STEP-BY-STEP Cake Decorating Pt.4 -- Ritu Buttar

Cake Decorating

I decorated cupcakes for my fourth blog post, using the star tips. I think it turned out okay, but I would definitely stick to regular cakes since you can just do much more on a bigger surface.

"We are no longer afraid to bake, and our creations are becoming more sophisticated and adventurous as time goes on" (Sullivan). As time goes on people are learning how to add their own unique touch on things, exploring what they can do in the world of cake decorating. For this attempt at cake decorating I used Italian meringue buttercream frosting and chocolate ganache.

Ingredients: Italian meringue buttercream

• 5 large free-range pasteurized egg whites
• 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
• 2 1/4 cups unsalted butter, softened
• flavoring, optional

(Sullivan 26)

Ingredients: Chocolate ganache

• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 7 0z (200g) good-quality dark, milk, or white chocolate, broken into pieces

(Sullivan 38)

Directions:

• Put the broken chocolate and heavy cream into a pot.
• Put the pot on the stove and stir over low heat
• Let cool for 1-2 hours before spreading

(Sullivan 38)

First I spread the ganache on the cupcakes and then started piping stars on the cupcake - "Create Individual stars (below) or link them together as a border, using a medium open-star tip" (Sullivan 76). It was really easy to get the hang of piping stars, since the tip is so easy to use.

I also attempted to do the Rosette technique - "Use a medium open star tip to swirl tiny rosettes that can be linked or used individually. I tried to do a really big Rosette in the middle of my cupcake, and it didn't really turn out well. Instead it turned out looking like a swirl.

All in all I think that I'm going to stick to decorating cakes because they are easier to decorate since they have bigger area for decorating.

What are some themes that I could base my decorating on?

Sullivan, Karen. Step-by-step Cake Decorating: Hundreds of Ideas, Techniques, and Projects for Creative Cake Designers. London: DK, 2013. Print.   



STEP-BY-STEP Cake decorating Pt. 3 -- Ritu Buttar

Cake Decorating

For my third blogpost, I decided to switch things up and decorate a Bundt cake. The simple design I made turned out great.

"Some techniques are simple, others require practice" (Sullivan). This book shows the reader how to create easy and simple designs which the reader can master through time and practice. It offers many piping techniques which I found to be very useful in cake decorating. For this blogpost I made Italian meringue buttercream and used it to decorate my cake.

Ingredients

• 5 large free-range pasteurized egg whites
• 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
• 2 1/4 cups unsalted butter, softened
• flavoring, optional

(Sullivan 26)

 

 After I made the buttercream, I warmed it up in the microwave to make it a little thinner and easier to work with. At first I spread buttercream on the inside of the Bundt cake to make sure it was evenly distributed. I then used a star tip to start piping star borders on both the bottom and top of the cake - "Create Individual stars (below) or link them together as a border, using a medium open-star tip" (Sullivan 76).

 

Overall it think this simple design is suited for every occasion and turned out really well. I think that this cake decoration helped me improve on piping, especially with star tips.

 

 

What other piping techniques should I try?

Sullivan, Karen. Step-by-step Cake Decorating: Hundreds of Ideas, Techniques, and Projects for Creative Cake Designers. London: DK, 2013. Print.   



STEP-BY-STEP Cake Decorating Pt. 2 -- Ritu Buttar

Cake Decorating

I decided to use a Christmas theme for my second attempt at decorating a cake. It turned out a lot better than my first try.


"Like all skills, cake decorating can take some time to learn and a little patience to master" (Sullivan). There is always room for improvement because things take time to master. The main goal of these blog posts is to show improvement through time. This blog will be showing people how I used techniques from Sullivan's book, to create my own design. I will be working with buttercream frosting to decorate my cake.


Ingredients

• just over 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 cups confectioner's sugar
• 2 tbsp. heavy cream or milk, plus extra for thinning
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• coloring paste, optional

(Sullivan 24-25)

Labels

If you do not have a piping bag, I showed how to make one out of parchment paper in my last blog.


In my decoration I used the Pulled Bead Border - "Use a medium round tip to pipe beads and then slowly release the pressure as you drag each bead" (Sullivan 77). Piping the border was a lot easier than I expected it to be.

 I also used the Ruffle effect - "Use a medium petal tip, dragging the frosting back on itself and then forward again" (Sullivan 77). This was a little harder and didn't look like ruffles at all, but there's always room for improvement.


Lastly I just added some of my own decorative snowflakes to complete the cake and add some sort of Christmas theme to it.

 

 

Overall I think my cake turned out good, and looked a lot better than my first attempt at cake decorating. I will keep trying to improve my cake decorating abilities, so it will soon look great.


What could I improve on my decorations?
Sullivan, Karen. Step-by-step Cake Decorating: Hundreds of Ideas, Techniques, and Projects for Creative Cake Designers. London: DK, 2013. Print.