaving a gravity defying chocolate design on the cake. Yum!

8. Freezer hacks for cake carving

If you've ever carved a cake, you'll know how difficult it is when the cake is crumbly and wobbly. By chilling cakes in the freezer for 15 minutes before carving, the cake gets firm and much easier to shape. If you don't have space in your freezer you can use the fridge instead. You'll need to leave it in there for about twice as long. This is my carved Bulbasaur cake, before frosting it and adding all of the details:

9. Delay cakes for a future event

The freezer will save you if an event is postponed after you've already made the cake. First, put the cake into the freezer for an hour to set the frosting and decorations. Then wrap it in two layers of cling film or Saran Wrap and put it back into the freezer. Freeze for a few days or even weeks and then move it to the fridge to thaw for 24 hours. Take it out two hours before serving and unwrap it straight away. If you wait for the frosting to warm up and soft, the plastic will damage it. Previously frozen cake tastes just as good as on the day it was baked - I did a blind taste test to confirm!

10. Save leftover cake slices

After serving a cake, if there are any slices left over you can store those in the freezer too. Wrap each slice individually in cling film or Saran Wrap. Freeze until you have a craving for cake or need a last minute dessert for a guest! A frozen slice will thaw after about an hour at room temperature.

I hope these 10 freezer hacks for cake decorating have been helpful! Visit my cake school to learn hundred of cake decorating techniques and designs with my online courses and memberships. See you there!

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10 delicious cake decorations that taste as good as they look! Use buttercream, chocolate, fruit, cookies and marshmallows to make these.

1. Buttercream flowers

First of all, buttercream makes delicious cake decorations. This is one of the easiest decorations because you can just use what’s leftover after frosting your cake. I always use my 4 Minute Buttercream because it's quick, easy, and delicious!

Make buttercream flowers by piping them onto parchment or wax paper before attaching them to your cake. You'll need a flower nail for this, which you can spine between your fingers as you pipe. To use a flower nail, pipe a dot of buttercream to attach a square of parchment or wax paper. The paper square should be about the same width as the flower nail.

To pipe a simple flower use a petal tip like a # 104 or a #125 for bigger flowers. Hold the piping tip with the narrow end facing outwards and squeeze the piping bag to pipe a petal. While you're piping, spin the flower nail between your finger and thumb as you work your way around the flower.

Pipe a dot or a star in the middle with a small round piping tip or a star shaped tip. You could use sprinkles instead but they’re crunchy to bite into!

Carefully slide the paper off the nail and place it on a tray or plate. Put the tray into the freezer for 5 minutes to set the flowers so that they're very firm. Then lift them up, peel them off the paper, and press them onto your cake.

For even easier flowers, use a rounded star tip like a 2D. Rest the tip down on parchment or wax paper and twist your wrist as you pipe. The petals will fan out sideways from the piping tip, all at the same time. Chill these in the freezer before picking them up and pressing them against a cake. If the frosting on the cake has set and isn’t sticky anymore, you'll need some edible glue. Buttercream is perfect for this! Pipe or spread some fresh buttercream onto the cake and push a flower into that. These flowers are gorgeous and will be delicious to eat with the cake!

2. Ganache for drips and mirror glazes

Drips and mirror glazes made with melted chocolate and cream are eye catching and colourful and also delicious! You’ll need cream and white chocolate to make ganache and the cream should be hot but not bubbling. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate chips and leave for five minutes before stirring until smooth. To make ganache for the drip or glaze, use a ratio of 3 parts chocolate to 1 part cream. This means you'll need 3 times as much white chocolate as cream. Add gel colours if you want to tint the chocolate because liquid colours can make it too watery.

To make a drip with dark or semi-sweet chocolate use a ratio of 2:1. Weighing the chocolate and cream is the most accurate way to get the correct ratio.

When the ganache has cooled almost to room temperature, spoon it onto a cake. Nudge it over the sides with a spoon or offset spatula or use a squeezy bottle. Having a cold cake that’s been in the fridge is essential to stop these drips from dripping!

Instead of drips, use ganache to make an easy mirror glaze. Divide the ganache between small bowls and add colouring to each bowl. Then pour the coloured ganache over a cake, alternating between colours and letting them run down the sides. Mirror glaze is a fun, colourful effect that also tastes incredible!

3. Sprinkled chocolate number toppers

Another chocolate cake decoration you can make is a number topper. Melt chocolate at 50% power in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time. Stir it until it's smooth and then spoon it into a sandwich bag and cut off a corner. Write or trace a number onto parchment or wax paper, fill it in and then pour sprinkles on top. They’ll stick to the chocolate.

The chocolate will set after about 10 minutes in the freezer or 20 minutes in the fridge. Now you'll be able to pick the chocolate number up. Flip it over, squeeze some more melted chocolate onto the back and press a paper straw against it. Chill and set this in the fridge or freezer and then push it into a cake.

Sprinkled chocolate number toppers are colourful, fun and delicious cake toppers!

4. Fresh fruit

Here’s a much quicker and easier idea: fresh fruit looks beautiful on cakes and tastes great, too. Fresh berries are my favourite for two reasons. Firstly, since they’re so small and light they’re easy to attach to a cake with a dot of fresh buttercream. Secondly, they stay fresh-looking overnight so you can decorate your cake in advance.

5. Use cake ingredients as delicious cake decorations

Another easy way to make delicious cake decorations is to use an ingredient for the cake. For example, the cookie dough filling in my Cookie Dough Cake can be rolled into balls to decorate the cake. Freeze dried strawberries are a bright decoration on my Strawberry Cake and Oreo cookies look delicious on an Oreo cake. As well as making cakes look pretty, using ingredients as decorations gives you a clue of what the flavour is!

6. Cookies as ears

Cookies can make perfect ears on cakes. I know this sounds strange out of context because of course cakes don’t have ears! But for animal cakes you usually need ears like on the cat and reindeer cakes below.

Cut Oreos into triangles for cat ears, covering them with buttercream by spreading or piping the buttercream on. Scrape the buttercream with a toothpick to make fur texture.

Or for more rounded ears cut Oreos in half before covering with buttercream. Poke a toothpick into the Oreo filling to make these ears easy to attach to the cake. The toothpicks will keep them standing upright.

7. Marshmallows as ears or eyes

Marshmallows are also great for ears! Cut each marshmallow diagonally to make an ear shape. Then press the sticky, cut side into sugar tinted with pink colouring.

Poke a toothpick into the bottom of the ear and then push that into a cake. The marshmallow ears will stand upright, making cute and delicious ears!

Marshmallows can also be eyes for animal cakes. Cut a marshmallow or mini marshmallow in half to make two round pieces. Then poke a chocolate chip into the middle of the sticky side. Press this against sticky buttercream frosting to attach it to a cake. Kids can do this one too - they’re fun and delicious cake decorations for a kid-friendly project. 

8. Layered stencil characters

To create delicious characters on cakes, make your own stencils on parchment paper or wax paper. Trace each colour onto a different stencil until you can layer the stencils to see the complete character. Cut the shapes out to leave the surrounding paper intact and these pieces of paper will be your stencils.

Start with one of the colours at the back of the character. In the cake above, that means the grass. Other parts will be layered on top of this, which will be more in the foreground. Let this chill in the fridge for 10 minutes to set and then position the next stencil on top. Spread buttercream over it and scrape off the excess to leave a thin, smooth layer behind. And repeat! You can add outlines and small details like the eyes at the end.

9. Cookie cake toppers

Add height to your cake with this next delicious cake decorating idea. Cut a shape out of sugar cookie dough and push a paper straw into it before you bake it. When it cools, decorate it with buttercream or whatever icing you like. I like buttercream because it’s so creamy and easy! When I make buttercream to frost my cake I just set aside a little bit to decorate my cookie. Push the straw into your cake and you have a cookie cake topper!

10. Chocolate collars

Wrap chocolate around a cake to decorate it with this decadent, gravity-defying technique. Start by drizzling or spreading melted chocolate onto a piece of parchment or wax paper. The paper needs to be wide enough to wrap around your cake. Lift the paper up and push it gently to flatten it against the cake all the way around. Then put the cake into the fridge for 30 minutes or the freezer for 15 minutes to chill and set the chocolate. Peel the paper off to reveal your chocolate collar, also called a chocolate cage or chocolate wrap. Everyone will ask how you piped chocolate onto the sides of the cake and how you got it to stand up! Run a knife under warm water before serving this for the neatest slices.

I hope you’ve seen some ideas you’d like to try. Visit my cake school to learn hundreds more cake decorating techniques and designs with my online courses. Start a FREE trial of my All You Can Cake membership for access to all of my courses so you can try them out risk free! See you there!

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Anyone can make this Dog Man cake, using nothing but buttercream and parchment or wax paper, with the magic of layered piping. No fondant needed! 

Step 1: Make your cake

Bake your cake

Of course, you can use any flavour and size for your cake. I’m using my 8 inch Very Vanilla cake with my 4 Minute Buttercream as the filling and frosting.

If you want your Dog Man cake character on top of the cake, any size is fine. To put it on the side, choose a tall cake with at least three layers.

Fill and frost your Dog Man cake

One batch of my 4 Minute Buttercream is the perfect about to fill, frost and decorate an 8 inch cake. Set aside about half a cup of the buttercream to make Dog Man later. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap so it doesn’t dry out and crust. Then use the rest to fill and frost the cake. I’m tinting mine with sky blue gel since that’s the background colour of my design.

I always recommend applying a crumb coat if frosting first. In case you’re new to cake decorating, a crumb coat is a thin layer of frosting to catch any crumbs that come off the cake. They’ll get trapped in this first layer of frosting. It doesn’t need to be smooth, it just needs to cover the whole cake to trap all of the crumbs. It’s easiest to frost a cold cake so put it into the fridge for 30 minutes before you do this.

When the crumb coat is fairly smooth, put the cake back into the fridge for 15-30 minutes. When you take it out, the crumb coat should be cold and firm, not sticky. Now when you spread on your final layer of frosting it will sit on top of the crumb coat instead of the mixing into it. Any crumbs will be trapped in the crumb coat so you’ll have no visible crumbs on your frosted cake.

Put the frosted cake back in the fridge to set the frosting. Before you do this, measure how big you want your Dog Man character to be. Mine will be 5 inches tall to leave room for candles and a name.

Step 2: Make Dog Man cake stencils

Make Dog Man cake stencils is simple and will create an accurate replica of the character. It's a very affordable techniques that requires no special tools. Start by tracing all of the details of the character onto pieces of parchment or wax paper. Use one piece of paper for each colour. For example, the yellow parts of the hat and shirt will be on the same piece.

You’ll need a stencil for every detail except lines and dots, like the facial features. Even the backgrounds scenery needs a stencil, like the grass at the bottom. I’m not going to include the buildings on the skyline but if you do, you’ll need separate stencils for those.

When you layer the stencils over each other, you should have every detail of the character there.

Now the details need to be cut out. You’re only going to use the paper around them, not the actual details. So cut a little slit in the middle of each shape and poke a scissor blade through, cutting around the shape. This will leave the paper around the shape intact, which will be your stencil. The more neatly you cut out the shapes, the neater those shapes will be on the character on your cake. 

Step 3: Use Dog Man cake stencils on a chilled cake

How to use homemade cake stencils

To apply the Dog Man cake stencils, your cake needs to be cold and the frosting should be firm. It's best to leave the cake in the fridge for at least an hour. Then it’s time to layer the stencils. Start with the background, which is the grass for me or the buildings if you’re including those. After positioning the stencil on the cake, press it down while you spread buttercream over it. This is leftover blue frosting with a drop of leaf green gel and a drop of yellow.

Spread away from the stencil to seal it against the cake. If you spread towards the stencil you’ll push buttercream underneath it and cause smudges on the cake.

Smooth the frosting over the stencil, scraping a few times with an offset spatula or palette knife. You're looking for a smooth, thin layer of buttercream over the stencil. Then peel off the stencil. Scrape around the side of the cake to take off the excess green buttercream and leave a smooth edge around the cake.

Now the cake needs to go into the fridge for about 15 minutes to set the green buttercream, before positioning the next stencil.

How to use layered stencils with buttercream

The order of your stencils is really important. You need to start with the background details and layer them with details that get closer and closer to the foreground. I’m doing the head and hands next, since those are going to be covered with clothes.

To make this dog fur colored buttercream I used yellow and added a tiny amount of brown. I dipped a toothpick into the brown bottle and then dragged it through the yellow.

The stencils should have about an inch or 2 cm of paper around the edges of each shape. This prevents any buttercream spreading over the edge of the stencil by mistake. If you do get buttercream smudges onto the cake, it’s easy to fix since the cake is cold. Just scrape off any smudges with a toothpick and you won’t damage the cold, firm frosting underneath.

Repeat the process with the rest of your stencils. Chill the cake after each stencil to set the buttercream so you don’t damage it with the next stencil.

Tips for using homemade cake stencils

The thinner the layer of buttercream you spread over each stencil, the neater the edges of those shapes will be. However, to layer light colours like yellow over dark colours like blue, you'll need a thicker layer to cover up the dark colour.

Add piped details to stencils

Leave any tiny details for the end and pipe them on, using a piping bag with a small round piping tip piping tip like a #3. If you don't have a piping bag or the right piping tip, use a sandwich bag instead! Cut a tiny piece off one corner to pipe through just like a piping bag.

My hands are really shaky so piping if the hardest part of cake decorating for me. Luckily this is a cartoon figure so the lines don’t have to be perfectly smooth and steady.

For the white fleck in each eye use a piping bag with a piece cut off the end to make a tiny hole to pipe through. 

If you’re making the book version of Dog Man, pipe outlines around all of the details. For the movie version you don’t need them, which is lucky since piping is such a challenge for me!

So, a buttercream version of Dog Man, traced onto paper and then transferred onto the cake by layering stencils. What do you think? I’d love to hear in the comments! And for more cake decorating techniques and designs visit my cake school!

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Make one of these fun Valentine’s Day mini cakes with delicious cake and filling, dreamy buttercream frosting, and easy decorations! This tutorial starts with three steps to make each mini cake and then shows how to make 3 different designs. Watch the video and get the recipe at the bottom of the page.

Step 1: Prepare the cake, filling and frosting

I’m using cupcakes to make these mini cakes. Unwrap them and cut each one in half horizontally to make two cake layers. I like tall cakes so I use three layers, which means one and a half cupcakes for each mini cake. With 6 cupcakes you can make 4 mini cakes. Or just make one or two or three and freeze the rest for another occasion!

For the filling and frosting I’m using a mini batch of my 4 Minute Buttercream. That recipe is at the end of this tutorial as well.

You can add any ingredients you like to flavour buttercream. It’s so versatile! I'm using is dulce de leche, a thick caramel, and freeze dried strawberries, crushed to make a powder. Add a bit of milk if the buttercream gets too thick or more sugar if it gets too thin.

Step 2: Assemble the Valentine's Day mini cakes

Now let’s assemble these Valentine’s Day mini cakes! Spread a bit of buttercream onto a cake board and press your first layer onto it. The buttercream will act as glue to attach it to the cake board. Now add your filling and alternate between cake layers and filling to assemble your mini cake. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes or the freezer for 15 minutes.

Step 3: Crumb coat

is the CRUMB COAT. Every cake needs a crumb coat. It’s a thin layer of frosting to trap any crumbs that come off the cake. It doesn’t need to be neat but it does need to completely cover the cake. It’s easiest to do this when the cake is cold, which is why you chill it first. When the crumb coat is fairly smooth, put the cake in the fridge for 30 minutes to set. Now you’re ready to frost and decorate!

Step 4: How to decorate Valentine's Day mini cakes

YOU ARE FIRE mini cake

For this first Valentine’s mini cake, tint a third of the remaining buttercream pink. Use this to frost the cake. To smooth the frosting, scrape around the cake a few times and then spread more buttercream over any gaps. Scrape again and again until the frosting is smooth. Towards the end I like to switch to a metal cake comb and warm up the edge with warm water or a blow torch. This gives me the smoothest frosting! For the top, swipe sideways with an offset spatula, all the way around, wiping the blade clean in between.

Next you’ll need piping bag with any open star tip. I'm using a 4B, which has lots of short prongs all close together. Spoon the leftover pink buttercream into the piping bag and push it down to the end. To pipe a border around the top of the cake, hold the piping tip a little bit above the cake. Squeeze to push the buttercream through the piping tip, letting it bulge a little bit over the edge of the cake. Then stop squeezing and pull the bag up. The piping will pull up a bit, pulling away from the edge of the cake so it’s perfectly positioned.

Before adding lettering, the cake needs to be in the fridge for at least an hour to set the frosting. After that, leave it at room temperature for at least 30 minutes so the frosting is firm but not cold. I'm using Sweet Stamp letters for my message, pushing them into the frosting to leave an imprint. Push each letter gently into the frosting and push it at the top and bottom, left and right. This ensures all of it has imprinted into the buttercream. Then pinch the letter and pull it away. You’re aiming for a shallow imprint, just deep enough to see all parts of the letter clearly.

You can colour in the letters with any edible paint. I’m using edible gold paint, which you can make with edible gold luster dust and a drop of any clear alcohol like vodka. To make it without alcohol, use a clear flavor extract like clear vanilla or lemon. A small paintbrush that’s quite stiff is ideal for painting these little letters.

For the fire emoji I’m using yellow buttercream, microwaving it for 5 seconds to melt it slightly. When it's runnier like this you can paint with it! Dab it onto a piece of parchment paper, shaping it to make the inner part of a flame.

Do the same with a small spoonful of orange and red buttercream, painting these around the yellow flame. This is a buttercream transfer, and you can make any nonstick paper like parchment or wax paper or baking paper. Wipe off any smudges with a toothpick or clean paintbrush so that only the flame is left on the paper. Then press the flame against the cake, pushing gently to attach it. Put the cake into the freezer for 10 minutes or the fridge for 30 minutes to set the flame against the cake. Then peel the paper off and voila! You are fire!

HEART EYE EMOJI Valentine's Day mini cakes

Let's make another emoji cake next: a heart eye emoji Valentine's Day mini cake. Start by tinting half of the remaining buttercream yellow to frost the cake. Once that’s smooth, put the rest of the yellow buttercream into a piping bag with a small star shaped tip. I'm using is a tiny # 16 but any small star is fine like a #32 or a #199. To pipe a border, hold the tip just beside the cake, resting it on the cake board. Squeeze the buttercream out and then release your pressure on the piping bag as you swipe the bag away from the cake. You’ll make a textured bead, leaving a little tail behind it, which you’ll cover up with the next bead.

Put the cake into the fridge for at least an hour to set the frosting. Then make two stencils using parchment or wax paper, drawing two hearts for the eyes and a smiling open mouth. The mouth should be on one piece of paper and the eyes on another. It’s best to do this with the cake beside you so you can check the size and the spacing.

Cut the shapes out of the paper, leaving the paper around the shapes intact. These pieces of paper will be your stencils! Position the first one on the cake, pressing it down and then spread buttercream over it. Smooth it a few times to take off the excess and leave a thin, smooth layer behind. Then peel off the stencil.

Put the cake in the freezer for 5 minutes or the fridge for 15 minutes before you do the next stencil. This way the first details will set, so you don't damage them with the next stencil. If the buttercream smudges as you pull a stencil away, use a toothpick to gently scrape off any smudges. Tadaa! A heart eye emoji cake for Valentine’s Day!

PIPED HEARTS mini cake

This next one is really fun. Pipe little hearts onto a piece of parchment or wax paper on a cutting board or tray. Use a small star shaped tip like this # 16. Lift the tray or board up with the hearts on it and put them into the freezer for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, frost your cake. When the hearts are frozen you can pick them up and press gently them into the frosting on your cake! To skip the freezer step you can pipe these straight onto the cake but it's trickier to pipe them sideways rather than down onto the paper.

These Valentine's Day mini cakes are the perfect size to share! They’re best enjoyed at room temperature so if you make them in advance and keep them in the fridge for a few days, take them out about 2 hours before you serve them. This give the cake and buttercream time to warm up and soften and they’ll taste their best!

You'll find the recipe for these Valentine's Day Mini Cakes below. For more cake decorating techniques and designs, visit my cake school and sign up for a FREE 7 day trial of my All You Can Cake membership for access to ALL of my courses so you can try out! See you there!

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These 10 viral Valentine's Day cakes have exploded on social media because they're unique, delicious, easy and fun!

1. Ice Cream Cone Cake

Let's start with this cake that has almost 12 million views on Instagram, for a cake! It's a simple design made with a triangle cut out of parchment paper as a stencil for a cone, scored with the edge of a cake comb to make grid marks, with marbled pink buttercream scooped on top.

Don't you love the fun Valentine's Day pun?! To write it I used Sweet Stamp letters. These have the best results on buttercream that's firm but not too cold. I put the cake into the fridge for an hour but then let it sit out at room temperature for another hour. This way the buttercream softens just enough for the perfect imprint of the letters.

Press the letters one by one into the cake and then paint the letters with edible gold paint. You can buy this or make it yourself using vodka or clear vanilla extract mixed with edible gold luster dust. This number one of these viral Valentine's Day cakes is so eye-catching and fun!

2. Viral Valentine's Day Cake with Roses

This next cake with over a million views is such a unique way to make a floral cake. Pipe rosettes and then put the cake in the freezer for 30 minutes before its transformation. When the roses are firm, scrape around the cake with a warm metal cake comb. The warmth will melt the piping sticking out and then drag it to fill in the gaps in the piping. You'll create a flat design that looks like it's been printed onto the cake. I call it 'facelift frosting'. The key here is to use at least two colours of buttercream. I used two shades of pink and the variation is what creates the details in the design.

3. Wrapped Chocolate Cake

The next of these viral Valentine's Day cakes is for chocolate lovers. Spoon melted chocolate into a ziplock bag and cut a small piece off one corner to make a hole. Squeeze the chocolate through the hole onto a piece of parchment or wax paper. The paper needs to be wide enough to wrap around your cake and a little bit taller. Lift the paper up and wrap it around your frosted cake. Chill in the fridge to set the chocolate and then peel off the paper. You'll leave the chocolate design behind on the cake. Run a knife under hot water before slicing for the neatest results. This cake is so decadent!

4. Viral Valentine's Day Cake with Rainbow Heart

Filmed back in 2020 so please excuse the video quality of my iPhone 8! This cake was spotted by Wilton and featured on their page. The frosted cake has been in the fridge for about an hour before this so that it's firm. This is important, otherwise the frosting can droop with the weight of the rainbow piping.

I'm using a #104 petal piping tip to make lines that create a heart shape. Hold the tip with the wide part pressed against the cake and the narrow end pointing outwards. By scoring the heart shape onto the cake with a toothpick first, it's easy to start and stop each line in the right place. This means the final shape is easily recognizable.

An optional finishing touch is to place edible gold leaf around the edges of the piped heart. Do this after chilling the cake so you don't mess it up if you knock it by mistake.

5. Heart Shaped Mini Valentine's Day Cakes

If you're celebrating as a couple you can make viral Valentine's Day cakes for two like this. Bake a cake using whatever pan you have. I used my Perfect Chocolate Cake recipe. Cut out hearts with a cookie cutter which will be the layers of your cake. To make a naked heart-shaped cake, pipe swirls as the filling between the layers. Or to frost the cake, put it in the freezer for 15 minutes to firm up first. This mini heart cake is the perfect size for a couple to share!

6. Mini Cakes made with Cupcakes

Another shortcut to make a mini cake is with cupcakes. Cut them in half and then layer them using buttercream to stick the bottom layer down onto the cake board. This will hold the cake still as you frost it. Just like with the cookie cutter layers, chilling this cupcake cake in the freezer for 15 minutes will make it much easier to frost. I have a very detailed tutorial on making mini cakes for Valentine's Day for more details!

7. Tray Bake Cake

This cake is maybe the easiest cake in the world to make. Tint a few colours of buttercream and then bake and decorate the cake in the same dish. There's no need to layer the cake or to frost the sides, which are the time consuming parts! Put the coloured buttercream into piping bags with any piping tips. Pipe randomly onto the cake or create a heart, outlining it with a toothpick first as a piping guide. And serving this cake is just as easy as baking and decorating it! Just pick up the dish and take it wherever you're going. Then serve the cake right there in the dish!

8. Heart Stencil Cake

Here's another one of my easy viral Valentine's Day cakes. Tint spoonfuls of different coloured buttercream and then spread them over a heart-shaped stencil. When you peel the stencil off you'll have a gorgeous rainbow heart cake! To make the double stencil like mine, cut a heart out of parchment or wax paper to make your first stencil. Layer this over any patterned stencil to create a pattern within the heart shape. To use the stencil on a cake you'll need to hold it in place with one of these methods. The first option is to tape the two stencils together around a cake. This can be tricky because tape doesn't stick well to parchment or wax paper. The other option is to push pins through the corners of the stencils into the cake.

9. How to Travel with a Cake for Valentine's Day

If you're traveling for Valentine's Day, make a cake before you go and take it with you. Bake the layers, make the filling and assemble the cake at home. Then wrap it in plastic wrap and freeze it for at least an hour or for a few days. Make buttercream to frost the cake and freeze that in a big ziploc bag, pressing it flat.

Just before you travel, take the cake and frosting out of the freezer. Put them into a cooler with an ice pack and then put this into your suitcase. The cake and frosting will thaw gradually while you travel so that when you arrive, they're ready to use. Squeeze the buttercream out of the bag and use it to frost the cake. Instead of traveling with a turntable, use a plate and one of these 7 frosting techniques that don't require smooth frosting!

10. Viral Valentine's Day Cake with Carved Buttercream Heart

The last of these viral Valentine's Day cakes is another oldie but goodie from 2020. By covering a cake with two layers of frosting you can carve out colourful shapes and patterns! Chill the cake in the fridge after the first layer of frosting for at least an hour. Then spread on the next layer and it won't mix with the first layer. Chill again and then use clay modeling tools to carve out a heart or any shape you like. You'll scraping off the outer layer of frosting to reveal the colour or colours underneath.

I painted around the edge of my heart using edible gold paint to make it really pop. Carved buttercream cakes are very satisfying to make and they always get the best reaction!

So, which one of these viral Valentine's Day cakes are you going to make? Or which one would you like someone to make for you? Tell me in the comments and visit my cake school to learn hundreds of cake decorating techniques and designs!

You can also watch a video of this tutorial on viral Valentine's Day cakes on my YouTube channel next week!

A checkerboard cake is the most fun to cut into! I'll show you how to make the square pattern along with every other step to make the cake.

Bake the checkerboard cake layers

Start by making the cake batter, following gate intrusions in the recipe at the end of this tutorial. Divide the batter in half and add a few drops of food colouring to tint one or both halves. Then bake the batter in four 6 inch pans. It's best to weigh each pan as you scoop the batter in so that the layers are all the same height. If you don't have a scale, use the same number of scoops of batter in each pan. Bake the layers and let them cool for ten minutes before turning them out of the pans.

Prepare the checkerboard cake layers

When the cakes have cooled, use a serrated knife to trim the tops off to level them. Use little sawing motions as you spin the cake to score a line around the cake. When you've gone all the way around the cake, slice through it, following along the line you scored. I like to flip the cakes over and do the same for the bottom. The cake is darker there, where it touched the bottom of the cake pan. By trimming the darker edge off, the cake slices will look neater when you cut them.

Next you'll cut the cake into rings that are one inch wide. For a neat checkerboard design you want the width of each square to be the same as the height. That means the cake should be about one inch tall as well. If they're taller, trim a little bit more off the top or bottom.

To cut the cake into rings it's best to use round cookie cutters. For a 6 inch cake you'll need two and they should be two and four inches wide. If you make an 8 inch cake you'll need a 6 inch cookie cutter as well.

For each cake layer, start with the biggest cookie cutter to cut the outer ring. Position it so there's the same amount of cake all around it and then push down. Do the same with the smaller cookie cutter. You'll end up with two rings of cake and also a round piece that's two inches wide.

Repeat this with the cookie cutters for all of the cake layers. Next we'll alternate between the two colours to make the checkerboard cake pattern.

Assemble the checkerboard cake

You don't have to have a turntable for the next part but it makes it a bit easier. You will need a cake board which is at least 2 inches bigger than your cake. My cake is 6 inches and the cake board is 10 inches.

Spread some buttercream across the cake board where the cake is going to sit. Then place one of the outer rings of cake on the board, pressing down to attach it to the buttercream. Now use the other colour of cake for the next ring, pushing it down inside the outer ring. Switch back to the first colour for the middle piece of cake. It will look like target rings at the moment.

Spread your filling on top of this first layer of cake. I'm using my 4 Minute Buttercream as the filling as well as the frosting because it's delicious but also plain white, so it doesn't distract from the checkerboard cake pattern.

Repeat with the rest of your cake. As you position the outer ring of each layer, adjust it to sit directly on top of the cake below. Spin the cake to check it's straight and then alternate colours as you work your way in to the middle.

Take your time to make sure each outer ring is centered. If it sticks out on any side, the inner rings won't line up above the ones below. This will make your checkerboard cake pattern lopsided. Also, the sides of your cake won't be straight and the cake will lean to one side.

If the filling is sticking out anywhere smooth that now with your offset spatula or palette knife. Before the next step I recommend chilling the cake. Put it into the fridge for 30 minutes or the freezer for 15 minutes to set the buttercream between the layers. This will stop the cake layers from sliding as you frost it. It will also set the buttercream you spread onto the cake board below the cake. This will stop the whole cake from moving around on the cake board.

Frost the cake

It's best to start with a crumb coat as a first layer of frosting. This is just a thin layer to trap any crumbs that come off the cake. Let that set in the fridge for 15 to 30 minutes before spreading a final layer of frosting on top.

I uses different shades of pink to make ombre frosting. Use a cake comb to smooth the frosting and add any decorations you like. This will be such a fun cake to cut into!

Store and serve

If you make this cake in advance, keep it in the fridge for up to 3 days. Take it out of the fridge at least 2 hours before you serve it. It will taste best at room temperature when the cake and buttercream are soft.

This tall 6 inch cake will serve 12 to 20 people depending on how you slice it. The recipe is below. Look at this gorgeous checkerboard pattern!

You can also watch a video of this tutorial on how to make a checkerboard cake:

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Here are 10 hacks to help you practice cake decorating without wasting time, ingredients or money!

Practice piping onto parchment paper

There are SO many different piping techniques and to master each one you’ll need to practice. Pipe onto parchment paper or wax paper or a silicone mat and then scrape the piping back into the piping bag to use for practicing again and again. You’ll save money on ingredients by re-using the frosting. 

Even for simple techniques like piping these pointed dots, to make Christmas tree lights on a cake, it’s a good idea to practice them on paper or a plate before moving on to your cake, to get used to the consistency of the buttercream and the pressure you need to use when you squeeze the bag.

For more tips to help with piping, check out my tutorial on 15 Piping Hacks for Cake Decorating.

Practice writing messages on a cake pan

For writing message on cakes, it’s not just the technique you might want to practice, it’s also the spacing and positioning on a cake, which I think is the trickiest part! Choose a cake pan the same size as your cake, or the same size as the available space on the cake, if you’ve already piped a border onto it. Pipe your message onto the pan before the cake, to practice your lettering but also to practice centering it on the pan, scraping and repiping the message until you feel comfortable so that when you then pipe it onto the cake, you won’t make any mistakes and have to scrape it off and try again.

Practice cake decorating all over a cake!

When you make a practice cake, try out as many techniques as you can on the same cake! I often do one design on the front of the cake and another on the back, like with these two Valnetines Day designs:

After practicing a technique on the side of a cake I might practice something else on the top of the cake. And maybe try a border around the bottom of the cake and another style of border on top, too!

Use cake zombies to practice cake decorating

Another great hack for practicing is to use a cake zombie, which is a cake that you use again and again for practice. This is especially useful if you have kids at home, so maybe it takes you several days to get around to frosting and decorating the cake, and by then it’s gone stale. Instead of throwing it away, scrape it and try another frosting or decorating technique on top, or several different techniques, and then repeat by scraping again and decorating again!

Make cakes for every occasion

When I first started making cakes back in 2009 I was teaching English in Costa Rica and I made cakes for all of my students’ and friends’ birthdays, for every party I went to, and little by little my cakes got better and better until I ended up opening a cake shop and selling them! Make cakes for your neighbors, your kid’s teachers, school functions or community events, and of course your friends and family! Look at this half and half cake I made recently, with half banana cake and half chocolate vanilla marble cake, covered with half and half frosting and some piping, compared to my first half and half cake before LOTS of practice, back in 2012!

Use cake dummies to practice cake decorating

Styrofoam cakes, often called cake dummies, can be used to practice all sorts of techniques without having to bake a cake first.

The trickiest thing about these is that they’re so lightweight. They’ll slip all over the cake board if you don’t attach them. To attach styrofoam to a cake board use a blob of buttercream as glue. Then leave it to set for a few hours at room temperature or 30 minutes in the fridge. Now the cake dummy will be stuck securely in place and won’t move around.

Then you can frost it just like you would frost an actual cake. Now you can practice whatever techniques you like!

Practice cake decorating on mini cakes

Make mini cakes instead of large ones when you want to practice a technique. You’ll save time because the cake layers will bake quicker. You’ll spend less on ingredients for smaller cake and frosting recipes. You can practice the same designs as you’d use on larger cakes, trying out new tools or techniques or whatever you want to practice, but for a fraction of the cost! 

Practice cake decorating on cupcakes

Take this even further and practice on cupcakes instead of cakes! Pipe swirls, the kind you would pipe on top of a cake, or try out a homemade stencil or drop flowers.

Freeze piping and then transfer it onto a cake

I think piping is one of the trickiest parts of cake decorating. You need to have the right consistency of buttercream and also the right amount pressure on the piping bag. And you’ll need to move the piping bag not just with the right motion but also at the right speed.

Here’s a hack: Pipe your decorations onto parchment paper and the freeze them to make them hard. It’s easier to pipe down onto paper than sideways onto a cake. If you don’t like any of your piping, just don’t use them. If you pipe them straight onto a cake, if you don’t like them you’ll have to scrape them off which is messier.

When the piped details are frozen, lift them up and place them on your cake! Use a dot of fresh buttercream to attach them, like glue.

This way you can choose which decorations are the prettiest and only use those!

For the top of the cake, trace around the baking pan onto a piece of parchment or wax paper, and then pipe within the circle. If you don’t like any of the piping, it’s easier to scrape it off this paper than an actual cake! Put them into the freezer to chill and set so that they’re firm and then pick them up and place them onto your cake!

Practice cake decorating with my online courses

My favourite hack to practice cake decorating is to take my online courses! You’ll find hundreds of cake decorating ideas and designs to watch and instead of figuring them out yourself by watching hundreds of YT videos until you find the one that answers your questions, find EVERYTHING in one place on my cake school, and ask your questions below each video and they’ll come directly to me so I can answer them straight away! Start your FREE 7 day trial by going to BGB.com and click on CAKE SCHOOL. See you there!

You can also watch a video of this tutorial on 10 hacks to practice cake decorating:

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Here are all of my tips for how to serve a cake: tall cakes, tier cakes, shaped cakes, and more!

Serve cakes at room temperature

Cakes should be at room temperature when you serve them. They're easier to cut into when the cake, filling and frosting aren't cold and hard. Also, both cake and buttercream taste best when they’re not cold. Ideally, take cakes out of the fridge two to four hours before you cut into them.

When you finish making a cake you can serve it straight away at room temperature. However, it will be the most crumbly this way, since the filling and frosting haven’t set in the fridge. Your knife will drag through the slice and leave crumbs in the filling. It will still taste delicious though, which is the most important thing!

How to serve a cake with warm water

For the neatest slices, use a warm knife to cut the cake. Hold a knife under warm running water or fill a glass with warm water and dip your knife into it. Then dry the knife on a towel or paper towel. Do this in between each cut. The warm metal will slice cleanly through the cake, filling and frosting.

Cut sideways for the neatest slices

I saw this tip on Instagram, on Baked by Dan’s account. He shows that cutting sideways will prevent crumbs dragging through your filling. It's a bit awkward but look at the neat slice this makes, with no crumbs in the filling:

How to cut a tall cake

For tall cakes, avoid traditional wedge-style slices that make very large portions. Instead, use this cutting board technique. It’s less tricky than cutting wedges, where the middle part tends to get left behind as you lift each slice out.

Slice all the way across the cake, an inch or two from the edge. Tip the slice over onto a cutting board and then cut it in half and in half again. This makes four long, thin portions.

This is my preferred method because everyone can choose how much frosting they want on their slice. Frosting lovers can choose the edge pieces and people with less of a sweet tooth can choose a middle piece. With this method, even the final slices are easy to cut, compared to wedges where the final few tend to topple over!

How to save leftover cake

If you don’t finish a cake you can save the leftovers. Press cling film against the cut sides, pushing it flat against the cake. Use pressure along the cut edge of the frosting to attach it. This will stop the cake from drying out. Now you can refrigerate the cake for a week and enjoy the leftovers!

How to store leftover cake slices

To save leftover slices of cake, first put them in the freezer for 5 minutes to set the frosting. Then wrap them in cling film or saran wrap. The plastic won’t mess up the frosting because the frosting has already set in the freezer. Now freeze the wrapped slices until you have a craving for something sweet. It's also a great option when you need a last minute dessert for an unexpected guest! After freezing, take the slice out and leave it on the counter for about 4 hours to come to room temperature before eating.

How to serve a cake with supports

Tier cakes, double barrel cakes and shaped cakes may have an internal support structure. This just means there are support straws or dowels holding up a cake board in the middle of the cake for stability. In case you're wondering how to serve a cake with supports, it's easier than you think! Slice the top tier while it’s still on top on the cake. You'll feel your knife hit the cake board at the bottom of this cake. When you’ve cut all of the top cake into slices, lift up the board below. You'll see the bottom half of the cake underneath. Cut the bottom part of the cake as normal!

This is how to serve most sculpted or carved cakes, like this Bulbasaur Pokemon cake. They look intimidating but they’re just as simple to serve as a regular round cake!

How to serve a cake without a knife

If you forget to pack a knife, like on this camping trip, two forks work to cut slices. They’re not the neatest but in situations like this, no one will care!

I hope this has been useful! You can also watch a video of this tutorial on 8 tips for how to serve a cake:

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You'll love these 10 cake hacks to save money if you're on a budget! Avoid expensive tools, minimize waste, choose techniques wisely, use what you already have at home, and more!

#1 Avoid specialty pans

Instead of buying expensive pans for every shape of cake, use whatever you already have. Bake your cakes in pans you already have and then cut them out or attach them, or both! Drawing the shape onto a piece of paper first will help you get exactly the shape you want. Cut out squares or numbers from sheet cakes or hearts from round cakes:

You can also attach different shapes and sizes of cakes to make any shape you want. For example, I made this heart cake by attaching a square cake to a round cake cut in half:

You can make any shape you like with the pans you have and a serrated knife like a bread knife. To attach different shapes together, use buttercream as glue between the shapes. This cake is about to turn into a Pokemon Bulbasaur cake:

When you frost it, you'll cover up any seams or joins between different pieces of cake. And when you serve it, no one will know about the cake surgery you performed on the inside!

#2 Skip the cake boards and boxes

Don’t want to spend money on cake boards and cake boxes? Here are more cake hacks to save money and also time! Bake your cake in a pretty dish that’s oven safe and after it cools, decorate it in the dish!

Carry it to your event and slice it in the dish for maximum ease and minimum effort. Then take the dish home with you afterwards to re-use again and again!

#3 Make smaller cakes

One of the best cake hacks to save money is to downsize your cakes. You’ll use less of expensive ingredients like butter and eggs, and you won’t end up with lots of leftover cake! Did you know a 6 inch cake can serve 12-20 people? It’s all about how you serve it.

Large, traditional wedge slices are difficult to cut thinly. You'll end up with huge portions that hardly anyone will finish. Also, the last few slices will be really tricky to slice!

Instead, try the cutting board method. Slice your cake into strips, letting them fall over onto a cutting board.

Cut those pieces in half and in half again, to make perfectly size portions. The edge pieces will have more than the middle pieces so everyone can choose just how much frosting they like.

#4 Use cake dummies

Sometimes cakes need to be bigger than necessary, for example a tier cake that’s for just 6 people. To achieve the size without waste, use cake dummies or fake cakes for the additional tiers. Frost and decorate them just like you would for a real cake.

No one will know the difference when they see the cake. You can scrape and wash the dummies to re-use again and again, saving money each time!

#5 Make your own sprinkles

Yes, you can make your own sprinkles if you have a lot of time and patience. But realistically, simple sprinkles are very affordable to buy.

What’s not as affordable are sprinkles mixes. Good news: you can mix your own! Choose a few different sprinkle packets of different colours and sizes and shapes.

Mix them together and voila! Fancy sprinkle mixes, but homemade!

#6 Choose valuable tools and materials

The cheapest tools and materials won’t necessarily save you money. For example, a cheap plastic cake comb will get dinged after a few uses. Those dings will cause these trails or indents in your frosting:

You’ll have to replace that cheap cake comb almost as soon as you buy it! A more expensive metal cake comb can last years without a single ding. You’ll really get your money’s worth out of that investment.

The same goes for food colouring. Yes, liquid colours form the grocery store or supermarket might be cheaper than gel colours. But gel colours will last you years and years - I haven’t replaced any since I got this set in 2020! And the storage case for gel bottles has been one of my best purchases ever!

Gel colours are really concentrated so you don’t need much to tint buttercream. I made this same colour using half a bottle of liquid colour and just a drop of gel colour:

So, before choosing the cheapest tools and materials, think about how often you'll use them and how long they'll last.

#7 Cake hacks to save money on gel colours

For dark colours like black and red you need a lot of gel to make a bold colour. Gels are expensive so instead, use these cake hacks to save money. First, tint buttercream several shades lighter than you want. For example, make grey instead of black and coral instead of red.

Secondly, microwave the bowl for 5 seconds and the heat will darken the buttercream. Finally, cover the bowl and put it into the freezer for 5 minutes. This will bring the melted buttercream back to room temperature. The cold will darken it, too!

Stir it and optionally, cover it again and leave it to rest for an hour or two. You’ll notice dark grey turn to black and coral turn into a deep, bold red. Look at the difference in the colour between a few hours ago, and now!

#8 Toy characters

For character cakes you could buy fondant in every colour and roll out each shape individually. Making figures this way is time consuming and expensive. But the person you’re making the cake for probably has toy figures of that character. Clean the figures and use them on the cake for free! And honestly, the toy topper will probably have the best resemblance to the character anyway!

#9 Limit your tools

There are endless tools you can buy for cake decorating. But there are also endless substitutes that you already have in your drawers and cabinets. Instead of textured cake combs, use a spoon or a fork or a spatula to create gorgeous textured frosting.

Instead of piping bags and tips for writing or drawing dots or lines, use a sandwich bag like a ziploc bag. Spoon your buttercream in and push it down to one of the bottom corners. Cut a small piece of the corner off and you have a homemade piping bag with a round piping tip!

Check out my tutorials on 5 Ways to Decorate a Cake without Tools and 12 Secret Cake Decorating Tools You Already Have for all sorts of alternatives to avoid buying expensive tools!

#10 Don’t try trial and error!

When you’re learning how to make cakes, there are so many techniques and tools to try out. Trial and error is an expensive process! Instead, learn all of the techniques you like in concise, informative, clear videos that show you how to use minimal tools to create stunning cakes. As well as cake hacks to save money, you'll learn shortcuts and all the tips and tricks to decorate cakes like a pro! Find all of this on my cake school. I’m offering a FREE 7 day trial of my All You Can Cake membership, which includes EVERYTHING on my cake school, so you can try it out, risk free! See you there!

Now tell me in the comments which tip will save YOU money when you’re making cakes!

You can also watch a video of this tutorial on 10 cake hacks to save money:

Improve cake decorating skills and take your cakes to the next level in 2025 with these 10 cake decorating tips!

#1 Practice makes perfect

You know the expression: practice makes perfect. With every cake you make you’ll improve cake decorating basics like smoothing frosting, but also cake decorating techniques. For example, look at the district bands of colour on the ombre cake on the left. Now compare those to the gradual blending on the cake on the right. The difference is five years of practice!

You’ll get better at every technique with practice, from smooth frosting to elaborate cake decorating techniques. So take every opportunity to make a cake for get togethers, events and occasions. Each time, practice a skill or technique you’d like to improve. 

#2 Experiment to improve cake decorating

Experimenting is another way to improve cake decorating skills. Instead of practicing the same technique over and over again, try different ways to do something. For example, instead of filling different piping bags with different colours for a design, layer those colours within the same piping bag. This creates the easiest ombre effect!

And instead of piping flowers straight onto a cake like above, pipe them down. Line a tray or baking sheet with parchment paper or a non-stick mat. This is a much easier angle than piping onto the side of a cake. (This is my 4 Minute Buttercream, by the way!) After freezing them you can choose only your favourites to pick up and press onto your cake. By tweaking the method you create a very different cake design!

If you’ve tried carving buttercream, you might have found the result messy with little crumbs of buttercream along the edges. Experiment with different temperatures and yo'll be pleasantly surprised! You’ll find that dipping your tool into warm water before carving will give you much neater results.

Experiment with different tools like a metal or acrylic cake comb instead a plastic one. You'll see which tool works best for you for smoother frosting and for other techniques, too. Small changes in the way you do things can cause big improvements on your cake!

#3 Perfect smooth frosting

As far as WHICH techniques to improve, to improve your cakes the most, I would definitely choose smooth frosting. It’s the foundation of almost every cake design, so it’s worth really focussing on until you’re happy with the results. I have lots of tutorials to help with smooth frosting but also, here are 2 hacks to help you.

The first is the microwave hack. Scoop up a third of the buttercream and microwave it for 10 seconds. Then pour this melted buttercream back into the bowl. Stir it together and you’ll have silky smooth frosting without air bubbles, perfect for frosting a cake!

The second hack is to use a warm metal cake comb. Run it under hot water or dip it into a pan of hot water and dry it with a towel. Or use a hairdryer or blowtorch to heat it and wait a moment so that it’s warm, not hot. Scrape around the cake and the warm metal will glide over it, filling in shallow indents or air bubbles, leaving it super smooth!

#4 Get the right consistency

To improve your frosting but also your piping you’ll need the right buttercream consistency. Use room temperature butter to see the true consistency of your buttercream because temperature will change it. If your butter is cold, your buttercream will seem stiffer than it really is!

When you stir the buttercream, stiff peaks and lots of texture within the buttercream mean your buttercream is stiff. With this consistency it will hold its shape, which is perfect for piping.

To make buttercream less stiff, add some milk and stir it in. When the peaks droop over, the consistency is looser or softer. A loose consistency is perfect for frosting a cake.

#5 Vary your piping tips

To improve your cakes, try different piping tips. Almost everyone starts off with a 1M star tip, which is typically used for piping swirls on cakes and cupcakes. For variety try a 2D for softer, wavier ruffles.

And a 1M is fine for borders but use different piping tips for difference effects. Try a star tip with more prongs, shorter and closer together, like the 4B in the tie die cake photo below. Switching up your piping tips will add more variety to your cakes.

Also, choosing a smaller or larger size to match the size of your cake will make a big difference to the overall design. A small size makes the border a subtle extra detail whereas a large size makes it an eye-catching attention-grabber.

For easy variety, use the same technique with a different tip. You'll create a different effect without needing to master a new skill.

#6 Choose pretty packaging

Make your cakes look more professional with pretty packaging. Buying in bulk is cheapest or on Amazon they're only a few dollars each when you buy 10 or 20. These make your cakes look SO much better!

To use the same cake box for tier cakes, use this tall cake box hack! Cut two diagonal slits on opposite sides of the box lid. The shorter the slits, the higher the lid will sit. Then push the middle section (between the slits) into the box. You'll still be able to fit the lid on and keep your packaging looking professional.

#7 Use guidelines for piping

To space out patterns evenly on your cakes, create your own easy guidelines. Draw around your cake pan and cut out the circle and then fold it in half or thirds. Look at the outer edge of the circle to choose however wide you want the sections of your pattern to be. Unfold the circle and place it on top of your cake after the frosting has set, so it doesn’t stick. Now use the creases on the paper circle as guidelines for your pattern. Optionally, can poke toothpicks into the cake below each crease to make the guidelines more visible.

Now when you pipe you’ll have clear start and end points for each section of the design. This is especially useful for Lambeth or vintage cakes!

#8 Make really white frosting

Make your white cakes really white with this trick. Make yellow butter much lighter by beating it for several minutes before adding any sugar. After mixing in the sugar, add a tiny amount of violet gel, which will cancel out the yellow. Dip a toothpick into the bottle to get just a tiny bit, rather than trying to squeeze a small drop and accidentally ending up with purple buttercream!

Look at the difference in this buttercream before adding violet and after - it gets so much whiter!

#9 Improve your cake photos

As you improve your cakes in 2025, document them by improving your cake photos. The easiest improvement to draw attention to the cake will minimize any distractions. To do this, adjust the focus. On an iPhone, choose Portrait mode and tap the F at the top left of the screen. Drag the bar up and down to make the background more and less blurry.

You can do this on a camera, too! Adjust the Fstop or F number to make the background more or less in focus.

I have an online course on Cake Photography Like a Pro which will show you EVERYTHING about lighting, backdrops, props, taking photos with a phone and a camera, and editing. And while we’re talking about my courses, move on to the final tip to improve cake decorating!

#10 Take a cake decorating course

To really improve your cakes, start a FREE 7 day trial of my All You Can Cake membership. It gives you access to ALL of my online courses so you can take a deep dive into whatever you’re interested in: baking cakes, getting your frosting super smooth, piping flowers and borders, decorating with chocolate, colouring buttercream, growing your cake accounts on social media, designing custom cakes… And you can ask me any questions directly so I can answer them straight away! I hope to see you there!

Watch a video of this tutorial on how to improve cake decorating in 2025:

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