Cake Icing and decorating – A beginners guide

Cakes have a long history of being the chosen dessert for ceremonial occasions such as weddings, anniversaries and birthdays. Over time the ingredients and technology used to make cakes has improved and today cakes can be an art piece in their own right. Celebrities and their cakes in particular have become eagerly anticipated and often ever more daring in design.

Practice make perfect

To become a great cake decorator takes a lot of time, effort, mistakes and practice. Do not expect your first attempt at decorating a cake to be a complete success. You might even find it a complete disaster. So to get a feel for the art of decorating a cake with a piping bag, the key piece of equipment needed, perhaps using one to make cookies on baking foil is a good place to start. You want something small and flat that will allow you to get comfortable to the feel of bag and pressure of the frosting.

The piping bag

Once you have bought a piping bag and tip, drop the tip into the bag and push it down as afar as it will go. You should notice some of the tip extending past the opening of the bag. Next you need to fill up the bag. Up-end the bag so that the tip is pointing down and open the bag as wide as you are able. Using a spatula, fill the bag approximately one-half to two-thirds full of icing.

Once you've filled the bag, twist or fold the top of the bag closed so that the icing can only escape through the tip. Holding the top closed with one hand, use your thumb on one side of the bag, and your forefinger on the other side of the bag to push the icing down into the bottom. Keep smoothing the icing down until all air pockets are removed and icing starts to come smoothly out of the tip.

The decorating

Now that you are comfortable with the different shapes you can make you can actually move on to decorating a cake with confidence. You will always want a smooth surface to decorate. The easiest way I feel to do this is to first, remove the cake out of the pan.

Using the pan as a guide will ensure that you maintain a consistent height to your cake as you cut off the top. Additionally, when you frost the cake make it as smooth and flat as possible. One final warning: do not decorate too close to the edge or the side as it will fall if it is too heavy.

Now that you have done this you could well be asking yourself, "This is nice but still nothing like I see on the internet."

The reason for this is because they most often use different equipment and cover their cake in fondant for that glossy, coloured finish.

Fondant is a thick and creamy, white sugar mass used in different forms for decorating cakes and cookies.  It can be rolled and draped over a cake, poured as a glaze or sculpted. It is easily dyed so that you can cover your entire cake with a smooth consistent colour. Fondant can also be used to make different designs and shapes to put on your cake.