Make cake decorations using candy or boiled sweets, like Jolly Ranchers. In this tutorial I’ll show you different ways to melt candy and how to make freehand designs using no tools or more detailed shapes using tools. Then I’ll show you how to attach the decorations to a cake.
If you prefer to watch a video of this tutorial, scroll to the bottom of the page.
To create a 2D shape like a silhouette, put a cookie cutter on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and arrange candy inside it to fill the shape. The more candy you put in, the thicker the shape will be and the easier it will be to remove it later.
Put the tray in the oven at 350F or 175C for five minutes and check to see if the candy has melted completely. If not, leave it in the oven for another 2 minutes and then check again.
The melted candy might leak out from the cookie cutter but that’s fine – we’ll fix it in a minute.
You can do this with a silicone mold to create a more detailed shape. Place the candy into the mold, and for narrow areas you can crush the candy so that you can fit the smaller pieces into the mold.
Bake the candy in the mold at 350F or 175C until it’s all liquid and bubbling. It will be HOT when it comes out of the oven so don’t touch it yet!
You can use a microwave instead to melt the candy, just in a bowl or using a mold. If you crush the candy you’ll be able to blend the colours more subtly than if you use entire candies, like in the previous mermaid tail. To crush candy you can put it in a ziploc bag and then smash it with a rolling pin.
With crushed candy you have a lot more control over the coloring of the decoration, compared to using whole candies where you have large blocks of colour.
Put the mold in the microwave for one minute, until it’s bubbling and there are no solid chunks of candy left. Look at those beautiful colours! But it’s easy to overheat candy in the microwave and if that happens, the colour will become duller as it cools.
To remove the candy from a silicone mold is easy. The mold is flexible so just push upwards from underneath it and you’ll pop the shape out. Now I want to show you the different effects of using the oven and the microwave.
Look at the difference in the colours of the candy – the bright colours of the tail on the left, which was melted in the oven, compared to the dull colours of the one on the right, which was melted in the microwave.
To remove candy from a cookie cutter is a bit trickier. Once it’s cool, lift it off the tray and snap off any pieces of candy that have leaked out of the mold.
Now, you’ll notice that the candy is down at the bottom of the cookie cutter, and intuitively, you’d push it out through that bottom side. But it’s much more likely to crack that way, than if you flip it over and push the candy out through the top of the cookie cutter.
Push gently all over the shape, nudging it out bit by bit, until it pops out of the other side of the cookie cutter. As I mentioned earlier, the thicker the candy the stronger it will be. If the candy is very thin it’s more likely to snap as you push it out of the cookie cutter.
When the candy pops out you’ll have a perfect candy cactus (or whatever shape you’ve chosen). Learn how to decorate this Taco Tuesday Cake on my online cake school!
If you don’t have cookie cutters or silicon molds you can create decorations without them. You’ll need a piece of parchment paper and I like to place this on a tray to hold it in place and make it easy to move around. Melt the candy in a bowl and then drizzle it onto the parchment paper.
Let the candy cool slightly before pouring it because then you’ll have more control over the design because the drizzle will be thinner and it won’t spread out like it does when it’s still REALLY hot.
Look at the difference between candy you pour immediately after melting, compared to leaving it to cool for just a minute, until it stops bubbling.
When these cool, you can lift them easily off the parchment.
To attach candy decorations to a cake, pipe details onto the top of a cake and this frosting will be soft and sticky so you can push the candy straight into them. I’m using a #104 petal tip to pipe these ruffles.
I suggest using a crusting buttercream for piping, like my 4 Minute Buttercream because when it sets, after about 30 minutes in the fridge, it gets very firm and it will hold the candy in place while you transport and serve it.
I used a 1M tip for this piping.
For LOTS of cake designs and cake decorating techniques, check out my online cake school. If you join my Club you’ll get access to ALL of my classes!
Here’s the video version of this tutorial:
Here are 9 ideas for cakes for anyone who loves the colour pink! I’ll share different patterns, textures, and styles of cakes and of course, all of these frosting and decorating techniques can be applied to a cake using any colour palette, not just pink ????
If you prefer to watch a video of this tutorial, scroll to the bottom of the page.
#1 Ombre Frosting
This is easy to create with just three shades of pink frosting. Spread the colours in bands around the cake so that the pink gets lighter or darker as you go down the cake. I’m using my 4 Minute Buttercream but any frosting will work for this, like whipped cream or meringue buttercream.
Scrape around the cake with a frosting smoother to smooth it. Just like on any other cake, the frosting won’t be perfectly smooth after just one scrape! You’ll tidy. upany indents or gaps in the frosting next.
Spread more frosting over any areas of the frosting that aren’t as thick as the rest, where it looks like there’s an indent or gap in the frosting. To make the blending of the shades of pink more gradual and subtle, do these touch-ups using a lighter or darker shade than the frosting where you’re spreading it.
Continue to smooth the frosting with a frosting smoother OR use a textured cake comb to add pleats or waves or any other pattern!
#2 Watercolour
To create a watercolour effect, spread dollops of different shades of pink over a cake, on top of frosting that’s already set. I left this cake in the fridge for an hour before adding the pink.
Scrape around the cake with a frosting smoother to spread the pinks, blending them together. Spread on some more frosting anywhere that you can still see the white frosting underneath.
Smooth again to completely cover the cake with different shades of pink! This is my favourite frosting smoother and you can get 10% off with the code BRITISHGIRLBAKES here!
#3 Piped Stripes
You can create pink stripes with just two piping bags and you don’t even need piping tips!
After assembling your cake and covering it with a thin layer of frosting, a crumb coat, pipe rings of colour around the cake, alternating between your two piping bags.
If you want your stripes to be the same thickness, it’s important that the holes you cut at the end of your piping bags are the same size.
Spread or pipe frosting onto the top of the cake, too, pushing it all the way over the edges of the cake to avoid air gaps or a domed top later. Smooth the frosting on the top of the cake first, using your
Then scrape around the sides with a frosting smoother. As you scrape again and again, you’ll flatten the frosting which will make it spread out to fill any gaps in between the stripes.
When you’re happy with the sides of the cake, tidy up the top edge by swiping inwards with your
#4 Cake Comb Stripes
You can create stripes with a cake comb. The stripes will be neater but it’s a bit more time consuming. Spread your first color thickly all over the cake and then scrape around the cake with a frosting smoother to check the sides are straight.
Then use a striped cake comb, pressing the base down on the cake board to line it up straight and then pulling it around the cake to imprint stripe grooves.
You’re aiming for neat edges to the stripe grooves and smooth frosting on the outer edge of the stripe grooves. You’ll probably have to scrape around the cake several times until you achieve this.
Put the cake in the freezer for 15 minutes to chill the first colour of frosting and then spread pink frosting all over it, or pipe it into the grooves using a piping bag if you prefer.
Scrape around the cake to take off the excess pink frosting, which will spread it everywhere and it will look messy but keep scraping!
The stripes will get clearer and neater with every scrape of your frosting smoother until all of the excess frosting is removed and the stripes look perfect!
#5 Bubbles
Add a reallyinteresting pattern using bubble wrap! Taping it onto acetate makes this easier but it’s not essential.
Spread pink frosting over the bubble wrap, after washing it of course. The frosting will need to be thick enough to completely cover the bubbles on the bubble wrap and it will also need to go right up to the edges of the bubble wrap.
Lift the bubble wrap up and lower it down towards the cake, angling it so that one of the long sides rests down on the cake board to make sure the frosting goes all the way down to the bottom of the cake.
Wrap the bubble wrap around the cake with the frosting pressed against the cake. Press it firmly against the cake to attach it and then chill the cake in the freezer for 15 minutes to set the bubble frosting.
Peel the bubble wrap off and if the frosting has chilled and set, it will stay behind on the cake and only the bubble wrap will peel off the cake.
You can leave the texture as it is or spread different colours of frosting over the cake. This new pink frosting will fill in the holes from the bubble wrap.
Scrape around the cake a few times to take off the excess frosting. Freezing the cake for a few minutes will have made the bubble wrap frosting firm, so it won’t blend together with this new pink frosting.
To make bubble cake toppers, spread melted chocolate onto bubble wrap and chilling it to set it.
Peel the chocolate off the bubble wrap and push them into the frosting on the top of the cake for a fun bubble wrap patterned cake!
#6 Roses
Cover a cake with roses using a star shaped tip like a 1M tip. You’ll need as many of these piping tips as the number of colours you want to pipe.
Fill piping bags with different shades of pink buttercream, or whatever frosting you’re using. Cover a cake with a crumb coat and let it set before continuing.
Starting at the bottom of the cake, pipe rosettes of frosting onto the cake, starting in the middle of each rose and spiraling outwards.
For neat ends of the rose spirals, at the same time as you stop squeezing the piping bag swipe the bag away from the cake. Pipe rows of roses to cover the sides of the cake and if there are any gaps in between roses, squeeze a little dot of frosting with the same piping bags and tips to make star blossoms to cover up the gap.
You can leave the top of the cake plain or pipe roses onto the top, too!
This rose frosting looks beautiful with just one colour for the roses, or you can layer different colours in rows or arrange them randomly like this. I added some gold leaf to finish off this cake.
#7 Russian Tip Flowers
Another way to pipe flowers onto a cake is to use flower nozzles or Russian tips. Place a piping bag (fitted with any flower shaped Russian tip) into a glass to hold it open and spread pink frosting around the inside of the bag.
Then fill the middle of the piping bag with another shade of pink. This will create two-tone flowers.
Hold the piping tip against the side of a frosted cake and squeeze the piping bag, letting the frosting bulge out slightly before slowly pulling the bag away to to pipe a flower. Every petal of the flower will be created with just one squeeze! The flowers will look really eye-catching with a variety of colour combinations and different tips.
You can add leaves with a leaf piping tip like a #352, pressing the end of the tip against the cake before you start squeezing the bag so that the leaf attaches to the cake.
You can pipe just a few flowers for some colour and texture on your cake or cover the entire cake with flowers!
#8 “Naked” Filling
Pipe pink texture onto the inside of a cake by using the piping as filling between cake layers. To shape your cake, use a cookie cutter to cut shapes out of larger cake layers.
Pipe frosting onto each layer using whatever piping tip you like – my favourites are large round tips or open star rosettes like 4B tip.
Alternate cake layers and filling to assemble your cake. This is called a naked cake because there won’t be any frosting on the outside, which means it’s REALLY easy and quick to make!
The pretty piping provides color and texture so you don’t need any other decorations on the cake, but sprinkles on top can add a nice finishing touch.
#9 Number Cake Filling
Using a similar technique to #8 , create a pink number cake by carving a number out of a rectangular sheet cake, twice, to make two layers of cake. I like to cut a piece of parchment paper to be the same size as my cake layer and fold it in half, so that I know exactly how much space I have to draw my number. Cut the number out of the parchment paper and place it on the cake to trace around with your knife.
Remove all of the excess pieces to leave two identical number cake layers! I recommend drizzling them with simple syrup to keep them moist if you won’t be frosting the outside of the cake.
Pipe frosting onto the first layer of cake, starting at the outer edge of the cake so that that part is the neatest, since it’s the only part that will be visible once the cake is assembled. Then fill in in the area within the outline with more piping. I’m using an 8B open star tip for this cake.
Place the next layer of cake on top , arranging it so it’s directly on top before pushing down gently to secure it onto the sticky frosting you’ve just piped, which will act as glue to fold the cake in place.
Cover this layer with piping too, again starting with the outline and then filling it in.
You can add any decorations you like on top like these chocolate hearts. Add them immediately after piping, while the frosting is still sticky so the decorations will attach easily.
Visit my online cake school for a LOT more cake design ideas and techniques and join my Club for access to ALL of my classes as well as live online classes and Q&A sessions for members only!
Here’s the video version of this tutorial:
If you could have any cake superpower, what would it be? Turning cupcakes into cakes? Making cakes truly gold? In this tutorial I share 5 cake hacks to WOW your friends, family, and customers. They’ll all ask you how you achieved these cake designs and you can choose whether to tell them or leave them guessing!
If you prefer to watch a video of this tutorial, scroll to the bottom of the page.
#1 Turn a cupcake into a cake with this fun trick! Peel the wrappers off two cupcakes and trim the tops so that they’re flat. Cut the cupcakes in half if you want more cake layers.
Then layer the cupcake halves with whatever filling you like, piping it like you would on a cupcake or just spread it on. Alternate between cupcake and filling to assemble a teeny tiny cake!
Put it in the freezer for 15 minutes before frosting it so that it’s more stable and doesn’t wobble all over the place. Use two layers of frosting for the neatest results, because the first layer will try any crumbs that come off the cupcake layers and then the second layer will be crumb-free.
Add whatever details you like to create a dessert that looks way fancier than a simple cupcake!
#2 Achieve incredibly intricate details with flawless designs in seconds! Buy icing sheets online in thousands of different patterns – use my code EMILYBGB for 20% off here!
Frost a cake as normal and measure the height of the cake. Then cut an icing sheet to be the same height. If the icing sheet will wrap around the cake completely you’ll only need one strip of the sheet but if it doesn’t, you’ll need to cut two or even three strips, making sure they’re all at least as tall as the cake is.
Icing sheets are attached to a plastic backing. When you’re ready to attach a sheet to the cake, peel the icing sheet off the backing and wrap it around the cake.
Icing sheets are slightly sticky and in my experience they are sticky enough to attach to a cake after the frosting has set. I prefer to attach the sheets at this point because the frosting is firm and you won’t risk indenting it or damaging it as you press the sheet against the cake.
Cut the icing sheet where the two ends join so that there’s no overlap. You can also choose this side to be the back of the cake when you display it.
Trim the top of the icing sheet anywhere it’s sticking up above the cake. If you want to cover the top of the cake with the icing sheet you can place a piece on top and trim around it so that it fits perfectly on top of the cake.
The seam where the two ends of the icing sheet meet will barely be visible amongst the busy pattern of the icing sheet. Add a pretty border on the top of the cake and around the bottom to finish it off!
#3 Make a cake gold by letting the frosting set so that it’s firm and holds its shape. Peel open a sheet of edible gold leaf, which you can buy here, and press the gold leaf into the frosting on the cake.
Use the backing paper to push against the cake without touching the gold leaf with your hands, since it’s very delicate and will stick to you instead of the cake.
When you peel the backing paper away, the gold leaf will be left on the cake. I do this after chilling the cake in the fridge for at least an hour so that the frosting on the cake has set.
Repeat the process with several sheets of gold and they’re so thin that where they overlap they’ll blend together to form a flat layers of gold all over the cake!
#4 Make homemade lollipops with just one ingredient! Place some paper straws in a lollipop mold and add some sprinkles if you like. Then put a hard candy like a Jolly Rancher in each circle.
Put the mold in the microwave for 30 seconds, or until the candy is melted and bubbling. They will be HOT so be careful when you take them out of the microwave.
Leave them to cool for about 15 minutes and then push the lollipops out of the mold. They should release and pop out easily but if they stick to the mold, the sugar hasn’t set yet so leave them for a few more minutes before trying again.
These make fun, flavoured, colourful treats or cake decorations and you can choose sprinkles and paper straws to match any colour scheme!
#5 Create REALLY bright and bold colours with chocolate by using a secret ingredient. Melt chocolate in the microwave at 80% power for 30 seconds at a time so it doesn’t overheat. Add cream if you’re going to make a drip or skip it for chocolate decorations.
Now add colour but chocolate will seize if you use more than a drop of the gel colours intended for frostings like buttercream. Instead use OIL based colours, sometimes called candy colours, which have no water in them so they won’t make the chocolate seize up.
You can add as much of these colours as you like to make shades like these! This will work for chocolate drips, chocolate spheres, sails… any chocolate details on cakes!
So now you can turn cupcakes into cakes, make cakes gold, create jaw droopingly bright and bold colours with chocolate, turn candy into cake toppers, and achieve flawless, intricately patterned designs!
What cake superpower do you wish you had? I’d love to be able to decorate at timelapse speed! Tell me yours in the comments!
If you’re looking for inspiration or want to learn new cake designs and techniques, join my Club+ for access to ALL of my online classes and courses as well as live online classes and Q&A sessions for members only!
Here’s the video version of this tutorial:
These are the 10 most common mistakes people make when they’re making cakes, from condensation to exploding piping bags and accidentally poking a finger into your cake. I’ll show you tricks to fix each one so it doesn’t ruin your cake!
If you prefer to watch a video of this tutorial, scroll to the bottom of the page.
#1 Cake layers fall apart
If your cake layers crumble when they came out of the pan, this is probably the simplest thing to fix so that you can still use crumble cake layers! I’ll show you how in a moment but for next time, leave cakes in the pan to cool for ten minutes before turning them out, which gives them a chance to firm up a bit.
Chill the damaged cake layers in the fridge for about an hour so that they firm up and then assemble your cake as normal. If you have any really damaged cake layers with large cracks, put them in the middle because they’ll threaten the stability of the cake if they’re at the bottom or on top.
Now frost the cake as normal and since the cake layers are cold, they won’t crumble as you spread on the frosting. As you spread, you’ll push the frosting into any cracks or holes in the cake and after smoothing the frosting, you’d never guess the cake layers weren’t perfect underneath the frosting.
#2 Buttercream pulls off cake
If your buttercream is too stiff, when you try to frost your cake you’ll find that your spatula sticks to to cake instead of gliding over it to spread the buttercream. When you use a frosting scraper you’ll probably pull the whole cake over with it!
Easy to fix – add more milk to the buttercream until you can stir it like peanut butter, leaving soft peaks behind and a smooth trail in the buttercream. Now your cake will be MUCH easier to frost!
#3 Cake shows through frosting
If you scrape off too much frosting you’ll expose the cake underneath, like here on the top of this cake where I applied too much pressure with my
Don’t panic – for the top of the cake, just spread more frosting over the entire top and smooth it again. You’ll push the frosting over the edges of the cake as you smooth so scrape around the sides fo the cake again with your frosting smoother.
Exposed cake is a common struggle with textured cake combs because the frosting needs to be thicker than the depth of the pattern on the cake comb, otherwise the grooves of the comb will go through the frosting and the crumb coat or the cake underneath will show through.
For the sides of the cake follow the same idea as for the top, spreading more frosting over the area where you can see the cake. You’ll also need to spread more frosting over the surrounding areas to make that frosting thicker too, otherwise you’ll scrape this fresh frosting straight off again.
When all of the frosting is a bit thicker, go around the cake again with your frosting smoother or textured cake comb and the frosting will be thick enough to cover up the cake.
#4 Cake condensation
Condensation is a pain, especially in hot countries. It happens with a drastic change in temperature, for example moving a cake from the freezer to a warm room. To avoid this, change the temperature gradually, moving the cake from the freezer to the fridge for a few hours, and then to room temperature.
Ideally, crank up the air conditioning to cool the room down to minimize the difference in temperature. If the frosting has set, you can dab any beads of condensation off the cake by pressing a paper towel gently against the cake to absorb it.
#5 Ugly borders
If you don’t like a border you’ve piped onto a cake, there are two ways to take it off. If the frosting on your cake has set, immediately after piping the border you can scrape the border off with an
The piped border will still be soft and sticky so it will be easy to scrape off. Since the frosting on the cake has set, you won’t damage it because it’s firm. Then you can pipe another border instead!
If the frosting hasn’t set, put the whole cake in the fridge for an hour or in the freezer for 15 minutes to set the frosting on the cake AND the border. Then use a sharp knife to cut the border off the top of the cake. You won’t damage the frosting on the cake by doing it this way but you would if you tried to scrape the border off while the frosting on the cake was still soft and sticky.
#6 Drip is too runny or thick
Until you get the hang of drip cakes, it’s easy to make your drip too runny so that the drips run all the way down to the bottom of the cake or too thick, when they don’t drip down at all! Cakes should be chilled in the fridge before applying a drip, which helps to stop the drips before they get down to the cake board but it’s also useful that the cake is cold for fixing a drip you don’t like!
Straight after you’ve applied the drip, scrape it off with an
Now apply the drip again, using your favourite method: pouring it and spreading it, dripping it with a spoon, or using a squeezy bottle. Avoid this problem next time by doing a test drip first, checking the consistency of the drip and seeing how it behaves on your cake, before applying the rest of the drip. Learn all about drips in my online course on 50 Easy Cake Decorating Techniques for ANY Skill Level!
#7 Piping tip explodes through piping bag
This one has happened to me more times than I can count! Exploding piping bags… where the piping tip pushes out through the end of the piping bag and frosting bursts out onto your cake.
This happens when the hole you’ve cut at the end of the piping bag is too big for the piping tip you’re using. When you squeeze the piping bag to apply pressure and push the buttercream out through the piping tip, that pressure pushes the piping tip out with it.
Only about half of the piping tip should stick out of a piping bag, so that when you apply pressure to the bag it will be snugly secured within the piping bag and unable to squeeze through the hole at the end.
This piping bag was cut to fit a 1M piping tip like in the photo above but for a smaller piping tip like this #3 tip, the hole is too big because almost all of the piping tip fits through the hole so it will be easily pushed out when I put buttercream in the piping bag.
To fix this, either put the piping tip in a bag with a smaller hole OR put a coupler into the piping bag. A coupler is wider than the piping tip so it will be secure within the piping bag. Place the piping tip on to the coupler on the outside of the piping bag and screw the ring on to attach it in place before piping as normal. For 4 reasons to use couplers, check out my tutorial on how to use couplers.
#8 Messy cake board
After frosting your cake you’ll have smudges of buttercream on the cake board around your cake. It’s not a mistake, it’s bound to happen, but it is easy to fix. Wrap your finger in a paper towel and wipe the smudges off the cake board.
I like to do this after chilling the cake in the fridge to set the frosting so that if I brush against the cake with the paper towel, I won’t damage the frosting since it’s firm. It does make the frosting smudges firmer through, so you’ll have to apply a bit of pressure to wipe them off.
#9 Damaged frosting
Poked your finger into a cake by mistake? It’s infuriating when it happens after you finish decorating a cake but it is possible to fix it. If the frosting has set, try wiping the indent gently with a paper towel to flatten it, or use an
This works for shallow indents but if it’s too deep, or if the frosting on the cake hasn’t set, spread some more frosting over that area and gently smooth it with an
#10 Clogged piping tips
If your frosting isn’t piping properly because the frosting is only coming through certain parts of the piping tip, for example some of the prongs of a star shaped tip, it’s because something is clogging the tip.
It could be lumps of sugar, which can happen when the butter isn’t at room temperature when you make buttercream, or it could be a chunky ingredient in the frosting like Oreo crumbs or a fruit puree like strawberry. To create a space big enough for the chunks to fit through, pry the prongs of the piping tip outwards using a knife or an
This will widen the gap that your frosting will come through. Although the piping tip itself won’t look as pretty, this will allow the frosting to pipe beautifully!
To prevent clogging, crush or blend your flavour ingredients before adding them to your frosting. For example, instead of crushing Oreo cookies by hand, blitz them in a food processor or blender to make very fine crumbs that will add flavour and colour to your frosting without creating chunks of texture that will block your piping tip.
Troubleshooting tips aren’t always the most beautiful thing to watch but I hope these are helpful! If you’ve had any cake fails that you didn’t understand or don’t want to repeat, tell me in the comments and I’ll try to help!
For more tips, techniques and cake designs, join my Club for access to ALL of my online classes as well as live online classes and Q&A sessions for members only!
Here’s the video version of this tutorial:
Cake toppers add height, colour, and texture to cakes and in this tutorial I’ll show you 5 easy ideas to try.
If you prefer to watch a video of this tutorial, scroll to the bottom of the page.
#1 Chocolate Numbers
These are perfect for birthdays. Print or draw a number and then tape a piece of parchment paper over the top, onto a cake board or a plate.
Melt chocolate in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time so you don’t overheat it and cause it to seize and spoon it into a ziplock bag. Cut a small piece off one of the bottom corners.
Squeeze the chocolate through that hole to trace the number, starting with the outline and then filling it in. You can use a toothpick or the end of a spoon to flatten ad smooth the chocolate if you want to.
Cut a paper straw so that it’s about an inch longer than the height of the cake and press it into the chocolate number before it sets.
Squeeze a bit more chocolate over the top of the straw and then place the number in a bowl or and a tray and pour sprinkles over it. The tray or bowl will catch any bouncing sprinkles. Press the sprinkles gently into the melted chocolate to attach them and leave the chocolate to set.
It will take about an hour for the chocolate to set in a warm room or you can speed up the process in the fridge or freezer for 5-10 minutes. Pick the cake board up, letting the extra sprinkles fall into the bowl or tray, and peel the chocolate off the parchment paper.
Push the straw into a cake and voila!
#2 Candy Squiggles
For shiny and delicious cake toppers, melt hard candy or boiled sweets in the microwave for 1 minute, until they’re liquid and bubbling.
Wait about a minute for the sugar to stop bubbling and then drizzle the melted candy over a piece of parchment paper. If you use the melted candy immediately, it will spread out and pool when you pour it.
By waiting a minute, the drizzles will be thinner and you’ll have more control over the design.
Piping is as easy way to attach these to a cake, so while the sugar cools use a piping bag of buttercream and your favourite piping tip to pipe a design onto the top of the cake.
Peel the candy decorations off the parchment paper when they set and push them while the piping is still soft and sticky. When the buttercream sets, it will secure the toppers in place.
No one will guess how incredibly easy these toppers were to make!!
#3 Sprinkled Chocolates
Make dramatic, colourful toppers by pouring melted chocolate onto parchment paper or a silicone mat and spreading it around with an
Score lines in the chocolate now, while it’s melted, so it will be easier to cut later. Scatter some sprinkles on now and they’ll stick because the chocolate hasn’t set yet.
Leave the chocolate for about 30 minutes to harden, or put it in the fridge or freezer for a few minutes, and then use a sharp knife to cut along the lines you scored earlier.
If the frosting on the cake has set and it’s too firm to be able to push the chocolates in, use a sharp knife to cut lines wherever you want to place a chocolate.
Press the chocolates into the top of the cake to add some height and colour!
#4 Meringue Pops
For meringue pops you’ll use the piping bags and tips you already use for frosting cakes and all you need are egg whites and sugar.
Whisk them together until stiff peaks form and I teach this in detail in my online course on 50 Easy Cake Decorating techniques, along with 49 other techniques!
Tint bowls of the meringue mixture and spoon it into piping bags. Pipe whatever shapes you like over paper straws on parchment paper or a silicone mat. You can add sprinkles if you like for some bling.
Bake them at 200F or 90C for 90 minutes. By cooking them at a low temperature you’ll prevent the meringue discolouring. After 90 minutes, touch a meringue pop and if it’s no longer sticky it’s ready but don’t take them out of the oven yet!
Turn the oven off but leave the meringue pops in the oven for another 2 hours and by letting them cool this gradually, you’ll prevent them from cracking.
Lift the meringue pops up and push them into your cake, pushing the front ones in lower than the back ones so that they’re all visible.
#5 Metallic Chocolates
For metallic toppers, use a tiny amount of gold or silver luster dust or edible glitter in a ziploc bag and add chocolate malt balls or any other round chocolates.
Seal the bag and shake the balls around gently to coat them in the powder. You only need about an 1/8th of a teaspoon of luster dust for this. Place the metallic balls on top of a cake for glamorous, metallic toppers!
If you’ve found this tutorial useful, for more ideas for cake toppers, borders, writing on cakes, frosting techniques, and decorative techniques, check out my online course on 50 Easy Cake Decorating Techniques.
Join my Club for access to ALL of my online classes as well as live online classes and Q&A sessions for members only!
Here’s the video version of this tutorial:
Mirror glaze is stunning and delicious AND it’s super easy to do with just two ingredients!
If you prefer to watch a video of this tutorial, scroll to the bottom of the page.
When you assemble your cake, choose a cake board that’s the same size as your cake, or trace around your cake pan and trim the board to be the same size.
Attach the first layer of cake to the board with a dot of buttercream, which will act as glue. Your cake will never leave this cake board – it will be attached from now until serving.
Alternate cake layers and filling to assemble your cake. Make sure the layers of cake are lined up directly above each other so that the cake doesn’t lean to one side. Shorter cakes are easier for mirror glazes because the glaze will have a smaller distance to cover.
Use tape to attach the cake on its small board onto a larger board so that you can frost it more easily. You’ll detach the cake from the larger cake board later, before applying the mirror glaze.
A crumb coat is really important for mirror glaze cakes because it traps any crumbs that come off the cake, so that when you spread on your final coat there won’t be any crumbs in that and you’ll have a very smooth surface on the cake. I’m using my 4 Minute Buttercream for this cake.
It doesn’t matter if you can see the cake layers through the frosting – it’s going to be covered up but it needs to provide a neat SHAPE for the cake. The mirror glaze will sit on top of this frosting but it only provides a very thin layer so you’ll notice any imperfections in the frosting, so you want the frosting to be as smooth as possible.
Pay special attention to the top of the cake, swiping sideways with an
After frosting the cake, chill it in the fridge for at least an hour, or ideally overnight, to set the frosting. The frosting needs to hold its shape while you’re applying the mirror glaze and the longer it’s been in the fridge, the firmer the frosting will be and the better it will hold its shape.
The mirror glaze is VERY easy to make. All you need is white chocolate and cream at a 2:1 ratio. This means you’ll need double the amount of white chocolate compared to cream. For this 4 inch cake I’m using about 100g of white chocolate and 50g cream, which should be heavy whipping cream or double cream.
You can prepare this in separate bowls for each colour or you can use one bowl and then divide the glaze between different bowls to colour it later. Put each bowl on the scale and zero it before adding the chocolate so that you’ll only be weighing the chocolate chips. Check the weight of the chocolate, divide it in half, and add that amount of cream to the bowl.
Put the bowl or bowls in the microwave at 80% power for 1 minute. Using low power and short intervals will prevent the chocolate from overheating.
Stir the chocolate until it’s completely melted, with no lumps, to achieve a very smooth mirror glaze on the cake. You can microwave it for another 15 seconds at a time if there are still lumps.
Now this is REALLY important. To tint the glaze you’ll need oil based colours, which are different to the gel or liquid colours you use to tint buttercream. Those have water in them and they’ll cause the chocolate to seize. With oil based colours you can use large amounts of them without affecting the consistency of the glaze. If you want a true white glaze you can use white icing colour.
Wait for the glaze to come to room temperature before you use it because if it’s still warm it will melt the frosting on the cake and ruin those sharp edges around the top of the cake.
Now that the frosting on the cake has chilled and it’s firm, separate the cake from larger board. Slide an
Place it on wire rack over a baking tray or bowl, which will catch the mirror glaze as it drips off the cake. You can touch the cake as you move it because the frosting has set so it’s firm.
Pour the mirror glaze over the cake, drizzling it back and forth or pouring it straight down onto the top of the cake.
The glaze will spread out to cover the top of the cake and then spill over the edges to drip down the sides of the cake. Keep pouring the glaze until it has covered the sides of the cake all the way down to the bottom.
Switch back and forth between colours to create really fun effects. The consistency of the mirror glaze is really important – if it’s too thick it won’t run down the sides of the cake and you’ll create a drip instead. If it’s too liquid it will be very thin and it won’t create a bold colour or be as shiny.
If there are any bare spots near the bottom of the cake where the frosting is visible, use a spoon to gently nudge the glaze to cover those areas.
Optionally, you can refrigerate the cake until glaze chills and gets a bit thicker and more stable but it will always be sticky so you won’t be able to touch it. Use an
Carefully transfer the cake onto a plate or serving platter or cake stand to serve the cake on. Center it on the plate and then slowly pull your finger and
“Wow” everyone with your shiny cake that only used two ingredients, and then slice into the cake and enjoy!
If you have any questions about this method, ask me in the comments! If you’re looking for inspiration, join my Club for access to ALL of my online classes as well as live online classes and Q&A sessions for members only!
Here’s the video version of this tutorial:
You can paint on cakes using lots of different techniques and simple tools and ingredients. In this tutorial I’ll show you 5 ways to paint on cakes usinga paintbrush, sponge, palette knife, buttercream, and gel food colours.
If you prefer to watch a video of this tutorial, scroll to the bottom of the page.
PAINTING WITH BUTTERCREAM
If you use buttercream as your paint, start by tinting the colours you want to use. Two key points here: first, make sure the consistency isn’t too stiff. The buttercream needs to be easy to stir, leaving soft peaks behind your spatula and a smooth trail without air bubbles.
Second, remember that you don’t need a lot for painting, because even if you’re going to be covered a large surface of the cake, you’ll only be painting a thin layer so a spoonful of buttercream is probably enough.
#1 Painting with buttercream + a paintbrush
Not surprisingly, you can paint on cakes with a paintbrush! To paint an animal or a figure or any other shape, start by outlining your shape onto a cake using a toothpick. You can draw it freehand or trace around an image you’ve drawn or printed.
Create a palette of colours by putting some blobs of coloured buttercream on a plate and use a paintbrush to dip and then paint onto a cake. Using a small paintbrush makes it easier to stay within the outline.
You can layer colours by brushing them on top of each other to create some shading. The frosting on the cake needs to have set before painting so that the buttercream “paint” sits on top of the frosting, instead of blending with it.
If you want to add texture to the painting, which will also clarify which parts of the buttercream are which parts of the elephant or whatever you’re painting, use a toothpick to gently scratch lines wherever there are creases or wrinkles.
Buttercream is fun to paint with because you can add colour and texture to your cake.
#2 Painting with buttercream + a sponge
For sponge painting, dip a sponge into your buttercream and wipe the excess off on the side of the bowl to leave a very very thin coating on the paintbrush.
You’ll need the frosting on the cake to set before you do this, and for all of the other techniques too, so first put the cake in the fridge for an hour to firm up. Dab the sponge onto the cake to paint it.
You can choose the texture or pattern you create by the angle you hold your sponge – I’m creating vertical lines all over this cake by always holding my sponge the same way, but you could vary this to create a totally different pattern.
Have fun with this, overlapping and layering colours and watching the design evolve!
#3 Painting with buttercream + a palette knife
You can paint with a palette knife to achieve the effect of oil paints, and just like the other techniques, you really only need a spoonful of buttercream for this. Spread the buttercream onto the cake to create textured petals or leaves or whatever shapes you like.
If the buttercream isn’t spreading easily, add some milk to thin it out. You can layer colours to create details and add more texture.
Keep this simple with swooshes of colour to create a fun, colourful design on a cake – for more ideas check out my tutorial on 5 cakes you can decorate in 5 minutes.
#4 Painting with buttercream + a combination of tools
You can create entire scenes with a combination of tools! I decorated this cake using all of the techniques I’ve shown you so far: a palette knife for the grass, a sponge for the sky, and a paintbrush and palette knife for the rest of the details of this Paris cityscape., It’s helpful to have pictures to refer to as you paint and I like to use Google Images to find simple line drawings as a starting point.
PAINTING WITH GEL FOOD COLOURS
#5 Painting with gels + a paintbrush
Painting with gel colours is easier than buttercream because you’re only creating colour, not texture, so it’s less to think about. Mix gel colours to thin them out using any clear alcohol, like vodka, or you can use clear flavour extracts like clear vanilla.
You’ll probably want to refer to a picture or a photo as you prepare your colours and while you paint – I took my kids on a little hike and took some photos to keep beside me as I painted, since I knew I wouldn’t be able to make up an entire scene out of my head.
You can start by outlining shapes in the frosting on the cake with a toothpick, or just make it up as you go along. Start by painting your first basic shape, so for me this is just the stem and branches of one plant. Then add details by layering on more colours to create shading and shadows.
After the first basic shape or shapes, fill in the other details like the ground, and scenery, like these trees. Trees are easy. to paint because after a line for the trunk you can just paint lots of dots in different shades of green to create the leaves.
Immediately after painting part of the design you can blot the gels with a paper towel to take off excess “paint” to make the colours a bit lighter and less bold, which is useful for parts of the design that you want to fall into the background.
To create the background you can water down your colour by mixing in more alcohol. This will make the colour lighter, which works well if you want the attention to go to the image you painted first.
By painting one layer at a time, you can create an entire scene with just a few drops of gel colours and a paintbrush, turning a photo into a cake design!
I hope you’ve enjoyed this tutorial! Tell me in the comments if there’s a cake technique or theme you’d like me to make a tutorial about!
If you’re looking for more cake decorating techniques and designs, check out my online cake school for lots of courses and classes and join my Club for access to ALL of them as well as live online classes and Q&A sessions for members only!
Here’s the video version of this tutorial:
I’m going to share my tips for efficient cake decorating so you can really maximise your time and spend it decorating rather than cleaning up afterwards!
If you prefer to watch a video of this tutorial, scroll to the bottom of the page.
#1 Bake in bulk
Efficient cake decorating starts with baking your cake layers and to save time, bake in bulk, even if you don’t need that much cake at the moment. Let the cake layers cool completely, trim and level them if you want to, and then wrap each layer in cling film or Saran Wrap so that it doesn’t dry out.
Put the cake layers in the freezer and they’ll be fine for 2-3 months! That way, the next time you want to make a cake you can pull your layers out of the freezer a few hours before you need them and they’ll thaw and be ready to assemble and decorate!
Once the cake comes to room temperature I guarantee you won’t be able to taste the difference between these layers and layers that have just cooled after baking.
#2 Make and store extra buttercream
When you’re making your frosting, make the biggest batch that fits in your mixer. If you’re going to take the time to make frosting, you might as well make as much as you can and use the same batch for several cakes. Buttercream stores very well in the fridge or freezer, as long as it’s in an airtight container.
I like to put my leftover buttercream in a large ziplock bag and press it flat so that it hardly takes up any space. Buttercream will be fine for 2-3 weeks in the fridge or 2-3 months in the freezer!
When you’re ready to use it, take it out the fridge a few hours before or if it’s in the freezer, take it out the night before and let it come to room temperature.
Put it in the bowl and stir it a few times before using it to knock out any air bubbles and it will have the same texture and taste as fresh buttercream!
#3 Save leftover coloured buttercream
It’s almost impossible to tint exactly the amount of coloured buttercream that you need for your cake, but those leftovers are actually useful!
Spoon them into a ziplock bag and save them in the fridge or freezer for future cakes, when you need just a little bit of that colour for decorating. Using leftovers is MUCH faster than tinting another bowl of frosting from scratch.
#4 Refrigerate cake layers
When you assemble your cake always use cold cake layers. Cold cakes are less crumbly to move around and when you spread on your filling you won’t pull off crumbs.
Also, when the cake is cold the frosting you spread onto it will set very quickly, so but the time you finish spreading on a crumb coat and smoothing it, the frosting will have set and you’ll be able to move straight on to your final coat without having to wait for the crumb coat to set in between!
#5 Be prepared!
Before you start decorating a cake, take out all of the tools and materials you’ll need. Ideally to this at least a day in advance to give you time to go and buy anything you realize you don’t have. When it’s time to decorate, you’ll be able to dive straight in and once you start, you won’t have to waste time looking for things you need, or rushing out to buy them.
#6 Clean as you go
However you choose to decorate your cake, you’re going to start with clean tools and finish with dirty tools. If you’re not working close to a sink, have a box or tray or bucket where you can toss anything you need to wash, like a dirty
Have a sponge or cloth handy to wipe up frosting spills or smudges as you frost and decorate, and throw things away as you go, like the ends you cut off piping bags. That way you’ll keep a clear workspace and won’t have lots of picking up to do when you finish.
I have an online course called Fabulous Cakes, Fast! where I teach how to decorate 10 cakes in 30 minutes each. I’ll tell you the most efficient way to decorate each of the cakes in that course but these are some basic tricks that will help you save time on all of the cakes you decorate. Just for fun, tell me in the comments: what’s the longest time you’ve spent decorating a cake?
Here’s the video version of this tutorial:
I’m going to share my top 12 tips for baking and just for fun, instead of using my kitchen I’ll show you the tips in my tiny kitchen!
If you prefer to watch a video of this tutorial, scroll to the bottom of the page.
#1 If your recipe says to use room temperature ingredients, don’t ignore that! Take your ingredients out several hours or even the night before you bake so everything’s at room temperature, and this is for both cake batter and buttercream.
#2 For most recipes you can mix the first ingredients together for several minutes but for a light a fluffy cake, don’t over-mix the batter after adding flour.
Over-mixing the gluten will make your cake tough. Only mix until the flour is just incorporated into the batter.
#3 For cupcakes, the easiest way to divide the batter is to use an ice cream scoop, and then you won’t get batter all over the cake tin.
Only fill the cupcake wrappers half or three quarters full so that the batter doesn’t overflow as it rises during baking.
#4 For cake pans, to make sure your cake layers are all the same height you can weigh the batter in each pan before you bake it to make sure they’re all the same weight.
#5 Tap the pans a few times on the counter or table to knock our air bubbles and spread the batter evenly across the pans. This way, your cake will look perfect when you slice into it!
#6 You can use cupcake recipes for cakes but reduce the temperature by 25 degrees Fahrenheit. This will make the cake layers bake flat and evenly, preventing burnt edges or raw centers of the cakes.
#7 Although it’s tempting to check on cakes and cupcakes while they’re baking, don’t open oven door until you think baking is complete. The rush of cold air will make cakes sink if they aren’t fully cooked.
#8 When you take cakes out of the oven, let them cool in the pan for 5 minutes before turning them out, so that they firm up and don’t fall apart.
#9 Let cakes and cupcakes cool completely before you frost them, otherwise the frosting will melt!
#10 If you’re using buttercream as frosting, always check the consistency before using it. If it’s too stiff you won’t be able to pipe or spread it easily. Add milk to thin it out if it’s too stiff.
#11 To make baking less overwhelming, tidy up and put things away as you go along. That way you won’t have a huge mess to clean up at the end.
Make the most of waiting time, like while the cakes are baking in the oven or while buttercream is in the mixer, to wash any pans and utensils you’ve used.
#12 Baking is a loong process so make yourself a bit pot of coffee before you start and enjoy the adventure!
What’s your best baking tip? Tell me in the comments!
Visit my online cake school for LOTS of courses and classes join my Club or ClubPLUS for access to them all!
Here’s the video version of this tutorial:
Looking for ideas for a cake for a husband, dad, uncle, teacher, or friend? Here are some fun ideas that require simple tools and won’t take hours and hours to decorate!
If you prefer to watch a video of this tutorial, scroll to the bottom of the page.
An easy starting point is to incorporate any hobby into a cake.
For someone who enjoys fishing, pipe a fish onto a cake by spooning coloured frosting into piping bags fitted with small round tips or you can use ziploc bags and cut a corner off to pipe the frosting through.
After piping each dot, use an
For step by step instructions to decorate this cake, check out my online cake school.
For an astrologer or someone who likes stargazing or is into space, make a galaxy cake by covering a cake with black frosting and then spread on a few dabs of brightly colours buttercream.
Smooth the frosting to smear the colours around the cake, blending them with the black frosting.
Add some constellations by dipping a paintbrush into silver luster dust mixed with vodka, or use white icing color, and flick the paintbrush towards the cake to spray out stars.
There are lots of ways to make the cake more personal, for example if they love Star Wars you could add toy figures of their favourite characters!
For an outdoor enthusiast, use wafer paper to create a river or lake. Brush wafter paper with gel colours mixed with vodka and leave them to absorb the liquid for about five minutes, so that the wafer paper becomes flexible.
Wrap the pieces of wafer paper around a cake, overlapping them to make waves. The wafer paper will stick to other pieces while it’s wet, or you can use piping gel or pipe a few dots of buttercream to act as glue.
Add a toy kayak or fisherman instead of spending hours sculpting one out of fondant!
This one’s a bit more time consuming, but it’s a cake any poker player will rave about and always remember! Start by indenting grooves into the frosting on two cakes with a zig zag textured cake comb.
Attach pieces of fondant to create the markings on the chips, referring to an actual poker chip or print out a picture of one to look at. Use a knife to indent lines into the fondant to match the texture of the frosting, making the cake look like several poker chips piled on top of each other.
Stack the cakes and you’ll have a cake that looks JUST like a stack of poker chips! I have a full tutorial for this cake here.
Keep things simple with a favourite colour. Use piping bags fitted with round tips or you can use ziploc bags with a corner cut off to rows of frosting onto a cake.
Smooth the coloured rows to make neat stripes! Get more ideas for cake decorating techniques using ziploc bags here.
For a shiny and delicious effect, make a mirror glaze cake using his favourite colours or different shades of them.
For a sports fanatic, use the colours of the team to spread texture onto a cake after the frosting on the cake has set, so the new colours and textures will sit on top of the frosting instead of bledning into it.
Or for easy cake toppers to match the colours of a sports team, use chocolate and sprinkles!
To do this, melt and tint white chocolate and spread it onto parchment paper. Scatter some matching sprinkles over the top while the chocolate is still melted and sticky and then score lines into it. When the chocolate sets, break the chocolate pieces apart and push them into your cake!
Use the birthday boy’s favourite foods in their cake, for example Oreo cookies can be crushed and folded into frosting to use as the filling or frosting on a cake, and you can use more Oreos to decorate the top of the cake, too!
Nutella makes an indulgent filling for a cake and cooked raspberries can be stirred into buttercream to make a delicious frosting for a cake. I teach how to make this cake in my 30 Minute Cake Decorating Course: Fabulous Cakes, Fast!
If their favourite food doesn’t pair well with cake, like tacos, pipe it onto the cake as a decoration instead! Learn how to pipe these tacos and make the cactus cake topper with just one ingredients in my Taco Tuesday Cake Class.
A favourite animal or pet can be painted onto a cake, like this elephant I’m painting using coloured buttercream and a paintbrush.
I like to outline the shape of the animal first. I print a picture of the animal and cut it out and then press it against the cake (after the frosting has set so it’s firm!) and trace around it with a toothpick.
Or if you’re nervous about making mistakes, pipe the design onto a piece of parchment paper, tracing an image underneath.
Press the design onto the side of a cake and then place the cake in the fridge with the parchment paper still attached. Leave it for about an hour, so that the piped animal sets and attaches to the side of the cake. The peel the parchment paper off slowly.
The piped animal will remain on the side of the cake!
I hope you’ve seen some ideas you like. Check out my online cake school for LOTS of cake designs and courses on different buttercream techniques!
Here’s the video version of this tutorial:
