Cake Decorating Ideas

In the world of cake decorating, there is probably no more misunderstood and misused term than “Sugarcraft.”

Is sugarcraft just another word for icing?

Is it a type of cake decoration?

If you troll through the countless threads appearing on cake decorating forums, sugarcraft questions appear frequently.

Quite simply, sugarcraft is an intricate form of cake decorating that utilizes three-dimensional modeling. The art of sugarcraft stands in sharp contrast to more basic styles of decoration.

A basic design often employs a series of icing dots that form an overall pattern, whereas the sugarcraft style takes the extra step of modeling figures onto the cake. Several professional cake decorators compare sugarcraft to the art of sculpting.

Sugarcraft uses a type of icing dough known as rolled fondant. In relation to cake decorating and sugarcraft, fondant is a type of icing that can be used both for covering cakes and for making icing decorations. It is manipulated much in the same way as play-dough.

Sugarcraft decorators will roll fondant into sheets and drape over cakes or cut and shape to make icing decorations such as ribbons, flowers, and bows. Any decent sugarcraft manual worth its weight in icing will suggest preparing fondant in advance and storing it within an airtight container in the refrigerator.

When preparing a rolled fondant for sugarcraft decorating, it is best to avoid using any liquid food coloring. Liquid food coloring can turn fondant into a runny mess, so it is best to use coloring paste.

The learning curve for the sugarcraft decorating style can be steep and frustrating. Unlike the popular “decorate-by-number” style that is built around an easy-to-follow pattern, sugarcraft takes visual guidance and months of practice.

For those serious about learning the art of sugarcraft, established decorators often suggest investing in a step-by-step cake decorating video/DVD or signing up for a class specializing in the sugarcraft method.

Samantha Mitchell, Co-Author
Cake Decorating Made Easy! Vol. 1 & 2
The World’s First Cake Decorating Video Books

To discover the wonderful world of cake decorating, sign up for your free cake decorating video tips at Cake Decorating Made Easy

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Delicious Halloween cakes are easy to make. In fact, you will find many different recipes for Halloween cake that taste great and look scary.

You can turn a simple cake into a Halloween cake by decorating it in a special way, usually with yellow and black frosting. You will find many great Halloween decorating ideas online and offline in recipe books and guidelines.

One of the most popular Halloween cakes is the “Spider Web cake.” You just bake and frost your favorite cupcakes and put them on a plate. Weave a spider web with frosting by using black licorice and your Halloween cupcakes are ready to be served.

Similarly, you can prepare “Vampire” or “Frankenstein” cakes. There are several web sites that provide information about preparing “creepy” cakes.

One should remember that Halloween cakes are relished not merely for their taste but for how they look. This look should be unique. There is no single rule that needs to be followed. One can be innovative and give a unique look to a Halloween cake, but the tradition is that the cake must look creepy. Some fun ideas for Halloween cake decorations are gumdrops lined up like worms, marshmallows with black licorice in the centers to look like spooky eyes and goofy eyes made with marshmallows with raisins for eyeballs.

There are several companies that offer readymade Halloween cakes. Some help you in choose the creepiest cake by providing you with certain images that can be “drawn” on the cake after you purchase it. These cakes can also be ordered online.

Cake provides detailed information on Baby Shower Cake, Birthday Cake, Cake, Cake Decorating and more. Cake is affiliated with Birthday Cards.

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Looking through all the ideas and information about kid birthday cakes on the internet takes lots of your valuable time.

And with your child’s birthday coming up, you don’t have a lot of time to surf all over the internet trying to find a great birthday cake idea.

Ok, but how else are you going to find ideas for a Princess birthday cake or an Elmo birthday cake or a Dora birthday cake that will be just right for your child’s party theme?

Just imagine being able to get those wonderful ideas and lots of information on the birthday cake you’re interested in and having that information sent right to your desk top instantly.

Sound like a good idea?

Kid Birthday Cakes Xpress Cake

Well now you can have information and ideas on the birthday cake your interested in for your child’s birthday party sent instantly to your desk top.

Xpress Cake is fun, fast and very convenient.

With Xpress Cake you no longer have to surf all over the internet hoping to find the ideas and cake decorating information you’re looking for.

You select the type of kid birthday cakes you want to know about for your child’s celebration and Xpress Cake will send you a convenient email with a list of ideas and information for your theme.

Xpress Cake doesn’t bake a cake for you, but Xpress Cake can send you an excellent recipe. And if you don’t have time to bake, Xpress Cake has you covered there too. You’ll discover excellent ideas that will help you easily decorate any cake you want to pick up at your favorite bakery.

Kid Birthday Cakes - Xpress Cake

The internet is a huge library full of information and it can take a lot of time to find what you’re looking for.

So a service that can save you time by sending you the information you want and need is a very good service indeed.

And that’s exactly what Xpress Cake is all about.

So stop spending all your valuable time surfing all over the internet looking for ideas and information to help you put together your child’s birthday cake and take a look at Xpress Cake.

Mike Dougherty has lots of experience putting together successul birthday parties for his children and grandchildren. To learn more about Xpress Cake visit http://fun-kid-birthday-parties.com/kid-birthday-cakes-xpress-cake.html

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mike_Dougherty

Cake decorating ideas don’t have to be complicated and difficult to be great.

Before applying the artistry of your favorite cake decorating ideas, you will most likely need a smooth canvas. Whether you plan to adorn your cake with bouquets of roses or a colorful picture created with stencils and cake spray paint, a nice smooth icing adds professionalism as well as making it easier to decorate.

Two excellent choices for your canvas are buttercream icing and the rolled Marshmallow Fondant from “Cake Decorating Made Easy!”

The fluffy, peaked frostings that most of us use on our first cakes before moving on to smooth icings are great for simple cake decorating ideas. You can make a nice dessert for your family with nothing more than a great cake recipe, a yummy, homemade frosting, and a sprinkling of shaved chocolate, grated coconut, finely chopped nuts, candied red hearts, gumdrops or colorful candied sprinkles.

However, with a smoothly iced cake, you have a blank canvas waiting to be transformed into a work of art with your cake decorating ideas!

Some of the best places for finding great cake decorating ideas are cake decorating forums and cake decorating membership sites where you can glean ideas from hobbyists and pros alike, as well as share your own ideas.

For example, here’s a great cake decorating idea that we found and have since added our own ideas to. That’s another thing about looking at others cake decorating ideas. They spark your imagination and pretty soon you have your own bag of tricks!

Cookie Cutters for Cake Decorating

Here’s how it works. Let’s say you are making a congratulations cake or a baby shower “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” themed cake. Having iced stars on your cake would be perfect, yes?

However, no matter how steady your hand is, it’s pretty difficult to draw stars with a decorating bag (some of us have a hard enough time on paper!). Stencils are one option, but if you don’t want to mess around with stencils, try this cake decorating idea we found:

1. Use a cookie cutter to make a pattern on your cake that’s easy to trace. (This could be one large pattern or several smaller ones forming a balanced design on your cake.)

2. Gently press the cookie cutter into the smooth icing. Lift up, and there’s your pattern waiting to be traced!

3. Then fit your icing bag with a small round tip (like you’d use for writing the message) and trace the outline of each of the stars.

4. Finally, leave as is, or try one of these decorating ideas:

a. Make the stars twinkle with some coloring dust.

b. Fill each star in with icing gel.

c. Create silver stars by filling them in with cake decorating silver beads.

d. Fit your icing bag with the star tip (because it’s the best one for filling in pictures quickly) and color your stars.

The plastic cookie cutters that make the detailed impressions, such as the Christmas Santa, will give you even more of a pattern to play with. A visit to a craft store or baking supply store should yield a large array of cookie cutters from which to choose, including everything from cute baby animals to holiday themes such as Jack o’ lanterns and Santa’s.

Here’s another cake decorating idea: Dark colored cakes that are moist enough not to need icing, such as fruitcakes, can be simply decorated with some confectioners’ (powdered) sugar sprinkled over a stencil (or doily). At Christmas time, try snowflake stencils!

Samantha Mitchell, Co-Author Cake Decorating Made Easy! Vol. 1 & 2 The World’s First Cake Decorating Video Books For more cake decorating tips and ideas along with step by step videos, sign up for our free newsletter at CakeAnswers.com

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Do you want your child’s birthday cake to be special?

Of course you do

But how?

Cake decorating takes time and at least a little artistic talent — unless you know a secret.

The secret to your success

OK, it really isn’t a secret, but it is a SUPER EASY way to turn any birthday cake into a very special cake indeed.

Kid birthday cakes - edible cake art

Edible cake art is colorful, fun and very easy to use. And edible cake art is available for just about every theme.

Edible cake art is — well, it’s edible and so easy to use, but more about how to use your cake decorating “secret” in a moment.

First, let’s look at where you can find edible cake art.

At the end of this article you’ll find a link — Just click the link and you’ll discover lots of kid birthday cakes, ideas and edible cake art. How easy is that?

Once you’ve selected your edible decoration at an online cake supply store, your selection will be sent right to your home — now that’s convenient!

Easy Decorating

Now let’s look at just how to use your special cake decoration.

It’s way easy

First, you can either bake your own cake and frost it, or you can pick up a ready-made, frosted cake at your favorite bakery where they make all those yummy, colorful, fun looking cakes and cookies and oh my.

Be sure and pick up the type of cake your child likes and their favorite frosting too.

Now you simply place your edible cake art flat on your cake. After a while you will notice that the edge of the cake art will blend with your frosting. This makes your cake look very professional.

Just add a happy birthday, and some fun candles and — instant special birthday cake.

Your birthday child is going to love their cake.

Cake decorating can take time and some creative skill — but with your new “secret” you can easily create kid birthday cakes that will have all your neighbors talking about your cakes.

Have fun

Discover a world of creative kid birthday cakes and edible cake toppers at http://fun-kid-birthday-parties.com/kid-birthday-cakes.html

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You don’t have to be an expert cake decorator in order to make fantastic looking birthday cakes. Here are some cake decorating ideas to help you to make your cakes extra special that do not require exceptional cake decorating skills.

First, determine a theme for your cake. If the cake is for an adult, what are the likes, hobbies or interests of the birthday person? For example, if the person likes to fish, make a fishing theme cake. If the person likes to golf, make a golf theme cake. If they like to play the guitar, make a guitar cake.

You could also make the cake theme match their profession as well. For example, for a mail carrier make a mail theme cake or for a carpenter, make a carpenter theme cake.

If you are making a cake for a child, have it match the theme of the party or the child’s favorite character, interest or even sport.

You get the idea, just try to make the cake extra special for the birthday person by making it match their hobbies or interests.

A really easy cake decorating idea for making these theme cakes is to purchase cake toppers that match your theme to place on top of your cake. These come in many different varieties. However, if you happen to want to make a certain theme cake for which you cannot find a cake topper to match, try the miniature section of any hobby or craft store.

For the examples above, you can purchase things such as a miniature fishing rod and net for the fishing cake, a miniature golf bag and golf clubs for the golf theme cake and a miniature guitar for the guitar cake. You can then place them on top of your cake. For a mail theme cake, purchase miniature mail boxes and make little letters out of card stock that you laminate and place them on the top and sides of your cake. For the carpenter theme cake, put miniature saws and other tools on the top of or on the sides of the cake.

These are just a few examples. The ideas really are endless, but hopefully this has helped to get you started thinking of different and unique cake decorating ideas that will make the next cake that you make extra special.

Cristy Smith is co-creator of a birthday cake decorating website that is packed full of creative and fantastic looking cakes and explains how each one was made. Visit http://www.easy-birthday-cakes.com for lots of great cake decorating ideas that adults and children will love.

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One of the best ways to add some life to a party is to have a decorated cake baked specially for the guest of honor. This will really add a personal touch if you choose to use your own cooking skills to turn your own cake decorating ideas into reality.

To make your own decorated cake you will need the raw ingredients and your own cake decorating tools. Because there are so many ways of making cakes using different recipes, ingredients and flavors, we cannot describe them all here. However, to make any cake, you will require basic cooking utensils such as a mixing bowl set, a baking tray, bake even strips, non-stick spray and an oven.

Other cake decorating tools that you should consider buying include non-stick parchment paper and baking strips. To give your cake that professional touch, you should also have a cake leveler to make sure that your cake is perfectly level before you add the decorations.

Decorating a cake can be performed in so many ways, but the most important tools for transforming your cake decorating ideas into reality are a decorating stand, a dessert decorator, some decorating bags for applying icing, and a good set of decorating tips. These can be purchased from your local shopping mall or online from a company like Wilton cake decorating. Used together, there is no limit on what you can create except your imagination. To help you get started in creating your own cake decorating ideas, there are a good many of web sites that are dedicated to the art of decorated cake making.

A good way to choose a theme for a decorated cake is to choose the favorite hobby or interest of the recipient of the cake. If you wish to add a theme to your cake, there are a whole range of theme kits that are available. These range from cartoon characters for kids to racing cars for teenagers. There are also graduation, wedding and party themes for those extra special occasions. Wilton has pans for just about every cake imaginable and you can get their pans on eBay for a good price.