Cake Decorating Ideas

Cake decorating ideas are only limited by your imagination. With the proper tools and a bit of time, you can learn to decorate a cake as well as a professional. It's a great hobby, and can even turn into a job or a homebased business.

Amazon has some great cake decorating resources to get you started.

It's helpful to know the main terms used, so I've included a few here for you to reference.

Buttercream: A rich icing made with either butter or shortening. It's all-purpose and easy to use.

Decorating Bags: Bags you fill with icing to "pipe" borders, flowers, etc.

Decorating Tips: You use these with the bag so that when you squeeze out the icing, it comes out in various shapes.

Fondant: A sugar paste that can be rolled into smooth sheets. You use it to give the cake a smooth finish.

Gumpaste: A maleable dough used to make ribbons and lacework, as well as other decorations.

Marzipan: Often used underneath the fondant, or for making decorations. Marzipan is essentially almond paste.

Piping: A technique where you squeeze the icing from a decorating bag to form dots and ribbons.

There are certainly more terms you need to know, all of which can be learned from one of these books.

So, get your materials together, fire up the oven, and start baking! With a little experimenting, you can begin to decorate cakes like a pro.

One more great thing about cake decorating--even if your effort is a flop, it still tastes great!