Tips For Cake Decorating For Beginners

Let Your Cake Cool

It’s also essential to let your cake cool before you start frosting. Warm icing is hard to work with, and it will melt any decorations you try to add. To prevent this, we recommend spreading a thin layer of frosting over your whole cake and freezing it for 10-15 minutes. This is called a crumb coat and it will catch any loose crumbs so that when you apply the actual buttercream, your cake won’t have ugly smears on the sides.

Spread Thin Layers

Start by using a pastry brush to remove any stray crumbs. Next, prepare a crumb coat – a thin coating of frosting that seals in the crumbs so they don’t show through your final layer of icing. Take half a cup of your desired frosting medium and thin it out with some water or milk so it’s easy to spread. Use an offset spatula to apply the thin coat of frosting all over the surface of the cake. When you’re done, refrigerate the cake until set.

Let It Set

When decorating a cake, it’s important to let the frosting set. This helps keep the decorations from falling off the cake and makes it easier to smooth out any bumps or blemishes.

If your cake has a domed top, use a serrated knife to gently saw it flat before stacking the layers. Once the cakes are stacked, apply a thin layer of buttercream using your offset spatula to lock in the crumbs.