Category: Dessert Recipes

Creative Cake Decorating For A Kid’s Birthday

Below are a few birthday cake decorating ideas that will help make your child’s birthday a very memorable occasion.

– Candy Land Cake: Make a standard sheet cake in your child’s favorite flavor, in a rectangular pan. When it is cool, frost it with buttercream frosting in your child’s favorite color. If you can get your hands on a Candy Land game board, you will be able to fashion the cake decorating to resemble the board. You can also go to Candyland.com to see a game board.

The Candy Land game features peppermints, iced gingerbread men, colored gumdrops, licorice sticks, chocolate candies, and circus peanuts. If you can’t find some of these items, You can use construction paper to make them, staple or tape them to a popsicle stick to stand it up in the cake.

– Race car cake: Bake two cakes, one in a loaf cake pan and one in a rectangular pan. Allow the cakes to cool thoroughly. Remove them from the pans, cut the loaf cake in an arch, like the shape of the top of the car. Frost the sheet cake and place the cut loaf cake in the middle, centered to give the cake balance.

Ice the car with a different color icing than you did the cake, red or blue are good racing colors. You should be able to find decorations in the store for this cake. Use your imagination, many times craft stores have some nice decorations. You can either use icing to outline the doors and windows, or string licorice works well for this. Small chocolate doughnuts make a good tires for your race car.

– The Doll Cake: This cake is very popular with young girls who still love to play with dolls. Bake a cake in a metal, oven safe, bowl. When the cake has cooled, turn the cake out, centered, onto a prepared cake board. The widest part of the cake should be on the board.

Use a butter knife to hollow out a spot in the top of the cake for the doll’s legs. Once the doll is inserted, the cake becomes a dress for the doll. Make sure the doll is clean and undressed. Wrap the legs in plastic wrap before placing the doll into the cake, up to her waist. Ice the cake and the top of the doll to make it appear that the doll is fully dressed. You can purchase accents at the supermarket to jazz up the dress.

These cakes are a great idea for children who love different themes, and you have a fondness for cake decorating, These are basic, simple ideas, for a children’s theme party too. You can use the doll cake and have a Barbie theme party, the race car cake to have a Car’s theme party, and of course, you can decorate for the Candy Land party with huge gumdrops and gingerbread men made of construction paper to hang or affix to the walls.

You may also want to include a pinata that goes along with the party theme.

Cake Decorating Themes

Everyone seems to enjoy cakes that are baked at home, it is a wonderful surprise on special occasions. When you are the one bringing the cake, you probably will want the cake decoration to stand out, and look a bit more professional than those you make for your family at home. I have put together a few ideas you may want to try.

Cake Decorating Themes

– Fun and activity: These cakes are full of color and whimsical design. The use of different shapes, Balloons, circles, stars, clouds, and other interesting designs will help to make your cake decorating the talk of the party. With the use of animal crackers, you could make a zoo or farm cake. Your imagination can take you anywhere.

– Say it With Flowers: The use of floral patterns in soft shades, are perfect for cake decorating. The addition of a few green leaves make this type of cake decoration an excellent choice for any special occasion. Flowers are great on wedding cakes, birthday cakes, mothers day cakes, and for other happy celebrations.

– A Little Romance: Romantic cake decorating is perfect for sweethearts day, valentines day, a birthday for a husband or wife, or a wedding anniversary. You can make any color frosting, including the favorite of the person or people you are baking the cake for. You can add hearts, cupids, or anything that will remind the guests what the celebration is about. Use your imagination and make it a little jazzy without going overboard. Just a bit of glitter or candies that sparkle should do the trick.

– “What’s Up Doc”: Younger children (and some that are over 90) love cartoon characters as much as they love cake. This is why it is a great idea to combine both when decorating a cake for the birthday of someone who loves these whimsical critters. You can either draw them in icing and color them in, or use molds and fondant to make the characters. After they are made, they can be colored before they are placed on the cake. So invite Bugs Bunny, Tweety, Taz, Mickey Mouse, Goofy, Garfield, Donald Duck, or any of the many cartoon characters that have stolen our hearts and funny bones, and are doing the same to our children, to the party.

There are some supplies that are essential when you are thinking about cake decorating, these are:

– A professional icing smoother or thin metal spatula. This tool will help you to cover your decorated cake with an even layer of icing, and to make the frosting very smooth so that it can be decorated. This will make the cake look as if a pro did it.

– The use of decoration Molds is a very easy way to make figures and objects to use in cake decorating. You will probably want to start with the basic shapes like circles, squares, or triangles, until you are sure of how to perfect the process. You can move from that to flowers, numbers, and characters. Some molds also have text so you can add a message.

– Icing bags are an absolute essential if you want to do any type of cake decorating. Once you get the hang of it, you will be able to use it as you would an ink pen, except it is held with both hands. One hand is used to apply steady pressure on the upper part of the bag, while the other guides the tip to make the decorations.

– The use of frosting flowers that are already made for you is a less time consuming way to add beauty to your cake decorating.

– Edible glitter and colorful sprinkles are a great way to spruce up your cake decorating design. These small additions could be just the thing to give your cake that finishing touch.

– Edible color sprays are quite easy to use, especially when you are using a template. It can be the difference between a cake decoration that is blah, to one that has everyone complimenting you on your artistic ability.

– You can also print out edible photographs of the graduate, that fish that almost got away, or a wedding photo of the bride and groom, the way they looked when they were married to place on their 50th anniversary cake. The paper these edible images are printed on is also edible, so you can place the whole thing on the cake.

A cake stand will make your creation stand out, especially a glass stand.

Cake Decorating – How To Apply Edible Cake Art

There are many edible cake art images available for cake decorating, that will make your cakes stand alone in excellence. You must follow the directions carefully for best result and ease in application.

Tips to Apply Edible Cake Art:

– Make sure you have clean, dry hands before touching the image. If you are working with a frozen cake, let it thaw a bit before applying the icing. Edible Image(r) cake decorations need a bit of moisture to blend into the icing.

– If the cake is dry, spray it with a light mist of water, brush on light syrup, or add a thin layer of icing before you apply the image so it will stick to the cake. If your cake is moist, don’t add water or moisture to the cake. Too much water will cause the colors to run.

– Once the image is applied, it cannot be removed or moved. Know exactly where you plan to place the image. Using care apply the image to your cake, face up. Once the image has been applied, tap the image down gently with your fingertips. Start from the center of the image and work toward the edges.

– If the image should become moist or hard to remove from the backing, it can be placed in the freezer for a couple of minutes, the image should peel off easily.

– If the image should bubble after it is applied, gently tap and DO NOT RUB the image. If the cake is still frozen after application, it should be placed in the refrigerator to thaw slowly. Avoid exposing the image to ultraviolet light. The image may fade over time, as with any food coloring.

– If the image bubbles during freezing, again you can gently tap the image.

Handling and Storage of the Image

– Edible Image(r) decorations should be stored in the silver bag it came in, and kept in a cool, dry place.

– Make sure to reseal the original bag after you remove an image.

– You will need to use the image immediately after it is removed from the bag.

– Once you have finished decorating with Edible Image(r) decorations. You can store your product as you normally would. The images are freezer, shelf, and refrigerator friendly.

How to apply the Images to other products

– Ice Cream: To apply the image to a cake frosted with ice cream or non-dairy whipped topping, do not add any additional water. If you are applying the image directly on ice cream, you should let the ice cream melt just a bit before application. When you are working with soft serve ice cream, you will get better results if you apply the image while the ice cream is soft and then freeze it.
Buttercream icing

* Apply the image immediately after icing the cake. Buttercream will form a crust about an hour after they have been applied. If this has happened, spray the icing with a fine mist of water before you apply the image.

Frozen Cakes

– Thaw a bit before icing to avoid cracks forming in the cake, then you can apply the image. If the decorated cake is frozen, you will need to let it thaw slowly in the refrigerator, uncovered, so the cake will not sweat and the colors will stay true.

Royal Icing

– Make sure you add a good mist of water over a cake iced with royal icing before you apply the image

Non Dairy Whipped Topping

– When working with this medium, do not add any extra water before you apply the image. Keep the finished cake in the refrigerator to maintain the integrity of the image and the topping.

Rolled Fondant or Sugar Paste

– When placing an image over sugar paste or fondant, plan where you will put the image. With a small paintbrush, apply a good amount of plain water. Brush water only where the image will be. Any water outside the image will leave a mark on the fondant or sugar paste. Although you must be sure to apply enough water, or the image will not stick.

– Edges can be tapped down with a very small, slightly moist paintbrush.

Poured White Chocolate, or other poured icings

– Apply the image while the icing is wet. Be sure your cake is on a flat surface or the image may slide.
Standard Instruction for Application

– Remove the Edible Image(r) from the sheet just prior to application.

– If there are still images in the bag, reseal it immediately.

– Remove the image from the backing sheet by gently placing it on a table edge, (facing up) and rolling the backing sheet over the table edge. This will loosen the image so that it can be carefully peeled from the backing.

Cake Decorating: How About Birthday Cakes For Adults

Cake decorating for adults are a bit different than those you would do for a kids party. It doesn’t mean they need to be boring or ugly. Below are some great ideas for adult cakes that are fun to make and fun to eat.

Crunchie Rice Cake

In 2 square cake pans, make 2 batches of rice cereal treats according to the recipe found on the back of the box of cereal. When they have cooled, do not cut the treats, take them from the pans like they are.

Cover the top of the first layer with icing, and then a layer of chocolate chips, and a second layer of icing, and then a layer of multicolored sprinkles, and a third layer of icing. Place the second layer of the crunchie cake on top and frost the whole thing as you would a normal cake. Place a layer of colored chocolate candy on the top. You can even put the name of the recipient in candy. This is a whimsical cake that can be used for adults or children.

Over the Hill Graveyard Cake

Bake two cake mixes in a roasting pan. Make a gray icing with 2 drops of green and red food coloring and mixing it with white icing. Turn the cake out on a cake board ice the entire cake with this icing. Line a sidewalk with thin black licorice, and dot candy corn along the outside edges. Rectangular cookies can be iced with a darker gray icing. These can be used as gravestones.

You can find gummy skeletons at Halloween, or make your own out of toothpicks and use jelly beans for heads. Ghosts can be made from cotton balls, but you need to make sure no cotton gets in the icing you may want to make some out of construction paper and stick them on a popsicle stick. That might be a good idea for the skeletons too.

Ball and Chain Birthday cake

This is a great idea if commissioned by a husband or wife. Bake two round cakes and let them cool completely. Remove the cakes from the pans. Cover the top of one cake with the recipient’s favorite fruit pie filling. Place the second layer on top and ice the entire cake.

Buy a bag of small cake donuts and frost them the same as you did the cake. On the cake board place one of the doughnuts up against the bottom of the cake. Follow this with several other doughnuts to make a chain. You can add different decorations on the cake, or leave it plain, it’s up to you.

No matter what theme you choose, the cake decorating will be appreciated by the person having the birthday. Make sure you add candles and bring a cake server when you attend the party. Every time you make a cake and decorate it, you are honing your cake decorating skills and the more practice you get, the better you will be at cake decorating.

Cake Decorating Clubs

There is a magic about a beautifully decorated cake at a gathering. Whether it is a birthday cake or a 4 tier wedding cake. A work of art in confection is the centerpiece of any special occasion. While it is a long haul from spreading canned frosting on a sheet cake, to creating a work of art that will stop the show, it is a fun and rewarding experience to travel the road.

There are mentors that can help you to discover the beauty of buttercream, since the new resurgence of interest in cake decorating. There are several cake decorating clubs. One of the oldest cake decorating clubs, The Fremont Frosters, to one of the newest , The Contra Costa Cake and Sugar Society.

The 40 year-old Frosters, have members from Santa Clara to San Leandro, California, share years of experience, tips, and tricks with other members of the club. They gather once a month, they have a website, and a quarterly newsletter called Sweet Graffiti, that is filled with seasonal cake decorating ideas and pictures. Each month a member gives a presentation on cake decorating at the meeting. They find that all levels of cake decorators will learn something from each demonstration.

Once most of the members see how a design or decoration is made, by breaking down the process, they see how simple it is to learn the different artistic techniques. It is easy to see it wasn’t a big mystery after all and can be learned with practice.

Cake decorating classes are more popular than ever. Craft stores are filled with information about classes, and tools for cake decorating. If you are not careful you can spend a great deal of money on tools to help with cake decorating. Starting out, you don’t need to have everything you can get your hands on when it comes to Cake decorating.

All the beginning cake decorator needs are tips to make leaves, borders, and swags, disposable icing bags, and couplings to attach the tips. An icing rule for smoothing the top of a cake is helpful, a paint edger from the local hardware store will work for this.

There were many more cake decorating clubs in the 1960’s when women spent more time in the home, and were able to take up the art of cake baking and decorating. As time went by and most of the women began taking jobs, most of them were disbanded.

Many women are watching new cable TV food shows that are enticing home bakers back into cake decorating and learning European techniques such as using rolled fondant. The interest in cake decorating is huge and growing bigger every day. Enrollment in Wilton cake decorating classes have grown over the past few years.

Many people think cake decorating is easy, because the TV pros, who have been cake decorating for 30 years, make it look that way. They don’t understand that it will take a good deal of practice to be able to get the same result as the pros do.