Cake Decorating Ideas Techniques and Instructions

Making cake decorations, whether sugar flowers or some other form of elaborate decoration can be great fun, and with a little help (and the right tools) is easier than you might think. The first step is however to have some ideas of how to decorate your cake.

Cake Decorating Ideas

The number of ways you can decorate a cake is only limited by your imagination (and to a certain extent the sugar craft tools you have to hand). Not all them actually involve creating sugarcraft "items", for instance you can "paint" a cake using either liquid or paste colours and runout or paste can be painted on. You can also use an airbrush for decorating on the cake surface, marzipan fruits, flowers and leaves using cake colours.

Where Can I Get Some Ideas on Cake Decoration?

These days there are a large number of books on cake decoration, not to mention the many Websites around the World, but whatever you wish to achieve you will probably need some help and instruction in the techniques of sugarcraft decoration and trimming.

Novelty Cake Decoration

Novelty cakes are becoming more and more trendy these days, with parents being kept busy with their offspring’s demands for more complex ideas. A Madeira mix is the best to use in most cases. A thin layer of buttercream first will contain the crumbs when applying the covering paste on top

How to Make Sugar Craft Flowers

When making sugar craft flowers aim to make them look as natural as possible. Here are a few tips:-

Keep the edges of any flower petals as thin as possible
When using cutters, soften the edges after cutting
When making roses and similar flowers, start with a bud shape and add petals around this base
Always make just a few petals at a time as otherwise if they dry it makes it harder to achieve the whole flower.

Remember, most flowers have many petals of approximately the same size, it makes sense to buy a tool that makes the marking and cutting of the paste accurately to achieve the whole flower. Sugar Craft Flowers have to be dried properly to keep their shape to enable you to have a result to be proud of.

It is essential to dry your sugar craft flowers after you have made them. Keep away from humid conditions.

Different Ideas on Cake Decoration

Sugarpaste is a very versatile and can be used for "bas relief", "Garrett frills", "Smocking", "Marquetry", "Drapes" Flower paste for flower and leaf production. With these versatile products to hand and equipped with the right tools, you can create virtually anything you like.

Sugar Craft Trimming

The old saying, “ a workman is only as good as his tools” is so very true when it comes to sugar craft. A good set of cutters is really a must, as is a sponge to help curve flowers and leaf shapes you are making.

Trimming Sugar Paste into Ribbons

Another great tool is the “Ribbon Cutter”; this enables you to trim flower paste into realistic looking ribbon lengths and accurate widths for ribbon insertion work.