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Here are 10 hacks for number cakes. You don't need to buy special moulds or baking pans for these
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just cut a piece of paper so it's the same size as the cake you've baked and draw your number onto
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that piece of paper. Place it on your cake, cut around it with a serrated knife like a bread knife
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and depending on the size of the number cake that you want to make you might choose to cut out one
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number from each cake or fold the piece of paper in half when you're drawing your number and then
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trace that onto the cake twice so that you get two layers out of each cake. Second hack. Attach
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your cake onto your cake board using at least two dots of buttercream frosting which acts like glue
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to attach the cake and hold it in place. This way it won't slip and slide when you're moving it
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around. If your cake does crack or even break apart as you're lowering it onto the cake board
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that buttercream glue will attach it back together and you'll never know that it had broken
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If you want to vary the colours of your filling, for example for a rainbow, mark out the sections
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onto your cake by scoring them with a knife before you start piping and that way you'll make sure
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that each colour of piping is spaced equally on the cake. It's easiest to work with cold cakes
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because they're firmer and less likely to break than at room temperature. I like to wrap cakes
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in cling film or saran wrap and leave them in the fridge for an hour or overnight. Then you can lift
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them to move them onto a cake board or layer them with fillings. If your number has a hole in it
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for example a number four or a six, the easiest way to decorate this cake is to leave that hole
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intact and instead pipe or spread a different colour of frosting over that area so that it's
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clear it's not part of your number. This way the shape will be recognisable but you'll save time
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carving and you won't have to frost any tricky areas of cake. If you struggle to get smooth
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frosting on your cakes, bad news, it's even trickier on a number cake and I'll give you tips for this
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later but for now a quick hack to avoid smooth frosting is to use chocolate to cover your cake
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instead. Cover the cake in a crumb coat first which is just a very thin layer of frosting that
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doesn't need to be perfectly neat and this will make it easier to attach the chocolate next. Melt
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chocolate chips, cut strips of baking paper or parchment paper so that they're as tall as the
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cake and pour the melted chocolate on top, spreading it all over to cover up the paper
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completely. Then slide your hands underneath the paper, lift it up and press it against the sides
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of your cake. Pinch any corners to make sure there's a sharp angle there and you can use a
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cake comb to press the paper against the cake to attach the chocolate. Then put the cake into the
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fridge for about 30 minutes before peeling the paper off. You can top this cake with berries or
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candy or chocolate or flowers or whatever you like. Hack number eight! The easiest way to decorate
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number cakes or any cakes with a theme is to use figures or toys rather than trying to make these
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decorations out of chocolate or fondant. For a racetrack cake, use some toy cars. They're the
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perfect size and after you've washed and dried them they're perfectly safe to put on top of a cake
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Okay smooth frosting, this is the trickiest way to decorate a number cake and for the best results
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it's really important to chill your cake before you start. Cold cake gets much firmer and less
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crumbly than room temperature cake which means chunks won't break off when you spread on the
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frosting and you'll get much fewer crumbs in your frosting. Like with all cakes it's a good idea to
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start with a crumb coat which is a very thin layer to trap any crumbs that do come off the cake and
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then chill this to let it set which takes about 30 minutes in the fridge. Then pipe or spread another
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layer of frosting on top. If there are any holes in your number I really recommend starting with
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those areas because they're the trickiest and you can do this with any cake decorating technique
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that you would do on a round cake. This one is going to be a watercolour design. I like to do the
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top of the cake next to get that nice and smooth and then the sides, making sure that the frosting
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sticks up a little bit above the top edge of the cake which will get you nice sharp angles later
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You can use the side of your offset spatula to smooth the frosting or a cake comb. Make sure you
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wipe the blade after every swipe so that it's clean when you do the next one and that way you
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won't drag any excess buttercream onto your top edge. Final hack! If you want to add any sort of
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toppers onto your cake like chocolates or candies or flowers or sprinkles, the best time to do this
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is immediately after piping or spreading your frosting onto the cake. While the frosting is
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still soft and sticky anything will attach to it but if you wait anywhere between 10 and 30 minutes
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the frosting will set and if you push any toppers onto the frosting they can cause the frosting to
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crack. I hope this has been useful and now you have lots of tips to confidently make a number
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cake! Please click the subscribe button and check out my cake school on britishgirlbakes.com
