I'm in my early 60's and smart enough to know that if I took a course at my age, it would take me longer to catch on now than when I was younger. About two years ago, I purchased a paperback book entitled "Cake Decorating For Dummies" and I also bought some cake pans from estate sales. And last but not least I bought a set of decorating tips from eBay.
When I was a young woman I've had a desire to learn cake decorating but didn't have the extra money to spend on supplies or even money to pay for the classes.
So in January 2010 I made up my mind to learn at my own pace. I found numerous cake decorating videos on YouTube. I watched a video on ehow, and just learned how to pipe my very first rose using a flower nail, and I also learned how to do a basket weave.
An advantage of watching the videos is that I can be very selective in choosing my instructor. Use the bottom of a cake pan to practice doing borders and flowers, then scrape off the frosting and refill the pastry bag. I changed the tips and learned each of their functions and what they are used for. I threw the practice frosting in the garbage and I'm now ready to start cake decorating. If I can learn at my age, any one can learn.
By Marjorie from Lewiston, NY
This page contains the following solutions.
We were at a friend's birthday and her mom used this frosting. It looked nice and tasted good.
After you have frosted your cake, use a hair dryer to go over the icing just until it begins to melt. Your cake will have a shiny, professional look.
When you are making a birthday cake and need to do some writing, like a name, etc., try writing it with the original frosting first, if it looks OK then go over it with a different color. It will give the words a 3-D effect as well as make the job easier on you.
I recently made our daughter a red and blue velvet cake for her birthday. The cake was horribly crumbly and I had a really hard time crumb coating it.
This would be great to ice a pumpkin bread, muffins, cakes etc. When making your icing;
When making homemade frosting for a cake, add a pinch of baking soda and the frosting will stay moist and it will prevent cracking. By Brenda Cole
I've decorated cakes for over 25 years and there are a few designs that even a beginner can learn and save money on cake decorating for special occasions.
For an easy way to decorate a cake is get cake icing and a plastic bag (zip lock or sandwich bag). Cut a small hole in the tip of the bag and pour the icing in the bag and push the icing down to the tip of the bag where the hole is.
Check out these photos.
My Grandson, Drake's 3rd birthday. He wanted a "monkey cake." So of course, Grandma had to make sure he got it!
Everyone likes a smooth deliciously sweet whipped frosting on their cakes and cookies. Use the tips for preventing grainy frosting when baking.
Here's an easy gum paste craft for those who like to have mermaid themed parties. This is very simple to make with only three ingredients and a knife as your craft tool.
A quick and easy way to decorate a cake is to use a cookie cutter and add sprinkles inside the shape. This is a page about adding sprinkle hearts to a cake.
Fishing line can be used as a quick easy substitute for a cake cutter. This is a page about use fishing line for cake cutter.
This page contains cake decorating icing recipes. Having the right kind of frosting to decorate with will help you create that special cake.
