Cake Decorating Ideal

Cake Decorating Made Easy

Designing your cake is both a fun and creative process. There are so many different types of cake decorations and ways you can make your cake look absolutely stunning and here we'll touch on a few of these methods. The first thing you'll want to do is draw a little diagram of what you want the finished product to look like. Like any work of art, you need to know what you want the finished product to look like before you start. Once you have the design of your ideal cake drawn out on paper, it is time to have a look at the most effective and popular cake decorating ideas.

Chocolate Curls & Caraque

Making chocolate curls is very very easy...and they make a great addition to any chocoholics' dream chocolate mud cake! First you will need a flat board (a glass cutting board would do fine) and tape some baking paper onto it. Smooth over a thin layer of chocolate onto the baking paper and wait for it to cool until the glossy sheen goes away. Then take a metal spatula/scraper and push down and scrape forwards and the chocolate will roll up itself into rolls.

So easy, the only trick now it to make sure you don't eat them all before you're done.

Chocolate Leaves

These look fantastic and go very well with any floral cake designs and you could even use them on cupcakes and many other desserts as well. To start, you'll need to select a real leaf to use. Now the leaves won't end up in the final product but they are used as a mould for the chocolate to set around. Make sure you're careful with your leaf choices and do some research on the safest leaves to use as some are toxic. As a general rule, avoid leaves which have a white juice inside and any ‘hairy' leaves also. Some suggestions are citrus, ivy, blackberry and rose leaves.

Next, melt some solid milk chocolate or chocolate chips until it is thick and runny. Then you'll want to grab your leaf (make sure you've lightly washed and rinsed them first) and using a blunt knife spread the melted chocolate on the back of the leaf. Spread the chocolate as close to the edge of the leaf as possible without letting the chocolate spill over the side of the leaf, otherwise it makes the leaf hard to remove from the chocolate later on. Once you have coated all your leaves, place them on a tray with baking paper and put them in the fridge or freezer to cool down and set.

Once they have set, make sure you're hands are cool and then you'll want to peel the leaf from the chocolate mould. Be sure to remove all traces of the leaf and your hands should be cold so they don't melt the chocolate while you're peeling the leaf off.

And that's it.

Artificial Flowers

Quite common among decorative cakes are the artificial flowers. They are often made with butter cream frosting and can be made in a variety of different styles and colours limited only by your imagination and level of skill. The good news is these are cheap to make and well practise makes perfect, especially in this case. You will need a spatula, rose nail and a piping bag with a rose tip. These are all things you can order online or at your local cooking and home wares retailer. All you need to do is put a blob of frosting in the middle of the rose nail as the base for the flower. The add petals on the side as needed, depending on how big you want the flower to be. These very quickly become very easy to make and fun too!

Themed Designs

Themed cake designs are a wonderful way to make an impression amongst your friends and family. They are special because they suit the occasion like no other cake can, because they were created for and only for that occasion. Often with themed cake designs you won't need too many bells and whistles because the theme itself can almost always be enough of a decoration.

When you choose a cake design you are limited only by your imagination and the more cakes you make, the more skills you will learn to make more adventurous cake designs.

About the Author

Information just like this can help you make cakes perfectly; taking the frustration out of baking. Discover how  you can get access to over 14 high quality videos and more tips & tricks on how to make cakes perfectly every time!

How to Decorate a Cake - Easy Cake Decorating Ideas and Tips