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10 Ways To Make Your Cakes Look Professional
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Sep 6, 2024
I can't wait for you to use these 10 ways to make your cakes look professional, from piping tricks to learning how to transfer a cake from its cake board onto a cake stand. Tell me in the comments which is your favourite or tell me a technique you'd like to learn! *Take my FREE course on 10 Frosting Techniques on my ONLINE CAKE SCHOOL https://www.britishgirlbakes.com/online-courses *LEARN 50 Easy Cake Decorating Techniques in my new online course https://britishgirlbakes.teachable.com/p/50-easy-cake-decorating-techniques-for-any-skill-level/ *My 4 Minute Buttercream recipe https://www.britishgirlbakes.com/recipes/buttercream-frosting/ *READ a written version of this tutorial (with photos!) https://www.britishgirlbakes.com/10-ways-to-make-your-cakes-look-professional *SUBSCRIBE to my channel for a new cake decorating tutorial every week! *SAY HI! Website: https://www.britishgirlbakes.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/britishgirlbakes
View Video Transcript
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A delicious cake with pretty frosting will make people happy, but with these 10 techniques
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I'll show you how to impress everyone with your cakes, from piping details to transferring a
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cake onto a cake stand, using simple tricks, basic tools, and quick techniques. For this first
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one all you need is a piping bag and a star-shaped piping tip, like a 1M, or this is a 2D. Fill
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your piping bag about half full with whatever frosting you're using, and I like to do this
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within a glass to make it neater. Twist the end of the bag to make it a bag to make it a
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it easier to pipe because you won't need as much pressure to squeeze the frosting out
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Hold the piping bag above the cake, starting about an inch in from the edge and pipe a circle
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spiraling upwards to pipe a swirl. If you count the number of circles you make for the swell
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you can replicate that around the cake and every swell will be the same height. At the top
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of each swell I like to push down slightly, then stop squeezing the bag and swipe the
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piping tip up and away and that leaves a nice neat peak on each swirl. These swells are so easy
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easy to pipe and they make the cake much taller, more elegant and more festive
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For a more unique way to add some detail to the top of your cake, use the same star tip
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and hold the piping bag at a diagonal and pipe a circle, but just before the end of the
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circle loop back around to make another circle that overlaps that first one, and continue like
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this to make a border that looks like the lengths of a rope. Using a 2D tip makes the pipe ruffles much softer than using a 1M tip, which will make the texture
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sharper. A rope border isn't as tall as frosting swells, which makes it perfect to use with a
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cake topper because it won block or hide the cake topper Next up stencils These are much easier to use than you might think Tint another color of frosting and buttercream works best for this and you see why in a second What essential for successful stenciling is that the cake has been chilled so the frosting is really firm
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And that way you can press the stencil against the cake without damaging the frosting
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Spread buttercream to cover the whole stencil design and then scrape off the excess to leave a thin, smooth layer over the stencil
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Peel the stencil off and voila! If the warmth of your fingers leaves indents in the frosting, you can smooth the
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with your offset spatchelor now, and after chilling the cake again, you can smooth them even more
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Stensils are even easier on the top of a cake because they lie flat, so you don't have to curve them
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around the cake. Follow the same process of spreading buttercream and then scraping it off and
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smoothing it and then peel the stencil off. You can tidy up any excess bits of frosting with a
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toothpick to make the design neater. Stenciled cakes are so quick and easy, but so beautiful
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Borders around the bottom of the cake are a nice way to soften the base of the cake
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Choose a medium-sized round tip, like this number 12, for the neatest beads
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Hold the tip up against the side of the cake and squeeze the bag to push the frosting out
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letting it bulge slightly before pulling away. This leaves a tail on each bead, which you'll cover up with the next bead
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This finishing touch makes a pretty cake look professional instantly. For a step up from a flat stenciled design on a cake
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use a small round piping tip like a number two or a number three to pipe tiny dots to cover the design
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giving it texture and much more detail. To reduce the strain on your wrist as you're piping hundreds of dots
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make sure the consistency of your buttercream isn't too thick. Otherwise you'll need to squeeze the bag much harder than if the buttercream has a bit more milk in it to thin it out
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You can use whipped cream or meringue buttercream for this technique as well It time consuming so take breaks but the result is definitely worth it Artificial flowers make gorgeous cake in just a few seconds
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Trim the stalks, so they're a few inches long, and cut off any leaves along the stem
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Wash the stem and the bottom petals of the flower, with hot soapy water so they're nice and clean
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and then poke the flowers into the cake. These won't wilt, like natural flowers will, and the stems won't leak floral liquids into your cake
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If you're enjoying these techniques, check out my online cake school for hundreds of cake designs and decorating techniques
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The link is in the top of the screen and in the video description. Add edible flowers by piping them with frosting. You'll need a flower nail and some parchment paper cut into little squares
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and a few colours of frosting in piping bags. Attach a square of parchment to the flower nail with a dot of buttercream
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and then use a petal tip with the narrow end of the tip facing outwards to pipe petals
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spinning the flower nail between your finger and thumb as you work your way around the flower
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Pipe a dot in the middle or a little star. This is a number 18 piping tip by Wilton
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Carefully slide the parchment off the nail and place it on a tray or plate and pipe as many
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flowers as you want for your cake. Try piping two layers of petals and use different colors to
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make the design more interesting. This is a number 104 petal tip but for bigger flowers you could
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use a number 125. Put the tray into the the freezer for five minutes to set the flowers and then lift them up peel them off
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the parchment and press them into your cake. You can pipe leaves with a leaf tip
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a number 352 to act as glue because if the frosting on the cake has set it won't be
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sticky anymore but the freshly piped leaves will be soft and sticky so they secure the flowers in place pipe swirls and rosettes with any star tip like this number 32 tip Arrange just a few flowers on the cake or make them cascade down the side of the cake
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making a plain cake colourful and detailed in just a few minutes
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Adding gold to a cake makes it instantly glamorous, and people will be wowed because
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most don't realise gold can be edible. Buy gold luster dust and add a drop of clear alcohol, like vodka, or a couple, or a colour
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vodka or a clear flavour extract like lemon, mixing it to make a thick liquid that you can
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brush over buttercream after the buttercream sets. I put this cake in the fridge for an
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hour before painting it. The gold accents make this design even more elegant. It works well
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for flowers too. After chilling the cake you can brush this along the edges of petals or onto
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the dots or stars in the middle of flowers, taking this pipe to design to the next level
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A beautiful cake needs beautiful presentation, not a visible corrugated cakeboard. There's an easy solution for this. Wrap a fabric ribbon around the cakeboard and secure it
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with glue. Choose a color that matches the colors of the cake, like this turquoise, to complement
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the presentation. Tadda! Much better. Alternatively, transfer your cake to a cake stand, but without the
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cake board you frosted it on. The trick for this is to chill the cake for at least an hour so it sets
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and then slide an offset spatula or a cake lifter underneath to separate it from the cakeboard
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and lift it up and place it on a cake stand, centering it while the frosting is still cold so you can press it without damaging it
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This looks so much better now. I'm excited for you to make your cakes look more professional
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Tell me in the comments which is your favorite technique or tell me one you'd like to learn
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Thanks for watching
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