The cake has been baked, built and iced and is now ready for its adornments and embellishments that will turn the confection into a work of art! With creativity and imagination, the possibilities in cake decorating are endless, regardless of your skill level. To make the most of all the tools available, learn their functions and the methods in which to use them to bring your vision to fruition, adding your own personal style to it.
Sprinkles are a fun and simple way to add color and interest to a cake. From non-pareils (tiny, round sugary balls) to jimmies (the more cylindrical miniature candies) to sanding sugars (crystalized), you can vary the amount used on an iced cake for different effects. Drizzle sprinkles lightly over the top or cover the entire surface of the cake for a dramatic display. Some of the most useful and frequently used tools cake artists rely on to embellish their cakes are pastry bags, decorating tips and couplers to pipe designs. Buttercream icing, royal icing and chocolate are most commonly utilized in piping. The buttercream icing will pipe on smoothly directly onto a cake or a cake that is iced or covered (i.e. with fondant), but ensure the mixture is adequately stiff to maintain the composition of the shape. Royal icing is a mixture of confectioners' sugar and egg whites that will dry considerably hard. In general, it should be used to pipe decorations onto fondant-covered cakes, but not those iced with buttercream, as it will begin to absorb the grease and break down. Chocolate can also be utilized in piping, but as opposed to buttercream and royal icing, it must be heated and melted and will harden a lot quicker.
Regardless of the medium you use, piping adornments onto a cake can be done beautifully with the vastly different shapes and sizes available in decorating tips, in conjunction with pastry bags and couplers. Though both reusable and disposable pastry bags are available, determine what works best for you, keeping in mind that any residual that is difficult to wash out might affect your icing the next time you use it. For example, any lingering grease from buttercream will alter and eventually ruin the consistency of royal icing, so using separate bags for each medium is desirable. Once you've decided upon the type of icing and bag, insert the base of the coupler inside the bag, then fold its sides outward to facilitate the process of scooping the icing inside, avoiding as many air bubbles as possible. Add the desired decorating tip to the narrow end of the bag and twist on the ring until it is attached to the base. The beauty of the coupler is that you can easily switch out any decorating tips while still using the same bag of icing. By twisting the wide end of the pastry bag, the icing is pushed toward the tip and you can begin piping by gently squeezing the bag so the optimum amount of icing comes out as you decorate. From lines and ruffles to flowers and leaves to grass and basketweave patterns, all these motifs can be achieved with the appropriate tips, a varied amount of pressure applied to the pastry bag, and the perfect angle. Practicing on a flat board, as well as a vertical surface, mimicking that of a cake, will assist in perfecting your piping skills.
Stencils can also be used on the surface of a cake to transfer patterns. You can use a powder, such as sugar or chocolate, to achieve the markings or it can also be done with buttercream or royal icing. With the stencil directly flattened to the surface of your cake, you can apply the icing over the top and smooth it out with a spatula until the stencil is covered, making sure it does not move at any point. Then, carefully remove the stencil and repeat as necessary until the cake is covered.
Fresh fruits and flowers can be an exquisite garnish to cakes as well. While the use of flowers can enhance a presentation, it is essential that your choice includes edible blossoms and especially ones that have not been sprayed with any poisons or pesticides. Cake decorators must always familiarize themselves with all food safety regulations, inclusive of what flowers can be used on a cake and even those that must be removed prior to serving.
Shaped and sculpted decorations are very popular and prominent on a cake, especially in this modern age when embellished and extravagant cakes are not only dedicated for weddings or massive celebrations, but are widespread for parties and events of all kinds. Figures of people and animals can be sculpted and used as adornments, as well as an abundance of flowers and shapes. Similar to the mediums used to cover a cake, these decorations can be molded out of fondant, modeling chocolate, marzipan or gum paste. Because fondant is so soft and pliable, it is sometimes difficult to shape and requires a bit more stiffness, which can be achieved with the addition of Tylose powder or with the use of gum paste. Gum paste dries harder than fondant and besides figures, is often used to create sugar flowers because it can be rolled out thinly and holds its shape well.
There are many tools that can be used when forming figures and shapes. One of the simplest ways to create silhouettes is with the use of metal and plastic cutters that can be used to punch out the shape from the medium of choice. The cutters can vary from basic geometric shapes, such as circles and squares, to those of leaves and petals, as well as more intricate designs. Another extremely useful tool is a mold made from food-grade silicone. If you are using a material like fondant, you would fill the mold with it, remove the excess from the back, and use your hands and fingers to remove it inversely. If it does not come out easily, a short time in the freezer can aid in its removal. Without a cutter or mold, the next phase would be to mold the desired shape by hand or cut it out with a precision knife.
Fondant and gum paste tools are also essential to adding features, details and depth. From knife, veining and ball tools to modeling sticks and cutting wheels, these gadgets are perfect to accentuate features and add dimension. Additional useful components, especially when creating sugar flowers, are foams to shape petals, stems and drying racks. To imprint a pattern directly onto fondant, embossing mats are also great for adding texture to the design.
Another cake decorating medium is that of isomalt, which is a sugar substitute that, when heated to a high temperature, can be molded to resemble glass and stones. Cake decorators experienced in sugar can pull and mold it into various shapes, such as flowers and ribbons, and even blow sugar spheres to be used for cake decor, creating gorgeous works of art.
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