Thursday, March 12, 2009

Easy Basics On Baking A Cake Like A Pro

By Jane Heartford

Professional cakes are not just for big money on extra-special occasions. You can learn simple cake decorating ideas that you can do yourself to make even an regular old boxed cake mix amazing. With a few simple tips and tactics and the simple cake decorating ideas in this article, you'll be able to make a Professional cake yourself at home.

Simple Cake Decorating Tips

For a simply beautiful way to cook a cake, spray your frosted cake with quality powdered sugar. Try using a stencil for a themed or geometrical pattern for the top of the cake. Remember making snowflakes of paper as a kid? Make one to fit the top of your cake and use it as a great stencil for a different powdered sugar pattern.

If you want a more detailed, 3 dimensional patterns, you can buy ready-to-use decorations and toppers for cakes in just about any theme you can think of. Candy designs and letters and numbers, sprinkles in unique shapes, and even small toys can be used to top your cake. For an especially yummy look, sprinkle the cake with nuts, coconut, nuts or shavings of chocolate. Or use fruit that is fresh, like a simple ring of slices of kiwi or an elaborate pattern of a few kinds of fruits. For a different style, disign only the sides of the cake and leave the top smooth, or surround your simply frosted cake with fresh flowers or fruit.

Frosting The Cake

Most of the time, you'll want to start with spreading the frosting over all of the cake. To get a nice smooth surface, make sure the cake is cooled and that youre frosting overly thick. When the frosting is thinner it will spread more easily and end up with a smoother finish. First, put a very thin layer of the frosting all over the cake. The baking term for this is the crumb coat, and it will keep crumbs from getting mixed in with the frosting that you'll see on the finished product. At this point, you can refrigerate the cake to set the crumb coat and make it easier to apply the top coat.

Next, use a frosting utensil to put on the second coat of frosting. Start with a large amount of frosting in the middle of the top of the cake and spread it toward the edges. When the top of the cake is completely covered, cover the sides of the cake. To smooth the sides, hold the utensil straight up and down and hold the edge against the cake as you spin the plate. For the best look, try to get the frosting as smooth as possible all over cake. At the top of the cake you are preparing, hold the spatula in the horizontal position. And for the sides, hold it in the upright position. Dipping the spatula in hot water and drying it before spreading across the frosting for best results.

Getting smooth, even frosting on your cakes is probably the hardest part of cake decorating. Practice these tactics until you can get smooth frosting that looks perfect, and you might find that you don't even need anything else for an awesome, proffesional looking cake. You Can Master These Simple Cake Decorating Ideas

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