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Cake Decorating Made Easy! Vol. 1 1

Cake Decorating Made Easy!

Volume I A Beginning & Intermediate Guide to

Baking & Decorating Incredible Cakes

by Samantha Mitchell & Michael Prudhomme


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Table of Contents Volume I

Introduction: Welcome to the Wonderful World of Cake! 8

Chapter 1: Tools of the Trade _______________________ 10

Allow me to introduce … your Oven! ___________________ 10

Equipment & Supplies ______________________________ 11

Mixers __________________________________________ 12

The Baking Pan ___________________________________ 13

So What’s a Baker to Buy? __________________________ 16

General Equipment ________________________________ 17

Chapter 2 : The Set Up_____________________________ 22

The Baking Forecast _______________________________ 22

High-altitude Baking Adjustments _____________________ 22

Measurement 101 _________________________________ 23

Special Measurements _____________________________ 25

Metric Conversion Chart ____________________________ 26

1234 Ingredients __________________________________ 26

Flour ___________________________________________ 27

Sugar ___________________________________________ 27

Shortening _______________________________________ 28

Eggs ___________________________________________ 28

Chapter 3: Bake That Cake!_________________________ 29

Choosing the Pan _________________________________ 29

The Baker’s Party Chart ____________________________ 30

Pan Preparation __________________________________ 32


Professional Baker’s Grease _________________________ 33

Baking Aids ______________________________________ 33

“Evenly-Baked, Level Cakes” VIDEO __________________ 34

I’m All Mixed Up ___________________________________ 34

Get Crackin’ ____________________________________ 34

Batter Up! _______________________________________ 36

It’s Baking Time! __________________________________ 36

Is it Done yet? _____________________________________ 37

The Cool Down ___________________________________ 37

The Release _____________________________________ 38

Chapter 4: The Recipe Box _________________________ 39

Boxed Cakes _____________________________________ 39

Scratch Cakes ____________________________________ 40

Angel Food Cake _________________________________ 40

Apple Butter Cake _________________________________ 41

Banana Bread ____________________________________ 41

Basic Applesauce Cake ____________________________ 42

Carrot and Walnut Cake ____________________________ 42

Chocolate Sheet Cake _____________________________ 43

Classic White Cake ________________________________ 44

Coffee Crunch Cake ________________________________ 44

Cream Cheese Pound Cake _________________________ 45

Delicious Pineapple Cake ___________________________ 46

Easy Yellow Cake _________________________________ 46

Healthy Honey and Oat Cake ________________________ 47

Homemade Pumpkin Cake __________________________ 47


Lemon Loaf ______________________________________ 48

Red Velvet Cake __________________________________ 49

Sophie’s Chocolate Cake ___________________________ 49

Strawberry Cheesecake ____________________________ 50

Chapter 5: The Prep Room__________________________ 51

Leveling _________________________________________ 51

Trimming ________________________________________ 52

Torting __________________________________________ 52

“Leveling & Torting” VIDEO ___________________________ 52

Layer Cakes ______________________________________ 52

“Filling Your Cake” VIDEO ___________________________ 53

Rolled Cakes _____________________________________ 53

Types of Filling ___________________________________ 53

Banana Cream Filling ______________________________ 54

Coconut Cream Filling ______________________________ 55

Chocolate Whipped Cream Filling _____________________ 55

Lemon Filling _____________________________________ 56

Pastry Cream Filling _______________________________ 56

Strawberry Cream ________________________________ 57

Stabilized Whipped Cream __________________________ 57

Chapter 6: Icing ♪ ♫ ♪ ____________________________ 58 Glazing _________________________________________ 58

Almond Glaze ____________________________________ 58

Buttermilk Glaze ___________________________________ 59

Chocolate Glaze __________________________________ 59


Confectioners’ Sugar Glaze _________________________ 59

Honey Glaze _____________________________________ 60

Lemon Glaze _____________________________________ 60

Sour Cream Glaze _________________________________ 60

Crumb Coating ___________________________________ 60

“Crumb Coat” VIDEO ______________________________ 61

Frosting vs Icing __________________________________ 61

Icing Control _____________________________________ 62

The Spatula Method _______________________________ 62

“Icing The Cake” VIDEO ____________________________ 62

Paper Towel Method _______________________________ 63

“Perfectly Smooth Icing” VIDEO ______________________ 63

The Frostings ____________________________________ 63

7-Minute Frosting _________________________________ 63

Chocolate Frosting ________________________________ 64

Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting _____________________ 64

Peppermint Frosting _______________________________ 64

Strawberry Buttercream Frosting _____________________ 65

The Icings _______________________________________ 65

Buttercream Icing _________________________________ 65

“Mixing Buttercream 1” VIDEO _______________________ 66

“Mixing Buttercream 2” VIDEO _______________________ 66

Chocolate Buttercream Icing _________________________ 66

Chocolate Ganache ________________________________ 67

Cream Cheese Icing _______________________________ 68

Royal Icing ______________________________________ 68

“Mixing Royal Icing” VIDEO _________________________ 68


“Royal Icing Tools” VIDEO __________________________ 68

Chapter 7: Cake Decorating Made Easy______________ 69

Easy Decorating Ideas _____________________________ 69

Easy Decorating Techniques _________________________ 71

Decorating Equipment ______________________________ 71

Icing Bags _______________________________________ 71

“Pastry Bag” VIDEO _______________________________ 72

Decorating Tips ___________________________________ 72

Decorating Supplies _______________________________ 75

Food Coloring ____________________________________ 75

The Color Forecast ________________________________ 76

Mixing Icing Colors ________________________________ 77

The Pied Piper ___________________________________ 78

“Rosette” VIDEO __________________________________ 79

“Bead” VIDEO ____________________________________ 79

“Rope” VIDEO ____________________________________ 80

“Shell” VIDEO ____________________________________ 80

“Reverse Shell” VIDEO _____________________________ 80

“Triple Shell” VIDEO _______________________________ 80

“Zigzag” VIDEO ___________________________________ 80

“Leaves” VIDEO ___________________________________ 81

Variations ________________________________________ 81

“Drop Flowers” VIDEO ______________________________ 81

Cake Writing ______________________________________ 81

A Baker’s Dozen Worth of Tips ______________________ 82


Welcome to the Wonderful World of Cake!

You are about to read your way through the World’s First Cake Decorating Video Books! For the first time ever, you’ll be able to read and see how it’s done! This two-volume set brings the basics of baking out of the cookbooks, off the Internet and into your own kitchen, right where they belong. Enjoy the show!

For generations, learning how to bake was a common rite of passage, but with the advent of modern technology and the convenience of superstores, many of us have never had the need or the opportunity to discover the wonderful joys and unique pleasures of baking at home. Here’s your chance! Maybe you’re an enthusiastic teenager or twenty-something college student out on your own for the first time and you’d like to learn how to bake and decorate your own cakes as a hobby or to save money. Great! This book’s for you! Maybe you’re a thirty, forty, or fifty-something and you’re feeling funny about your inexperience in the kitchen and you’ve been trying to teach yourself on the sly because at this point in your life, you think you should know all this stuff. Perfect! This book’s for you! Or maybe you’re a sixty+ someone who already knows many of the basics but is looking to brush up on the latest skills and learn some new tips, maybe to create birthday cakes that will enchant the grandkids or delight the bridge club. Wonderful! This book’s for you, too! Cake baking and decorating appeals to many different people for all sorts of reasons. Whether you’re browsing through this book as a baker, homemaker, mother, father, grandparent, artist, student, or entrepreneur, you’re here to learn something new. And we’re here to help! Baking is simply a friendly (and tasty!) form of household science. You’ll need a little math (measuring) and chemistry (mixing and heating ingredients to transform their structure) to see you through the cake baking procedure. Cake baking and decorating bring together arts and sciences into one craft that will require you to wear many different hats.


Once the cake is baked, you’ll need to don your engineer’s construction hardhat to perfectly release, level, trim and assemble your cake into a well-formed and well-balanced base. Next you’ll need the cap of a fine craftsman and plasterer to ice your cake perfectly smooth. And lastly, you’ll need the artist’s beret and a good dose of creativity to design the signature artwork that will complete your mouth-watering masterpiece! Taking all this into account, baking a cake and decorating it can be daunting. Maybe you see or know yourself to be more skilled in one area than another. Maybe the baking is easy for you, but coming up with decorating ideas and then making them workable isn’t so easy. Or maybe manipulating fondant into shape and piping perfectly symmetrical borders is no problem, but making an evenly baked cake seems beyond possible. No matter what your level of expertise or where your talents lie, these books will help bridge any gaps and provide easy solutions to ensure successful and satisfying results every time! The first book covers the basics of baking and will help you set up your kitchen with all the essential equipment, as well as teach you how to properly measure, prepare and mix your ingredients. You will learn how to bake, level, fill, and ice a cake until it is perfectly smooth and then finish it off with classic decorating techniques that will make even your very first cake look polished and professional. The second book teaches several more advanced decorating techniques with an emphasis on developing artwork and craftsmanship. You will learn about mixing colors, piping borders, making flowers (not as hard as it looks!), covering a cake with fondant, working with gum paste and creating character/novelty cakes. Included throughout both books are several links to video clips, which provide easy to follow step-by-step instructions that demonstrate some of the latest and greatest baking and decorating techniques. Even if the last cake you baked all on your own was a mini chocolate cake in your Easy Bake oven, or the last icing you used came from a grocery store can, you will be amazed at what you can accomplish with quality ingredients and a little savoir-faire. Add a dash of dedication and a pinch of patience and these two books will help bring you from a no-skills novice to a master cake maker in no time! You are definitely in for a treat. Enjoy the journey!


Chapter 1 – THE TOOLS OF THE TRADE

In this chapter, we’ll look at the essential tools and equipment required to set up your kitchen for baking homemade cakes. We’ll cover everything from ovens to measuring spoons in order to acquaint you with the necessary, as well as the nice-to-have, hardware and accessories that will make measuring, mixing, baking and decorating your cakes easy and enjoyable.

Now allow me to introduce ... your Oven!

When we look back, way, way back, to the ancient Egyptians, they baked their breads and cakes in clay ovens that were heated with coal or wood. The Romans used tile ovens or raised brick hearths over an open fire. Ovens gradually made an entrance into the home in the 1500s, but then only for the wealthiest of people. It wasn’t until the late 1800s and early

1900s that ovens in the home became commonplace, and even then, they were mainly heated with wood or coal and came in one temperature ... HOT! It’s only relatively recently that we have control over the temperature of our ovens by simply pushing a button or turning a knob. But just how accurate is your oven? Whether you’re lucky enough to be working with a brand new, high-end professional Viking oven or not so lucky to be working with the artifact that was included with your apartment rent, and whether it’s gas or electric, you might take for granted that if you have set the thermostat for 350 degrees, then your oven is in fact heated to 350 degrees. But that’s not necessarily the case. Without getting too technical or going into the engineering of ovens here, you need to know how hot your oven bakes. Just like your ancestors who spent some time observing their little clay and tile ovens to figure out how many sticks of wood or lumps of coal they needed to add to bake their bread or boil their soup, you need to spend some time observing your oven too. Thankfully, in this day and age, this observation doesn’t take very long, 90 minutes to be exact. The easiest and most reliable way to find out the accuracy of your oven is with an inexpensive oven thermometer. These are widely available at grocery and hardware stores and typically cost between $10 and $25. To perform this little test, place the thermometer on the middle rack in the center of the oven and leave it for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Record the temperature


registered on the oven thermometer. Repeat this exercise two more times, then add the three figures together, divide the total by three and you’ll have the average temperature of your oven. Here’s how your notes might look:

1st

reading 327 degrees

2nd

reading 333 degrees

3rd

reading 330 degrees 327 + 333 + 330 = 990 / 3 = 330 degrees For this oven then, you would set the temperature 20 degrees higher to 370 degrees to reach an actual temperature of 350 degrees. Easy enough, no? If your little experiment proves that your oven either bakes ‘hot,’ slightly hotter, or ‘cold,’ slightly cooler than the temperature you have set, this is very important information to have. You will now know that you need to either increase or decrease your settings to heat your oven to the perfect baking temperature. If the experiment shows that your oven is dead on, congratulations! You’ve got yourself a real winner! And if you’re working with an older model of electric oven, you need to keep in mind that typically, older ovens take longer to heat up and bake. You’ll need to allow for enough time for the oven to properly preheat before the cake is inserted and bake your cakes for a few minutes longer. In any case, be sure to keep your oven thermometer handy to do a spot check every so often just to be safe!

Equipment & Supplies

It can be a little mind boggling trying to pick out the essential equipment from the useless gadgets that are all neatly arranged in kitchen departments and stores with their rows upon rows of mixers, baking pans, mixing bowls, cake racks, sieves, measuring cups, measuring spoons, knives, spatulas, whisks and brushes.


To help you sift out (pardon the pun) the essentials from the incidentals, we have provided a complete list of basic equipment and supplies that will stock your kitchen with all that you need and none of what you don’t.

Mixers

For creating fluffy egg whites, smooth cake batter and creamy icing, you’ll need some type of mixer. You have two basic options, either a handheld mixer or a stand mixer.

Hand Mixers

A hand mixer is considerably less expensive than a stand mixer and will be able to handle all your cake baking and decorating needs. This is a MUST buy. There are special circumstances when only a hand mixer will do, such as beating over a double boiler. The bonus feature of the hand mixer is that it gives your arms a quick workout! You will find many reliable models on the market, but don’t be tempted to buy one of the cheaper brands under $25, unless you don’t mind buying a new one every few months when the motor wears out. Here’s a list of reliable hand mixers with motors that can handle any thick, gooey, stiff batter or icing that you throw at them.

• Braun Multi Mix 4-in-1 M880 – For just $45, you can enjoy an excellent hand mixer that is powerful and easy to use. Best of all, this hand mixer comes with the ability to transform from a mixer to a small cutter simply by changing attachments.

• Kitchen Aid KHM5TB – For around $60, this five-speed hand mixer is a favorite, performing as well as nine-speed mixers and offering both dough hook and beaters. Includes the Kitchen Aid warranty.

• Kitchen Aid Professional KHM9P – For just $60, this hand mixer provides a digital display, easy cleanup, and the traditional beaters, along with whisk attachment.

• Kitchen Ultra Power Plus KHM7T – Priced around $70, this hand mixer comes in a variety of colors, is powerful yet quiet, controlled, and compact.


Stand Mixer

A stand mixer is a countertop appliance that makes mixing easy and convenient since it leaves your hands free to work on other tasks. No workout bonus here. The stand mixer will do all your work for you! While you prepare your pans or wash your dishes, your stand mixer will steadily beat your 22-minute frosting. This luxury item will definitely make your baking life easier, but unless you make a great number of cakes or are planning to open a cake business, you can save yourself this expense and work solely with the handheld mixer. Again there are many models to choose from ranging in price from about $40 to $300 or more. The heavy price tag will buy you extra beating, folding, whipping, and kneading features, as well as a durable motor typically covered by a guarantee. Here’s a list of well-recommended brands and models:

• Hamilton Beach 63221 – For about $170, this is an eye-catching stand mixer with solid construction. With 400 watts of power and 12 speeds, this mixer can handle just about any cake-baking project.

• Kitchen Aid Artisan – This stand mixer costs about $250 but is worth every dime. Available in 22 unique colors, this mixer comes with a bowl with handle, flat beater, dough hook, and wire whisk attachments, as well as a splatter guard and pouring chute.

• Kitchen Aid Professional 600 – Although a little pricier at $370, this stand mixer is designed without a tilting head. Instead, the bowl cinches up to its position. Complete with a 6-quart capacity bowl and 600 watts of power, this stand walker is a beautiful addition to any kitchen. The Baking Pan

Baking pans come in all shapes and sizes, and can be made from aluminum, stainless steel, glass or soft silicone. With all these variations, it can be somewhat intimidating trying to figure out which pan is the right one to buy.


To help guide you through the selection process, here is a list of the basic pan shapes you’ll need to get started on your new cake-making venture.

Round Pan

You will need at least two 8-inch or 9-inch round cake pans that are 11/2 - 2 inches high. These two sizes of round pans are considered standard size and are most often used to make layer cakes. For some recipes, you will bake two separate layers and simply stack them to make a double layer cake. Other times you will slice each layer in two and make a four-layer torte. In any case, they are a cake baking essential!

Square Pan The square cake pan is as essential as its round cousin. You will need two 8-inch or 9-inch square pans, 1 1/2 - 2 inches high. This size square pan is as versatile as the round pan for making anything from simple single cakes to impressive quadruple layer cakes, not to mention date squares and brownies.

Rectangle Pan

The rectangle pan, also known as the sheet cake pan, is indispensable for whipping up a quick and easy family dessert or for making enough cake to feed a small army of cake-crazy kids at a birthday party. The standard sized sheet cake pan is 9 x 13 x 2-inches.

Jellyroll Pan

This pan is essential if you intend to make fancy rolled cakes such as the Swiss Roll and Büche de Noél (Christmas Log). These pans come in several different sizes, but the most popular is 10 x 15 x 1-inch.


Loaf Pan The loaf pan is used to make loaves! Which means you’ll be using it to make pound cakes, lemon loaves and quick breads such as banana bread or zucchini bread. These too come in a couple of different sizes with 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 1/2-inch and 9 x 5 x 3-inch being the two most popular sizes. Whichever size you choose, you should buy two of them since some recipes yield enough batter to fill two pans.

Muffin Tin Muffin tins aren’t just for muffins they’re also the pans to use to make cupcakes. The standard muffin tin measures 3 inches across each cup. Again you should have two muffin tins on hand since some recipes make enough batter to fill 24 cups.

Tube Pan The tube pan, or Angel Food Cake pan, has a high side walled hollow cylinder in the middle and flat, often removable bottom. This pan is primarily used for making angel food, chiffon, sponge and pound cakes.

Bundt Pan A cake decorating genius invented the Bundt pan. Don’t know who that was, but they were ingenious! The Bundt pan has a decorative pattern already worked into the shape and therefore requires minimal decoration after the fact for a beautiful finish. Typically used to bake heavy cakes such as fruitcakes and pound cakes, this pan will make any beginner look like a pro! One 12-cup pan will meet your baking needs, but you just might want two or three different patterns for a change in style.

Spring form Pan Spring form pans are round and deep with a removable sand are designed for making cheesecakes and other desserts that can’t be turned upside down for removal. To release your cake or dessert, you simply unlatch the spring remove your cake or dessert with the bottom plate intact.


Specialty Cake Pan

Now we get fancy! Specialty cake pans, like heart or holiday pans, have patterns and shapes already worked into the pan. These are especially popular with kids and are an easy way to make a colorful and fun cake to delight the birthday boy or girl and impress the neighbors. Specialty pans come in hundreds of shapes, from numbers and letters, to animals and vehicles, and even include many of the popular TV and movie cartoon (and computer generated!) characters. To save money and cupboard space, these can be rented from cake supply stores.

Extra Essentials

To complete your beginner’s package of bake ware, you could consider purchasing a 9-inch glass (Pyrex) pie plate and a couple of either 12 x 14-inch or 14 x 16-inch cookie sheets. Once you master cake baking, you just might want to spread your wings and try your hand at pies and cookies!

So what’s a baker to buy? When you’re out shopping for your new collection of pans, you’ll soon notice that there are many options available when it comes to pan materials. You’ll see aluminum, stainless steel, coated, non-coated, in-sulated, non-insulated, dark, shiny, glass and sili-cone to name a few.

What a pan is made of can significantly affect the baking time and temperature. It all comes down to the fact that different materials conduct heat differently. Glass bake ware and dark pans conduct heat more than light colored pans and you’ll need to lower your baking temperature by 25 degrees F.

To narrow down your choice then, here’s some shopping advice: DO buy shiny good quality aluminum pans.

DO buy glass (Pyrex) pie plates.

DO buy good quality stainless steel pans (although you’ll pay a LOT more for these)


OK to buy dark colored or glass pans (as long as you remember to lower your baking temperature)

OK to buy coated non-stick pans (you’ll still need to grease and flour your pan for most recipes to ensure your cake releases properly)

OK to buy silicone (rubber-like) pans. New to the baking scene, they are great for evenly baking cakes. They might twist and you might shout, but they’ll make sure that your cake comes out!

AVOID buying flimsy aluminum and other metal pans. Flimsy pans often warp and bake unevenly. What you save in money you’ll pay for in frustration.

General Equipment

Mixing Bowls

Unless space is at a premium, you can never have too many mixing bowls. You’ll need a small collection of different sized mixing bowls to mix your cake batters, fillings and icings. If you’re working with a stand mixer, you’ll mainly be using the accompanying bowl, but you’ll still need other bowls. You have the choice of using stainless steel, glass or ceramic bowls. Typically, stainless steel bowls are used for mixing batter, fillings and icing, while glass bowls are used for either preparing and holding measured ingredients or mixing icing colors. Ceramic bowls are generally reserved for making bread dough. But no matter the type of bowls, as long as they’re of the right size – large enough to hold several cups of batter or small enough not to ‘lose’ one beaten egg, they’ll work just fine. If you’re starting totally from scratch and need to purchase mixing bowls, you should look to buy one set of graduated stainless steel bowls and a set of smaller glass bowls. That’s it, that’s all.

Sifter & Sieve A sifter (as shown at right) is a large can with a mesh bottom and hand-operated mechanism best suited for sifting fine dry ingredients, such as flour and confectioners’ sugar. (And, yes, sifting does make a difference!)

A sieve is a wire mesh bowl-shaped utensil used for sifting, straining or puréeing ingredients. The sieve, being the more versatile of the two, is a must have. The sifter is optional.


Measuring Cups

Maybe grandma was a whiz at casually estimating and measuring by eye, but today’s baker should not be so quick to dismiss the necessity and dependability of an accurate measuring cup, one that has been calibrated to measure exactly one cup or 250 ml or 8 ounces of ingredient. The number one reason that cakes and icings turn out poorly is inaccurate measuring. Not only do you need different sizes of measuring cups, you also need two different types; liquid and dry measuring cups.

Liquid Measuring Cups

Liquid measuring cups are for measuring exactly that – liquids, such as water, milk, cream, oil, beaten eggs, molasses, or honey to name a few. They come in stainless steel, ceramic, plastic and glass, but glass (Pyrex) is by far the best choice. The clear glass makes it easy to read and accurately measure your liquids and, if heating is needed, a

glass or Pyrex measuring cup is easily microwavable.

You could make your measuring life easier by purchasing a nesting set of graduated sizes from one to five cups, but you really only need the standard graduated one-cup size.

Dry Measuring Cups

Dry measuring cups are used to measure your dry and solid ingredients such as flour, sugar, grains, nuts, and chocolate chips as well as any solid fats such as butter, lard or vegetable shortening. They come in stainless steel, plastic and also glass. This time, the choice is all yours! Standard sized sets of graduated

cups include the 1/4, 1/3, 1/2, 3/4 and 1-cup sizes.

Measuring spoons Measuring spoons are needed for measuring small amounts of either liquid or dry ingredients, such as salt, baking powder, baking soda, milk, oil, shortening, butter, the list goes on!

Measuring spoons are usually sold as stainless steel or plastic, either of which will work fine. They come as a set


of nesting spoons including a tablespoon, teaspoon, 1/2 teaspoon, 1/4 teaspoon and sometimes a 1/8 teaspoon.

Scale

The scale is the master of measurement. No matter how little or how much you need of your dry or solid ingredients, the scale will measure out exactly what you need and not one coconut flake or chocolate chip more.

Mixing Spoons

A mixing spoon can be any spoon that has a large enough bowl and long enough handle to comfortably be able to stir or fold in ingredients. A set of wooden spoons in graduated bowl sizes and handle lengths will be most useful. In many cases, you’ll be using a regular old teaspoon (to mix icing colors) or your favorite soup spoon (to stir melted chocolate).

Balloon Whisk

The balloon whisk is a series of wire (or nylon) loops attached to a handle and is the tool of choice for whipping eggs and incorporating meringues and other fluffy mixtures into batters and sauces.

Spatulas

Spatulas come in many different shapes and sizes each designed to perform specific duties. The two types of spatulas most useful for the purposes of baking and decorating cakes are rubber spatulas and metal icing spatulas.

For mixing up cake batters, fillings and icings, you’ll need a good flexible rubber or silicone spatula to scrape the insides of your mixing bowls clean and to squeegee every last bit of batter into your baking pans.

For spreading and smoothing icing like a pro, you’ll also need a set of straight, tapered and angled metal spatulas.


Cake Leveler

The cake leveler would be the equivalent to the carpenter’s level and is indispensable when it comes to slicing perfectly even layers or leveling off for a perfectly flat cake top. You can manage well enough with a long bladed knife for smaller cakes, but for larger cakes, the cake leveler is a symmetrical layers.

Wire Cake Racks

Wire racks are used to support hot-from-the-oven cakes while they cool. They have little ‘feet’ on them that raise the cake off the countertop to allow the air to circulate freely over, around and under the cake.

Baking Paper

You’ll need a roll of either parchment or waxed paper for various baking tasks. Baking paper is used to catch and transfer sifted dry ingredients, line baking pans, separate cake layers and cover your working surface.

Cake boards or plates

You’ll also need some sort of board or plate as a base for your cake.

Commercial cake boards are generally made from either plastic or cardboard and can be purchased at most baking supply and craft stores. Plain boards are used for supporting the cake while being worked on and making it easier to move from different work surfaces and then onto the serving platter or plate.

To serve a standard-sized round cake, everyday dinner plates work well enough, but if you’re making square or larger shaped cakes, you’ll need a fancy board in a slightly larger size and shape to serve or display the cake. A beginning cake decorator's best-kept secret is an elegant footed cake plate in either glass or ceramic. A beautiful cake plate can make the plainest of cakes look spectacular.


Turntable

A turntable doesn’t quite qualify as a cake decorating necessity, but it sure makes the job a whole lot easier to manage. Once your cake (supported by a cake board) is set in place, you can easily rotate and tilt to smooth icing and pipe expert details with ease.

Oven Mitts

This recommendation is made for all of you who are in the habit of grabbing whichever dishtowel happens to be handy to retrieve hot pans from the oven. The prudent cake baker invests in a pair of reliable oven mitts, such as the new silicone variety, to save their helpless hands from being singed when the dishtowel slips. No baker wants his or her hard work to crack apart when the pan is suddenly sent crashing onto the counter. So save a finger--and a cake or two—by choosing a good quality, well-lined pair of gloves!

Apron

Obviously not an essential, but just like the fancy cake plates, wearing an apron makes any beginner look and feel like a pro! They also serve the legitimate purpose of saving your favorite shirt from being stained with food coloring or other indelible foodstuffs. And that’s it! Hopefully you already own most of the items on this list. If not and you’re starting from scratch, you might want to buy your equipment at restaurant supply shops or pick according to what you absolutely need to make a certain recipe. That way you can slowly accumulate the whole collection without blowing your budget!


Chapter 2 - THE SET UP

Now that you have all your baking equipment and supplies in order, it’s time to put them to good use! The first step in baking a cake is reading through your recipe to familiarize yourself with the instructions and picking out which equipment and ingredients you’ll be using. Once you’ve set out the mixer, beaters, bowls, spoons, spatulas, measuring cups and spoons, and the ingredients - the order that they are to be mixed - baking becomes a simple assembly job.

The Baking Forecast

If you’ve had trouble with collapsing Angel or sponge cakes in the past, you may be relieved to discover that it wasn’t your fault. It may seem strange, but where you live can greatly affect your chances of baking a successful cake! If you live anywhere in the world at an altitude higher than 3500 feet above sea level, the air pressure is lower which means liquids evaporate at a faster rate. The effects of this rapid liquid evaporation will play havoc with cakes that depend on the expansion of steam trapped in the dough for their rising, unless you take some precautions.

Predicting the “baking forecast” is a little like predicting the weather, and sometimes just as accurate! Recipes generally provide both a baking time and temperature, but depending on your particular oven, which size and type of pan(s) you use, and where you live, you may need to adjust both time and temperature to properly bake your cake. If you know or find out that you live high above the clouds, there are a few standard adjustments that you’ll need to make to each recipe to increase your chances of success.

High Altitude Baking Adjustments

• Increase the oven temperature by 25¼F • Reduce baking time by a few minutes to prevent over baking • Fill pans 1/3 to 1/2 full to avoid batter overflow • Generously grease and flour cake pans to prevent cake from sticking

• Reduce baking powder or soda by 1/2..


This may seem a tad complicated, but just like getting to know your oven, you’ll soon know everything there is to know about high-altitude baking if you live at the top of the world or close to it. So if you’ve ever had a cake fail for seemingly no reason at all, Get Google Earth http://earth.google.com/ and find out your elevation!

For more detailed information on high-altitude baking, visit http://www.csuextstore.com/store/pc/home.asp.

Measurement 101 Now that you know where you are in the world and you’ve set up your equipment and assembled your ingredients, it’s time to measure! You can either measure out all the ingredients in advance, placing them in separate bowls, (as shown in this picture) or you can measure as you go. Either method works fine; the choice is totally up to you! Just be sure to measure correctly using the proper utensils, dry measures for dry and liquid measuring cups for liquids. Measuring spoons are used for small amounts of either liquid or dry ingredients. Improper measuring is a sure-fire way to sabotage your efforts!

Dry Ingredients

For fine and powdered dry ingredients such as flours, sugars (except brown sugar) and starches, and cocoa, you’ll use a technique called the ‘spoon and sweep.’ (This is the technique we all loved to help our mothers with when we were little.)

Simply put, the flour is spooned or scooped into the measuring cup to over full, and then with the flat backside edge of a butter knife, the excess is swept off to give you a perfectly level cup of flour. To make sure there are no air pockets trapped under the flour, gently tap the cup on the countertop to release the air before ‘sweeping.’

Flakes & Crumbs To measure flaky and crumbly ingredients such as shredded or flaked coconut, oats, and bread crumbs, you’ll spoon or scoop until just over full and then lightly pack down to a level cup.

http://earth.google.com/

http://www.csuextstore.com/store/pc/home.asp


Nuts & Bits Nuts are rarely used whole in recipes (except as a garnish) and generally require a little preparation before being measured. Your recipe will specify coarsely chopped, finely chopped, or ground nuts. Pay attention! If your recipe calls for 1 cup of finely chopped nuts, that would mean you would finely chop the nuts and measure out one cup. If, on the other hand, your recipe calls for 1-cup nuts, finely chopped, you would measure out one cup of nuts and then chop them to bits.

To measure nuts and other bits such as chocolate or butterscotch chips,

spoon or scoop to fill the measuring cup and brush it off to level.

Solid Ingredients Most solid fats, such as butter, are sold in 16 oz or 454 g packages, which are marked with measurement lines representing different measurements. Choose the line that matches the required measurement and make a straight clear cut through the product. You can also accurately measure some solids (such as peanut butter, lard and vegetable shortenings) by packing them into a (dry) measuring cup and then leveling smooth with the flat edge of a knife. Use a spoon or small rubber spatula to scoop it out into your mixing bowl.

Liquid Ingredients To measure liquid ingredients, which include water, juice, and the entire milk family, you’ll use your clear glass Pyrex measuring cup. Place the cup on a flat, level surface and pour to the required level. To properly read your measurement, read the cup at eye level looking at the bottom line of the meniscus--the thick surface line of the liquid.

Syrups & Such

For the in-between gang of ingredients (thick liquids and thin solids) such as syrups, honey, molasses, yogurt, sour cream, liquid eggs and fruit purées, use the liquid measuring cup, fill to the desired line, and scoop out with a rubber spatula.


Mini Measurements Although spooned measurements might be small, they are mighty! Most spooned ingredients – baking powder, baking soda, salt, cream of tartar and spices, are very powerful agents and inaccurate measuring even by the tiniest amount can throw off either the taste or consistency of your cake. Now that we’ve scared you into being careful … measuring with spoons is actually easy! For liquid ingredients, pour to fill the spoon to level. For dry ingredients, use a mini-version of the ‘scoop and sweep’ method outlined above.

Special Measurements Every so often you’ll come across a recipe that uses strange instructions like ‘heaping’ and ‘dollop.’ Refer to the following chart if any directions leave you wondering what to do.

Measurement Description

Dollop Scoop a heaping spoonful. For a small dollop, use a teaspoon; large dollop, use a tablespoon.

Firmly Packed Place the ingredient in a measuring cup, then press down tightly, compacting the ingredient.

Heaping Pile on as much as possible onto a measuring spoon or measuring cup.

Level or Even

Level off the top with a flat spatula or the back edge of a knife to make it even with the top of the measuring cup.

Lightly Packed

Place the ingredient in a measuring cup, and then with a spoon or spatula, gently press the ingredient down.

Pinch or Dash Measure 1/6 of a teaspoon.

Rounded

Measure to just over full leaving a rounded, rather than flat, top.


Metric Measurements The experts at [email protected] frequently receive requests to convert cups to grams or ml, teaspoon and tablespoons to ml, and ounces to grams. For all our British, Canadian, European, Indian and Australian readers who submitted their questions, this chart is for you!

Standard Metric Conversion Chart

Volume

1/4 teaspoon 1.25 ml

1/2 teaspoon 2.5 ml

3/4 teaspoon 3.75

1 teaspoon 5 ml

1 tablespoon 15 ml

1/4 cup 62.5 ml

1/2 cup 125 ml

3/4 cup 187.5 ml

1 cup 250 ml

Weight

1 ounce 28.4 g

8 ounces 227.5 g

16 ounces 455 g

1-2-3-4 Ingredients

The 1-2-3-4 Cake first appeared in the 18th

century at a time when many people were illiterate. To simplify the baking process for the masses, cake



recipes were organized into four main ingredients - one cup of butter, two cups sugar, three cups flour, and four eggs.

These basic four ingredients – flour, sugar, butter (shortening) and eggs—continue to dominate the cake scene but now come in so many different varieties that special attention must be taken to ensure a good outcome.

Flour Generally a cake recipe will specify the type of flour to be used but even then, it’s not always so easy to decide which brand to use. There are several types of flour on the market, but they’re not all created equal! Flour can be made from many different grains, nuts and even certain root vegetables. The main difference among baking flours is the amount of gluten they contain. Bread flour contains a relatively high amount of gluten, which makes for more ‘elastic’ and chewy breads. Pastry flour is best for making pastries, piecrusts and biscuits. Cake flour contains the least amount of gluten and produces light, tender cakes. For the purposes of the cake recipes found in this book, you need to familiarize yourself with just three flours: All-purpose, Cake and Self-rising.

• All-purpose flour – is an equal mix of cake and bread flours. All-purpose flour comes either bleached or non-bleached, either of which work fine in cake batters. This is also known as plain flour and would be the type to use when your recipe simply lists ‘flour.’

• Cake flour – has the least amount of gluten of all wheat flours and contains soft, high starch wheat, making it the best choice for light, fluffy cakes such as angel food and sponge cakes.

• Self-rising flour – is an all-purpose flour to which a leavening agent has been added in the form of baking powder and salt. Self-rising flour is generally available at grocery stores in the baking aisle, but if not, you can mix your own at home.

To substitute for one cup of cake flour, mix one cup of all-purpose flour + 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder + 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Sugar There are dozens of types of sugar from regular granulated sugar to liquid invert sugar. But for the purposes of baking the recipes in these books,


and most other recipe books as well, you’ll be using one of three types of sugar: Granulated, Brown, or Confectioners’.

• Granulated sugar – is the all-purpose sugar of the sugar family and

the most commonly used in baking. Also known as white sugar, this is the one to use when a recipe calls for either ‘sugar’ or ‘white sugar.’

• Brown sugar – is sometimes referred to as Golden Yellow sugar and is

incompletely refined white sugar that still retains some molasses. Adding molasses to fully refined white sugar is the same thing. It has a distinctive flavor (due to the molasses) and tastes great in spice or fruitcakes, but does not work as a substitute for white sugar in lighter cakes.

• Confectioners’ sugar – is also known as icing sugar or powdered

sugar and is a finely ground white sugar containing a little starch or other anti-packing ingredient. It is perfectly suited for mixing smooth icings and glazes.

Shortening Technically, shortening is the solid form of an edible fat such as butter, margarine, lard or vegetable shortening. Again, all shortenings are not created equal and besides taste, they all have different melting points, which means they behave and perform differently when heated and baked. Always use the exact shortening specified in your recipe. If your recipe simply lists 'shortening,' use a vegetable shortening found in the baking aisle of your grocery store, such as Crisco. Whichever type of shortening is being used, it should be set out for about 30 minutes before using to soften to room temperature.

Eggs

Unless otherwise specified by your recipe, eggs should always be used at room temperature. Simply set out the number of eggs needed on the countertop (make sure they don’t roll!) or in a bowl, for about 20 minutes before using.

Eggs are sold in four different sizes: small, medium, large and extra (or very) large. Again, unless otherwise specified in your recipe, always use large eggs. There is no difference baking-wise between white-shelled or brown-shelled eggs. As long as you have the right size, either brown or white will work fine in any recipe!


Chapter 3 - BAKE THAT CAKE!

In this next chapter, we will walk you through the entire procedure of baking a perfect cake, from preparing your pans to serving your edible masterpiece. Begin by preheating the oven to the temperature specified in the recipe, while measuring and mixing your ingredients. To preheat your oven, set the temperature and allow the oven to heat up for about 15 minutes before baking. Most ovens have a preheat setting which will beep when the oven has reached the desired temperature.

Choosing the Pan Choosing which pan to use can be as easy as reading your recipe which will, more often than not, provide you with both the shape and size of pan. But what pan do you use when that information isn’t provided? Or which pan do you use if you don’t own the recommended pan(s)? The following chart will provide you with everything you ever wanted to know about pans, and then some! It provides batter amounts, average baking times and temperatures, the number of servings, and icing amounts for the different shapes and sizes of pans. The charts below show baking information and serving amounts for 2-inch pans. The figures are based on a 2-layer or 4-inch high cake. The serving amounts are based on party-sized portions which are generally cut to give a 2 x 1 1/2 inch (or 3-inch square) piece of cake. The charts also provide metric conversions (a popular request at www.CakesMadeEasy.com!) for pan size and batter and icing amounts, as well as Fahrenheit/Celsius and gas number conversions. May you be spared many hours of research and guesswork to convert your recipes into the baking language of your choice!

http://www.cakesmadeeasy.com/


The Baker’s Party Cake Chart 2-inch deep pans, unless otherwise specified


Pan Preparation

Next, set out the cake pan(s) suggested in the recipe. If you don’t have the exact size specified, or you would prefer a different shaped cake, consult the chart of alternative cake pans. If you’re using glass pans or dark colored non-stick baking pans rather than shiny aluminum or stainless steel pans, reduce the oven temperature by 25 degrees. Before pouring your batter into your baking pan(s), check your recipe to see if it specifies either greased or non-greased pans. If by chance your recipe makes no such specification, you’re to assume that the pan(s) should be greased and floured. Greasing and flouring the cake pan(s) is important as it keeps the cake from sticking. A little grease goes a long way and will keep the cake from burning and allow it to release easily once baked and cooled.

Greasing

There are two common and very easy methods for greasing a baking pan.

• Spray the inside bottom and sides of the pan with a light coating of non-stick spray. Be careful not to spray too much!

• Or dip a paper towel or waxed paper into solid shortening such as Crisco and then wipe the inside bottom and sides of the pan until they are lightly coated.

Flouring

Flouring a cake pan is easy to do and plays an important role in baking a perfect cake by ensuring a cake will release easily from the pan. For light-colored cakes, such as white, yellow, lemon or strawberry, use regular all-purpose white flour. But if you are baking a chocolate, devil’s food, or dark-colored cake, use cocoa powder, which won’t affect the appearance of the bottom of the cake. In both situations, the following directions would apply:

• Sprinkle flour or cocoa powder into the pan, lightly and evenly.

• Then lift the pan, tilting it from one side to the other and tapping the sides to move the flour around to coat the grease evenly.


• Finally, tilt the pan over the sink and tap out any excess flour or cocoa powder to avoid caking or crusting on the bottom of the cake.

Professional Baker’s Grease

Here we share one of the best-guarded secrets of the pros: Professional Baker’s Grease. Once this secret gets out, cakes all around the world will be slipping and sliding right out of their pans! To make a batch of this highly prized grease, mix together equal parts flour, vegetable shortening and vegetable oil. The recipe looks like this: Professional Baker’s Grease 1 cup vegetable shortening 1-cup vegetable oil 1-cup flour Cream shortening and add vegetable oil and flour. Mix until well blended. You will have a bowl of greasy paste, which you’ll use to grease your pans. This grease works especially well for greasing ‘difficult’ pans such as Bundt and shaped pans with deep crevices and indentations. Try it you’ll like it!

Baking Aids

Baking aids come in a few different forms, some more conventional than others. Heating cores and flower nails should only be used when baking larger cakes, with their smallest diameter 10 inches or larger. Baking strips can (and should!) be used for any sized cake.

• Heating Core – This is a cone-shaped metal cylinder that is used to help distribute the heat evenly to the middle of the cake. To use a heating core, grease it inside and out and place it upright standing on its narrow end in the center of the pan and fill it level to the cake batter. When your baked cake has cooled, remove the heating core and repair the hole left behind with the plug of cake from inside the heating core.

• Flower Nail – For a less intrusive aid, try using a flower nail. A flower nail is just that, a nail used to make piped icing flowers. But somewhere in time, some baker had the ingenious idea of


using a flower nail (which is generally made out of metal) to help bake their cake. Generously grease a flower nail and stand it on its head in the center of your baking pan. Once your baked cake has cooled, invert your cake and simply remove the nail. There won’t be any hole left behind to plug and your cake will be perfectly baked through and through.

• Baking Strips – These are useful fashion accessories for the modern baking pan. Every fashion-conscious pan wants one! Baking strips approach the problem of heat distribution from a different angle. These are pre-moistened belts that are wrapped around the cake pan while the cake bakes. The extra moisture and cooling effect of the strips evens heat distribution and helps your cake bake evenly. Say b-bye to burnt or crisp cake edges!

For easy step-by-step instructions and a quick demonstration of these magical tools, Click here for the “Evenly-Baked, Level Cakes” VIDEO

(available in the purchased version) .

I’m All Mixed Up

Once your pans are greased, floured and set to go, you’re ready to start mixing! Closely follow your cake recipe, mixing the ingredients exactly as directed. If you pay close enough attention, you should end up with a nice creamy smooth batter ready to be poured into your baking pan(s). There are in fact some recipes that produce thick and lumpy batters, but they would be the exception, not the rule. You should be going for smooth and

creamy unless otherwise stated in your recipe.

Get Crackin’!

Working with eggs can be a little tricky until you learn a few simple techniques. Practice the following common

egg preparations and you’ll soon be an eggspert:

to the act of separating the egg yolk from the egg white. Eggs are often separated because the egg yolk and egg whites have different properties. Egg yolks contain fat and work great as thickeners in custards and fillings. The fat in egg yolks prevents the foaming of egg whites and that’s why egg


whites are beaten separately to allow them to reach their full foaming potential.

To separate the egg, tap the middle of the egg sharply against a hard surface. Hold the egg over the bowl to contain the egg whites, and gently pull apart the eggshell. Tip the egg so the egg yolk settles in one half of the shell. Then gently tip the egg yolk back and forth between the two halves until all of the egg white has dripped into the bowl.

Or you can use an actual egg separator that has a small cup with narrow slits, which allows the egg whites to drip through, but hangs on to the egg yolk. Be careful not to break the egg yolk and accidentally have some drop into the egg whites. One little drop could prevent your egg whites from foaming. To avoid this from happening, drop the egg whites one at a time into a cup or small bowl and then transfer them to the mixing bowl. Place the egg yolk in a separate bowl or, if not being used in the same recipe, in a covered container and keep in the refrigerator for later use.

Slightly beaten – beat egg yolks and whites together with a fork or whisk

until the egg yolks and egg whites are evenly blended.

Well-beaten – beat egg yolks and whites together with either a whisk or

mixer until they are light, frothy and evenly colored.

Soft peaks – describes egg whites that have been beaten until gentle

peaks form and fold over when the beater is lifted.

Stiff peaks – beat egg whites with a mixer (or whisk, but that’s a LOT of

hard work!) just until straight peaks form when the beater is lifted.

Lemon colored – refers to the color of egg yolks beaten at high speed with a

mixer until they turn a light yellow and form ribbons when the beater is lifted.

Gently folded – refers to the action of gently incorporating beaten egg

whites into other mixtures. Whether your recipe specifies it or not, folding is always a gentle action. You are trying to combine fluffy whites with heavier mixtures and you don’t want to lose the air you’ve managed to beat into the egg whites. It’s best to pour the beaten egg whites on to the heavier mixture and then with either a spoon or rubber spatula, gradually incorporate the two with a downward, across, up and over motion. Continue folding until no streaks remain.

Mixing Methods


Other common terms used in recipes refer to specific methods of mixing. You need to pay close attention to which term your recipe uses because the success of your cake depends on it!

Beat - To stir vigorously with a spoon, whisk or mixer.

Blend - To mix two or more ingredients to produce a uniform and smooth

mixture.

Combine - To mix two or more ingredients together.

Cream - To beat softened butter and/or shortening and/or sugar with

electric mixer to produce a smooth and creamy, or light and fluffy, mixture.

Fold - (The most difficult method to master and that’s why we mention it

twice!) To gently, focus on the gently, mix one ingredient fluffy mixture into another with a spoon or spatula using a circular down (to the bottom of the bowl), across, up and over movement. The idea is to combine the two ingredients without deflating the fluffy mixture. Folding is most often used to incorporate beaten egg whites into the cake batter or whipped cream into a filling or mousse.

Stir - To mix with a spoon using a circular motion.

Whip - To beat with a mixer at high speed to increase volume until frothy or stiff.

Whisk - To use a whisk to beat with a whipping motion to add volume.

Batter Up! Once you’re done separating eggs, beating, creaming, folding and whipping, you’ll have yourself a bowl full of batter. Carefully pour the cake batter into the middle of the pan. Then tilt the pan slightly so the batter spreads out evenly. If the batter is thick and does not spread easily, take a regular butter knife or spatula and move it along the top of the batter to smooth it out evenly over the entire surface of the pan.

If you notice any air bubbles on the surface of the cake, you’ll want to get rid of them. Gently knock out the air bubbles by lifting the pan off the counter an inch or so and gently dropping it back down. You may need to do this several times before all of the air bubbles are popped.

It’s Baking Time!


Unless your recipe states otherwise, you’ll want to bake your cake on the center rack of your oven. If you have more than one cake to bake at a time, be sure they don’t touch either each other or the oven walls. For even baking you need proper circulation of heat and air around each pan. Because different ovens tend to bake differently, you should check the doneness of your cake five to eight minutes prior to the time listed in the recipe. In other words, if the recipe gives a baking time of 28 to 32 minutes, check for doneness after 23 minutes. If your cake is done, remove it; if not, return it to the oven and set the timer for an additional two to four minutes.

Is It Done Yet? Here’s how to test the doneness of your cake: Gently poke a toothpick straight down through the center to the bottom of the cake. Pull it out and examine closely. What do you see?

• If any wet and gooey cake has stuck to the toothpick, then the cake is not done. Return it to the oven for an additional two to four minutes, re-testing for doneness after the added minutes have lapsed.

• If the toothpick comes out clean, or with tiny dry and crumbly cake bits attached, your cake is done! Remove it from the oven and place on wire rack to cool evenly without cracking.

The Cool Down

After the cake is removed from the oven, it is IMPERATIVE that your cake cool down before you begin icing and/or decorating it. (Unless you have baked a quick bread or pound cake that takes a warm syrup or glaze to seal the top crust.) For every other kind of cake, allow the cake to cool before icing it. The reason? A hot cake will melt the icing and absorb it like your best sponge. You’ll end up with one gooey mess! Place your cake(s), still in its pan(s), on wire cake racks to allow the air to circulate under, over and around your cake. The yummy aroma may tempt you to speed up the decorating. Resist! Trying to remove a warm or hot cake from its pan will only result in


frustration. Your cake will crumble or fall apart. You must allow enough time for your cake to completely cool. The time it takes for a cake to cool will vary depending on the size and type of cake pan used. Most cakes need a minimum of 30 minutes to cool down. Your cake is completely cool when both the top of the cake and the bottom of the pan are cool to the touch.

The Release

Removing a cake from its pan without damaging it is one of the trickier steps in baking a perfect cake. Here’s a general procedure, which should ensure a quick and easy release. If by chance some of the cake sticks to the pan, don’t despair! You can easily patch your cake back together and once assembled, filled and iced, no one will ever notice. Begin the big release by carefully running a butter knife around the edges of the pan taking care not to cut into the edges of the cake. Next place a platter of some sort (a regular dinner plate works well for round pans) upside down on top of the cake pan. Now hold the platter securely in place while you quickly and carefully flip both platter and pan together so that the plate ends up on the bottom. Gently tap and wiggle the cake pan to help loosen the edges and then slowly lift the pan off the cake. If it seems that the cake is stuck to the pan, you can return the whole thing to a warm oven (300 degrees) for 2-3 minutes and then repeat the above procedure. The warmth will have melted the grease allowing the cake to slip right out of the pan. For cakes meant to remain in their pans (sheet cakes or dessert squares), you won’t have any releasing troubles to deal with, but you’ll still need to make sure your cake has completely cooled before you begin icing it. To test the temperature of the cake, gently touch the top of the cake as well as the bottom of the pan. If the bottom of the cake pan is still warm to the touch, the cake is still too warm. When both cake and pan are cool to the touch, your cake is ready to be iced! Congratulations! You’ve just made (maybe your very first?) Perfectly Baked Cake!


Chapter 4 – THE RECIPE BOX

In this chapter, we provide several easy-to-follow cake recipes for you to try your hand at actually making a cake rather than just reading about it. Once you have mastered your first cake, you’ll have the confidence to bake a second, and then even a third! With each cake baked, you’ll gain more and

more confidence in your ability and you’ll soon be ready to step outside of the box and move on to other more challenging recipes. Keep in mind that starting out takes a lot of time and even more patience. When you make a mistake (and you will), chalk it up as a lesson well learned and move on to the next recipe. The bigger the mistake, the better the lesson! Most importantly, have fun! Cakes are central to many celebrations and if you aren’t having fun, you’re missing the whole point. If you find yourself getting frustrated, you may be moving a little too fast or you’re a little too critical of yourself and your newfound skills. Be kind to yourself and choose your recipes wisely. You’ll be making yourself proud and delighting others in no time!

Boxed Cakes

Without a doubt, a homemade cake made from scratch is a whole lot tastier than a cake made from a boxed mix. But when you’re first testing out your new baking skills, a boxed cake is a great choice for a starter cake. They provide an easy introduction into the world of baking, reducing both the amount of kitchen time as well as the amount of stress on the baker (that would be you). The box contains a package of all the dry ingredients, pre-measured and pre-sifted. All you need to do is add the wet ingredients – the eggs, water or milk, and some oil, mix them all together and voilå! A half-homemade cake batter ready to pour! Even some of the more seasoned pros are known to use boxed cakes in a pinch. Boxed cakes are always great for saving time no matter how experienced you are in the kitchen! If you do decide to start out using a boxed cake, any of the more popular brand names will do. Duncan Hines and Betty Crocker are both reliable


brands that make a wide selection of cake mixes to choose from. So the next time you’re out doing the groceries, take a walk up the baking aisle and toss a boxed cake into your cart!

Scratch Cakes

As you become more and more comfortable with your new-found baking skills, you can move on to slightly more difficult recipes. The following recipes have been chosen because they are easy to follow and require minimal icing to make them table ready. Pick one and have fun!

Angel Food Cake

12 egg whites, room temperature

1 1/8 cups sifted cake flour

1 3/4 cups sugar, divided

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 scant teaspoon almond extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Do NOT grease pan.

Sift flour once before measuring. Then sift flour and 3/4 cup sugar together 5 times.

Put egg whites and salt into large mixing bowl. Beat until foamy. Add cream of tartar and continue beating until stiff, about 2 1/2 to 3 minutes. Do not over-beat until dry. Gradually sprinkle in 1 cup sugar while beating on medium speed. Beat only until sugar is blended, about 1 1/2 minutes. Turn to low speed and add vanilla and almond extracts.

Sprinkle in sifted flour mixture evenly and quickly. Beat only enough to blend, about 1 1/2 minutes, scraping bowl often. Pour into 10-inch tube pan. Cut through batter with knife or spatula, going around in circular motion 3 times to release large air bubbles.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until golden brown. Turn oven off after 30 minutes. Leave cake in oven for 5 more minutes before removing. Allow cake to cool in pan 20 minutes. Invert to release cake. This cake can easily be frozen. Hallelujah!


Apple Butter Cake

2 1/2 cups sifted flour 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves 1 tablespoon vinegar 1 cup milk 1/2 cup shortening 1 cup sugar 4 eggs 1 cup apple butter Pecan halves Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease a 9x13x2-inch baking pan. In a bowl, combine the sifted flour, baking soda, salt, and various spices. In another bowl, combine the milk and vinegar. In a third bowl, cream shortening and sugar for two minutes until light and fluffy. In mixer bowl, beat eggs until lemon colored. Add flour mixture alternately with the milk/vinegar and shortening/sugar mixtures, beating well after each addition. Using a fork, stir in the apple butter until well blended. Pour the cake batter into the prepared baking pan and bake for 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Allow the cake to completely cool and then frost with either Cream cheese or Buttercream frosting. Decorate top of cake with pecan halves and enjoy!

Banana Bread

1 3/4 cups flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon nutmeg 1/3 cup butter 2/3 cup sugar 2 eggs, beaten 1 cup mashed ripe or over ripe bananas (the uglier, the better!)


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Repeat. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and banana and beat until just blended. Add the sifted ingredients and beat until well blended. Pour batter into pan and bake for 60 minutes. Allow baked bread to cool in pan for 15 minutes. Loosen sides with a knife and invert to remove from pan.

Basic Applesauce Cake

1 cup sugar 1 cup applesauce, cold 1/2 cup butter, softened 1 teaspoon baking soda, dissolved in 1 tablespoon of warm water 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 cup raisins 2 cups flour Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease and flour a 9x13x2-inch baking pan. In a large mixing bowl, combine all of the ingredients, except the flour. With the mixer on low, add the flour a 1/2 cup at a time, blending until the flour is well incorporated into the batter. Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan and bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. This cake can either be iced with your favorite icing or simply dusted with powdered sugar.

Carrot and Walnut Cake

3 cups flour, sifted 2 cups sugar 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons cinnamon 4 eggs 1 cup vegetable oil 2 large carrots, grated 1/2 cup black walnuts, chopped 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9X1-1/2-inch pans. In large mixing bowl, whisk together by hand the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. In a second bowl, combine the remaining ingredients, stirring until well blended. Make an indention (well) in the center of your dry ingredients. Pour the wet mixture into the well and mix with a spoon until smooth. Pour batter into prepared pans, dividing the batter evenly. Bake for 35 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Allow cakes to cool and remove from pans. Place one cake on serving plate, ice top with Cream cheese icing, place the second layer on top and finish icing the entire cake.

Chocolate Sheet Cake

(This is one cake you get to ice hot from the oven!) 2 cups flour 2 cups sugar 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 eggs, lightly beaten 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/2 cup sour cream 2 sticks butter or margarine 4 tablespoons cocoa 1 cup water Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 15-1/2 X 10-1/2 cookie sheet or jelly roll pan. In a bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. In another bowl, mix the eggs, vanilla extract, and sour cream, until well blended. Gradually, add the egg mixture into the dry ingredients, beating until creamy and smooth.


In a saucepan, place the butter or margarine, cocoa, and water. On medium heat, bring the mixture to a boil. Remove from heat and pour over other ingredients. Mix well. Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 23 minutes or until done. While still hot, ice cake with your favorite chocolate frosting.

Classic White Cake

3 cups sifted cake flour 1 tablespoons baking powder 3/4 cup butter or margarine 1 1/2 cups sugar 1 cups milk 3/4 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract 6 egg whites Preheat oven to 325º F. Grease and flour two 8-inch or 9-inch round pans and line with waxed paper. Sift together flour and baking powder. Set aside. Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Set aside. Beat egg whites until stiff, but not dry. Set aside. With a mixer at slow speed, add flour mixture to butter mixture, alternately with milk. Beat well after each addition. Beat in vanilla extract. Fold egg whites into batter. Pour into prepared pans. Bake until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Makes 6 cups batter.

Coffee Crunch Cake 1 cup butter 1 cup granulated sugar 3 eggs, beaten 3 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 cup sour cream 1 tablespoon baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda


Crunch

1 cup granulated sugar 1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts 1 tablespoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease one 10-inch tube pan.

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and then the flour. Stir in vanilla extract, sour cream, baking powder and baking soda.

Pour 1/2 of the batter into the pan. Sprinkle 1/2 of the crunch to lightly cover batter. Pour remaining batter over crunch and then sprinkle remaining crunch to cover top of batter. Bake for 50 minutes. Remove cake from oven and allow to cool in pan. Invert pan to release cake. Get you coffee (or tea) ready … and enjoy!

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

3/4 pound butter, softened 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened 3 cups sugar 6 eggs 3 cups flour 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. Grease and flour a Bundt cake pan. In a bowl, cream the butter, cream cheese, and sugar. One at a time, add the eggs, beating well after each addition. Add the flour, 1/2 cup at a time, again blending well after each addition. Add the vanilla and mix well. Pour the cake batter into the Bundt pan. Bake for 2 hours and 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool and remove from pan. Serve with sweetened whipped cream or whipped topping.


Delicious Pineapple Cake

2 cups flour 1 1/2 cups sugar 2 teaspoons baking soda Dash of salt 2 eggs, slightly beaten 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 20 ounce can crushed pineapple with liquid Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a 9 X 12 inch cake pan. In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, combine the eggs, pineapple and the vanilla. Slowly add the pineapple mixture to the dry ingredients and mix well. Pour the cake batter into prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool and remove from pan. Frost the cake with coconut frosting. Aloha!

Easy Yellow Cake

2 cups cake flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup butter, softened 1 cup sugar 3 eggs 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 3/4 cup milk Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease and flour two 9-inch cake pans. In a bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt, using a fork or whisk to blend well. In a separate bowl, combine the vanilla extract and milk. In a mixer, cream the butter with sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients alternately with the milk/vanilla mixture, and beat until creamy and smooth. Pour the batter into the two cake pans, dividing the amount evenly. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Allow the cakes to cool in their pans for 5 minutes and then invert them onto a wire rack to continue cooling. Once the cakes are completely


cooled, place one layer on a serving plate and frost the top. Place the second layer on top and finish frosting the entire cake.

For a 9 x 13 x 2-inch pan, bake the cake for 30 to 35 minutes and allow cake to completely cool in pan for 30 minutes. And then frost.

Healthy Honey & Oat Cake

1 1/4 cups boiling water 1 1/2 cups honey 1 cup uncooked oats 2 eggs 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 3/4 cups whole-wheat flour Pecan halves 1 teaspoon baking soda 3/4 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9 x 13 x 2-inch baking pan. In a large mixing bowl, combine the boiling water, uncooked oats, and butter or margarine, and stir well. Set aside and let stand for 20 minutes. In a bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. After 20 minutes has lapsed, add the honey, eggs, and vanilla to the oats mixture and stir well. Gradually add and incorporate the flour mixture. Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan and bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan and then frost with German Frosting. Garnish top with pecan halves.

Homemade Pumpkin Cake

2 cups canned pumpkin 3 cups sugar 1 cup vegetable oil 3 eggs 3 cups flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease, flour and line an 8 or 9-inch pan with waxed paper. In a bowl, blend the pumpkin, sugar, oil, and eggs. In a separate bowl, sift the remaining ingredients. Gradually add the pumpkin mixture to the dry ingredients and mix until well blended. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Allow the cake to cool and then dust with powdered sugar.

Lemon Loaf

2 cups flour 3 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. salt 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup melted butter 2 eggs, slightly beaten 1 cup milk zest of 1/2 a lemon 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 9 x 5-inch loaf pan. In mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. In large mixing bowl, combine remaining ingredients. Add dry ingredients to wet and stir until just blended. Pour batter in to pan and bake for 60 minutes.

Allow loaf to cool in pan and then top with lemon glaze when still slightly warm. Glaze 2 tbsp. sugar 2 tbsp. lemon juice Combine sugar and lemon juice and mix until sugar is dissolved. Spoon over cake that is still slightly warm.


Red Velvet Cake

1/2 cup shortening 1 1/2 cup sugar 2 eggs 2 tbsp. cocoa 2 oz. red food coloring 1 tsp. salt 1 tsp. vanilla 1 cup buttermilk 2 1/2 cups cake flour 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda Photo Courtesy Norma Buccianti

1 tbsp. vinegar Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 8-inch round baking pans. Cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs. Make a paste of the cocoa and red food coloring and add it to the shortening mixture. Mix together the salt, vanilla, buttermilk and vinegar; set aside. Combine the cake flour and baking soda and set aside. Mix the buttermilk mixture and the cake flour mixture alternately to the shortening mixture by gently folding them into the batter. Do not over beat! Pour batter into prepared pans and bake 30 minutes.

Sophie’s Chocolate Cake 2 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups milk

2 cups flour

1 tablespoon of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup butter

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease and flour two 9-inch round pans.


In a mixing bowl, beat together the egg and vanilla. Add the sugar and milk and beat for 3 minutes. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. And to the egg mixture and beat on high for 3 minutes. Melt chocolate and butter together in double boiler. Add to mixture and beat for another 3 minutes. Pour into prepared pans and bake for 30 minutes.

Strawberry Cheesecake

Crust 1 cup graham cracker crumbs 1/4 cup melted butter Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine graham cracker crumbs and melted butter and press into bottom of an 8-inch springform pan.

Cake 11 ounces cream cheese, room temperature 2 eggs 3/4 cup sugar 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract Cream cream cheese. Add the eggs, sugar and vanilla and blend until smooth. Pour into pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Cool completely.

Strawberry Glaze 1/4 cup sugar 2 tablespoons corn starch 1 container frozen strawberries, thawed 1 teaspoon lemon juice

In a medium saucepan combine sugar and cornstarch. Stir in juice from frozen strawberries. Add (1 cup) strawberries. Cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly until thick and clear. Stir in lemon juice. Spread glaze over cheesecake. Chill thoroughly before serving.


Chapter 5 – THE PREP ROOM

So now you have a perfectly baked, completely cooled cake sitting on the countertop, looking up at you, just staring right at you, waiting for you to make the next move. The next move you make depends on what kind of cake you’ve just baked.

You may be preparing to simply dust the top of your cake with icing sugar or varnish it with a glaze, either of which your cake is ready to receive. Dusting and glazing are

popular finishes for Bundt cakes and quick breads. But if by chance you are planning to ice your cake, or you have the makings of a layer cake or torte staring up at you, you’ll need to level and trim those cake layers.

Leveling The purpose of leveling your cakes is to create an even and symmetrical base. If your base cake is crooked and lopsided, no amount of icing will make it stand up straight or lay down flat. To level your cake layers, you will use either an official cake leveler or a knife with a long serrated blade, long enough to reach through your cake to the other side. Place your cake on a cake board covered in plastic wrap to keep the cake from sliding around. Add a spot of icing (a tablespoon or so) to the center of the cake board to ‘glue’ to cake in place. Center the first (or only) cake layer, bottom side facing up, on the cake board. If you’re lucky, your cake will have baked flat and won’t have a domed top. But if it does, that’s the first part to be removed. Position the blade of your knife even with the outside edge of the cake and slice off the dome with an even and straight sawing motion. If using a cake leveler, position the wire at the correct markings and gently draw the leveler across the cake, again with a gentle sawing motion. Make sure that both feet of the leveler remain flat on your working surface.


Trimming For cakes with uneven or crisp edges, you’ll want to trim them square and even with the rest of the cake. Using your serrated knife again, trim off any unwanted rough or misshapen areas, making sure to cut as straight and even as possible. By the time you’re done leveling and trimming, you should have a perfectly formed cake ready to be either filled or iced, or both!

Torting

Torting refers to act of slicing each individual cake into two or more layers before filling and stacking. Several thin layers all neatly stacked and filled with jam, custard, cream, fruit or a combination of fillings, will impress even the most difficult of in-laws!

Click here for the VIDEO, "Leveling & Torting" (available in the purchased version)

Layer Cakes When it comes to layering cakes, the more settled and firm your cake, the better. Baking your cakes one day in advance will allow for enough time for your cake to properly settle down and firm up. Firm and settled cakes will support heavy, gooey fillings better than weak and unsettled cakes. No matter then number of layers, the following procedure promises to build a sturdy cake that will keep any oozing fillings under control and prevent them from overflowing their boundaries. 1. To build your cake, place the thickest layer first, bottom side up, on a cake

board. When layering or torting cakes, it's always best to put your best side facing up. With a layer cake, when you're simply stacking individually baked cakes, the best side is generally the bottom side (unless the bottom stuck to the pan in places and you have patched 'holes.) The flatter and smoother your topside, the more evenly your cake will stack.

2. Next, pipe (with a #10 round tip or similar large size decorating tip) an

icing dam around the outer edge of each layer to contain the filling. The


dam will act as a barrier and will prevent the filling from escaping to the outer edge of the cake.

3. Spread the filling within the icing dam borders (or the dam icing borders depending on how the whole process is going for you … ☺) with an angled spatula, if you have one, to avoid dragging your fingers through the icing dam.

4. Carefully center the second layer, bottom side up, over the first layer,

matching edges and corners (for square cakes). Repeat steps 2-4 until the top layer has been positioned in place. And voilå! Your cake is ready to be crumb coated!

Click here for a live VIDEO demonstration on “Filling Your Cake.” (available in the purchased version)

Please note that there are certain types of layer cakes where you actually want the filling to ooze out

from between the layers, such as this Strawberry Cream Cake. These types of layer cake are easy to assemble since you won’t need to be so precise and careful. Oozing filling is the look you’re after and if it droops down a little to the lower layer(s), that’s okay too. Just call it “artistic license” and you can do what you want!

Rolled Cakes

Rolled cakes require a totally different assembly procedure and are comparatively easy to fill and roll. The jellyroll pan is used to give a large, thin and flat sponge cake.

To fill a rolled cake, place the cooled cake on a flat work surface and spread the filling smoothly and evenly, making sure to spread it right out to the edge. Take one long side and begin rolling the cake into a tight log or tube. Refrigerate for a few hours to allow for the cake to set into shape. Now you’re all set to make a Swiss Roll or Buche de Noel!

Types of Filling


Your choice, when it comes to fillings, is almost limitless. As long as it’s not too runny just about anything can be used as a cake filling. You have your choice of buttercream, custards, curds, cream cheese, frostings, fruit, icings, jams, mousses, nut butters, preserves, puddings, purees, and (breathe!) whipped cream you add in all the possible combinations – cream cheese with purees, custard with preserves, or whipped cream with fruit, etc., you’ll find that the list of possibilities is defined only by your imagination!

Fillings are used to add taste and texture to cakes transform an otherwise plain white cake into strawberry shortcake or a simple chocolate cake into a whipped cream with cherries filled Black Forest Cake. To get you started experimenting with fillings, here are a few all-purpose recipes that do well to dress up any cake.

Banana Cream Filling

1 cup milk 1/2 cup sugar 3 tablespoons flour 1/8 teaspoon salt 2 egg yolks, slightly beaten 1 large ripe banana, mashed 2 tablespoons lemon juice

In a sauce pan, heat the milk and beat until well blended. Return mixture back to the sauce pan and continue thick and smooth.

Temper the egg yolks by whisking in 1/2 cup of the hot mixture. Then slowly pour the warmed egg yolks into the saucepan, stirring

constantly. Cook over low heat for 5 more minutes until thick and creamy. Allow mixture to cool.

Cream the mashed banana until smooth. Add the lemon juice and stir into the cooled filling. Chill one hour before filling cake.

Makes 2 cups


Coconut Cream Filling 6 egg yolks 3/4 cup sugar 6 tablespoons cornstarch 1/8 teaspoon salt 3 cups milk 4 ounces (1 1/2 cups) sweetened flaked coconut 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

In a large bowl, whisk eggs until slightly beaten. Set aside.

In a saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch and salt. Gradually whisk in milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and comes to a boil (10 minutes.) Remove from heat.

Whisk in 1/2 cup of the hot milk mixture into the egg yolks to temper. Slowly pour warm yolks into the saucepan, stirring constantly. Cook slowly, stirring constantly, over medium-low heat, until mixture begins to bubble (5 minutes.) Remove from heat. Stir in coconut and vanilla.

Transfer filling to a bowl. Cover and chill (1 hour) until firm before filling cake.

Makes 4 cup

Chocolate Whipped Cream 1 cup heavy whipping cream 3 tablespoons confectioners' sugar 1/4 cup cocoa powder, well chilled 2 tablespoons piping gel 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a small bowl, combine the cocoa and sugar. In a chilled bowl, combine the cream and vanilla and whip until soft peaks form. With the mixer running or while whisking by hand, gradually pour in the cocoa mixture; whip until stiff peaks form. Do not over beat or your cream will turn to butter!


Makes 2 1/2 cups

Lemon Filling 3/4 cup sugar 2 tablespoons cornstarch 1/8 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup cold water 2 egg yolks, slightly beaten 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel Juice of one medium lemon 1 tablespoon butter Combine sugar, cornstarch and salt in a small saucepan. Gradually add water and whisk until well blended. Whisk in egg yolks, lemon peel and lemon juice. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly until thick and bubbly. Boil one minute; remove from heat. Stir in butter. Cool to room temperature, without stirring. Fill cake. Makes 2 cups

Pastry Cream Filling This is the filling to use when you’re stuck for ideas. It tastes great with any cake! 3 tablespoons flour 1/8 teaspoon salt 6 tablespoons sugar 1 cup half & half cream 4 egg yolks 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract Mix the flour, salt and sugar in a saucepan and blend in a little of the cream. Place on medium heat and stir constantly. Add the rest of the cream and continue stirring until the mixture reaches the consistency of medium cream sauce. Whisk a little of the hot sauce into the egg yolks to temper. Slowly pour the warm egg yolks into the saucepan. Cook on low heat for five minutes until thick and creamy. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla.


Transfer filling to a bowl. To prevent a skin from forming, brush with melted butter and refrigerate one hour. Stir a little before using. Makes 2 cups

Strawberry Cream Filling

1 cup heavy cream 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1 egg white, stiffly beaten 1/2 cup strawberries, mashed

In a mixing bowl, whip cream until stiff. Fold in sugar, egg white and the mashed strawberries

Makes 3 cups

Stabilized Whipped Cream

Stabilized Whipped Cream can be used for filling, frosting and decorating cakes (piping simple borders and rosettes.)

1 cup heavy whipping cream 2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar 2 tablespoons piping gel 1/2 teaspoon clear vanilla extract Combine whipping cream and sugar in mixing bowl. Whip to soft peak stage. Add gel and vanilla, then continue to whip stiff peaks. Do not over beat or you’ll end up with stabilized butter!


Chapter 6 – ICING

Your cake is looking good! The filling is nicely tucked between layers, the layers are evenly stacked on top of each other,

and your cake is sitting pretty as a picture. Time now to send your cake over to the wardrobe department for a spiffy new outfit!

If your cake is getting set to attend a simple affair, say a family dinner or a

friendly coffee hour, you may just need to apply a simple glaze before she goes out the (kitchen) door. Certain types of cakes are natural beauties and require very little extra attention to look their best. Any cake baked in a Bundt pan, for instance, looks perfectly elegant with a light sprinkling of icing sugar or a shiny coat of glaze. More casual cakes, pound and butter cakes or quick breads baked in loaf pans, also look and taste their best with a thin glaze rather than a full frosting.

Glazing Glazes are generally made by heating sugar with water, milk or cream and

then poured or spooned onto a cake and allowed to drip down the sides (and middle if it’s a Bundt or tube cake.) When applying applying a glaze, it’s best to pour slowly while carefully directing the glaze to flow evenly over the top of the cake. When you’re finished, your cake should have a smooth and glossy coat.

When glazing flat-topped cakes, keep in mind that glazes are quick to dry and

you’ll have very little time to spread the glaze before it begins to set. If you disturb a glaze once it has set and dried, it’ll lose both its shine and smooth finish.

So if it’s a glaze you’re after, here are a few standard and versatile recipes

for you to try. Pick one that suits your fancy and go for it! Almond Glaze

You can easily change the flavor of this glaze by substituting a different flavoring - vanilla or peppermint, for the almond flavoring. 4 tablespoons melted butter 1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar 2 teaspoons almond extract


Whisk ingredients together until smooth. Pour over cake that has cooled for 15 minutes.

Buttermilk Glaze

1/2 cup buttermilk 1/2 cup butter 1 tablespoon white corn syrup 1/2 teaspoon baking soda In a saucepan, combine all the ingredients and bring to boil. Boil for 5-6 minutes until thick and syrupy. Remove from heat and add 1 teaspoon vanilla. Pour over cake.

Chocolate Glaze

This glaze dries fast and must be spread very quickly!

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate 1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted

2 teaspoons corn syrup 2 tablespoons light cream 2 tablespoons boiling water 2 teaspoons butter 1 teaspoon vanilla

Melt chocolate squares in double boiler. Add the sifted sugar, corn syrup, light cream, boiling water and butter. Mix over heat until smooth. Stir in vanilla. Remove from heat and pour immediately onto cake and spread evenly and quickly with large flat spatula to cover top of cake.

Confectioners’ Sugar Glaze

Can’t get any easier than this!

1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar 3 tablespoons milk

In a small bowl, stir milk into sugar until smooth. Drizzle on cake and let harden.


Honey Glaze

1/4 cup sugar 1/4 cup honey 1/4 cup buttermilk 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Combine sugar, honey and buttermilk in saucepan. Bring to boil, stirring until caramel colored, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla and 1 teaspoon water. Pour over cake.

Lemon Glaze

1/3 cup sugar 1/3 cup lemon juice, freshly squeezed

In a small bowl, whisk together sugar and lemon juice until smooth. Drizzle over cake and let harden.

Sour Cream Glaze

3/4 cup confectioner’s sugar 2 teaspoons sour cream

In a saucepan, stir confectioners' sugar and sour cream over low heat until almost smooth. Remove from heat and stir in 1/4 teaspoon vanilla and 1/2 teaspoon water.

Pour glaze over cake and allow it to set.

Crumb Coating

The crumb. Such an itty bitty piece of cake and such a big, HUGE, nuisance when it comes to icing cakes. The crumb will come, with a million of his closest friends, to invade your beautiful white and smooth icing. It’s enough to drive a baker crazy! Luckily there is a fool proof way to regain your sanity. You can simply apply what is known as a “crumb coat” to your cake.


A crumb coat is a thin layer of icing or glaze that you apply to your assembled cake to seal in freshness and moisture and glue any crumbs to the cake’s surface. Once the crumb coat has set and dried (a few minutes) you won’t have to worry about any crumbs sticking to your final icing.

To apply a crumb coat, take some of your icing and thin it with extra of

whatever liquid is part of the recipe - water, milk, or cream, until you get an almost runny consistency.

Spread the thinned icing over the entire cake, covering it completely. Don't

worry about crumbs getting mixed into the icing or how the cake looks (it won't look too beautiful at this point).

When you’re finished, your cake should be covered in a thin, see-through

layer of icing. Allow the crumb coat to completely dry. Once the crumb coat has dried all your crumbs will become glued to the surface and the cake will have a protective shell holding it all together.

Click here for a live VIDEO demonstration on crumb coating (available in the purchased version)

.

Applying the crumb coat obviously adds a little time to your cake

decorating, but it's always time well spent. It significantly reduces the frustration of having crumbs mix into the final icing and does a great job of firming up the cake base.

Frosting vs. Icing

Now that your cake has a lovely undercoat, it’s ready to receive a beautiful overcoat of frosting! There is some debate in the cake decorating world whether frosting and icing are synonymous or not. Many bakers, professional or not, use frosting and icing interchangeably since they both denote sweet spreads for cakes and other baked goods.

For the purposes of this book, we have separated the

terms and use ‘frosting’ to mean any frosting that can’t be piped or used to make icing flowers and other decorations. Frostings, according to Cake Decorating Made Easy!, include any sweet spread that is either too gooey or runny to pipe or that contains any extra ‘bits’ for taste such as


coconut, orange or lemon rind, or finely chopped nuts or fruit. And ‘icing’ refers to any icing that contains no ‘bits’ and holds its shape when either spread or piped to produce smooth and perfect icing flowers and other decorations.

Depending on your preference and where you and your cake are headed

for your night out on the town, you can choose either a casual frosting or a formal icing for your cake. A casual frosting consists of completely covering the cake with icing and maybe swirling or spackling in a design and topping it off with a few sprinkles, flaked coconut, chopped nuts or a grouping of fresh fruit.

Formal icing involves a little (okay, a lot!) more work but it’s the foundation

of cake decorating and that’s what we’re all here for, right? Formal frosting involves learning how to get your icing perfectly smooth, no ridges, no holes, no bumps. Perfectly smooth icing is one of the more challenging steps in cake decorating, but these following tips will greatly improve your chances of success!

Some cake artists are so highly skilled that all they need is a big (8")

spatula and a turntable to smooth icing into silk. But then there are the rest of us! We need a few more tips and tools than that to make icing behave and be smooth.

Icing Control

The Spatula Method

Warm an icing spatula by holding it under warm water before smoothing out the icing. (Just make sure the spatula doesn't have too much water on it!) The warmth and little bit of wet will polish your cake to a satiny smooth finish.

To better explain this icing technique, here’s the link to a video demonstration

on how to ice a cake. Click HERE for the “Icing The Cake” VIDEO (available in the purchased

version)


The Paper Towel Method

First, use buttercream icing and smooth out what you can with an icing spatula. Let it dry for about 15 minutes to form a crust. (This method won't work with icing that won't crust) Then lightly place a plain paper towel or a piece of parchment paper on the area to be smoothed and gently rub it with the palm of your hand. The warmth of your hand will soften the icing just enough to smooth out any bumps and ridges. You can also use a “fondant smoother” (the baker's equivalent to a drywaller's trowel) on top of the paper towel. You'll be pleasantly surprised at how smooth the surface gets!

“Perfectly Smooth Icing” VIDEO. Click to see this technique in action! (available in the purchased version)

For a completely different look, try using a textured or patterned paper

towel on your cake. The finished look will be completely dependent on the design of the towel. Using your hands again, smooth the surface and gently press in the design. With a little practice, your cake will look like it’s covered in beautiful dainty lace!

To test out your new frosting and icing skills, here’s a small selection of

some of the most traditional and popular frostings and icings.

The Frostings …

7-Minute Frosting This is a very shiny icing that spreads easily and provides an impressive

pure white fluffy finish. It’s a great one to use when you need ‘snow.’ 2 egg whites 1 cup granulated sugar 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar 1/8 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup water 1 cup Marshmallow Cream 1 teaspoon vanilla extract


Combine all ingredients except vanilla extract in the top of a double boiler.

Place over boiling water amd beat until soft peaks form. Remove from heat and continue beating until stiff peaks form. Beat in vanilla extract.

Makes 4 cups

Chocolate Frosting

1/2 cup softened butter 3 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar

2/3 cup cocoa 1/3 cup whole milk 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1/4 tsp salt

In a medium mixing bowl, cream together butter, cocoa powder, and sugar.

Slowly add milk and vanilla and beat until smooth. Add more milk a tablespoon at a time until desired texture and consistency.

Makes 4 cups

Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting 4 tablespoons butter

2 cups coconut 8 oz. cream cheese 2 teaspoons milk 3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in frying pan. Add coconut and stir constantly

until golden brown. Spread coconut on paper toweling to cool. In a medium mixing bowl, cream 2 tablespoons butter with cream cheese.

Add milk and sugar alternately, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Stir in 1 3/4 cups of the coconut. Spread frosting on tops and side of cake. Sprinkle with remaining coconut.

Makes 4 1/2 cups

Peppermint Frosting

1/4 cup crushed peppermint stick candy 1/2 cup milk


1 pound confectioners' sugar, sifted Heat candy and milk over hot water in a double boiler until candy is melted.

Gradually add confectioners' sugar one cup at a time to make frosting thick enough to spread on cake.

Makes 3 cups

Strawberry Buttercream Frosting 1 cup butter, softened 2 (16 ounce) packages confectioners’ sugar, sifted 1 cup finely chopped fresh strawberries In a large medium mixing bowl, cream butter until light and fluffy. Add

sugar and chopped strawberries and beat until creamy. (Add more sugar if frosting is too thin, or strawberries if too thick.)

Makes 3 cups

And then there are the Icings …

Buttercream Icing

Meet the Queen of Icings! Buttercream is the most versatile of all the icings. It can be used to fill and cover a cake, pipe decorative borders, and make icing flowers and other decorations. It performs all these functions and tastes great too!

1 cup vegetable shortening 1/2 cup butter 1 teaspoon of clear vanilla flavor 1 teaspoon of crème bouquet flavoring (optional) 1/4 cup milk or water (add more as needed or for thinner consistency) 1 pinch salt (if using unsalted butter)

1 teaspoon meringue powder 2 pounds of sifted powdered sugar

Mix the shortening and butter until well blended. Add milk/water and

flavoring and continue mixing. Once well combined, turn the mixer off. Add salt, meringue powder and sugar. Turn mixer on to lowest speed and

mix just until the ingredients start to come together. Turn mixer to medium speed and mix for 2 - 5 minutes until smooth and a little fluffy. (The time will vary depending on the power of your mixer. Stand mixer will require about 2 minutes, hand mixer will require 5 minutes or more.)


If the icing is too stiff and you can tell the mixer is straining, add more liquid

to obtain the right consistency. If it becomes too soft, add more powdered sugar.


HINTS for perfect Buttercream:

• Use the paddle attachment, NOT the whip when making your icing.

• If using regular (salted) butter in this recipe, you will not need to add additional salt. If using unsalted butter, add a little dash of salt to cut the sweetness.

• Meringue Powder can only be found in cake supply shops, not at the grocery store. You can leave the meringue powder out, but it helps make your icing lighter and fluffier, which helps flowers hold their shape when you pipe them.

• Always use name brand shortening. It has more emulsifiers so it blends better and will not give you that "greasy" taste.

• Buy the 2 lb. plastic bags of powdered sugar so you don't have to sift it.

• If you need pure white icing or want to make your icing dairy-free, you can replace the butter in the recipe with shortening and add 1 tsp. butter flavoring to give the icing a buttery flavor.

Buttercream is so important to cake decorating we’ve dedicated two videos

specifically on making Buttercream icing correctly!

Click here for “Mixing Buttercream Icing 1” VIDEO (available in the purchased version)

Click here for “Mixing Buttercream Icing 2” VIDEO (available in the purchased version)

Chocolate Buttercream Icing

Little Butter’s baby brother …tastes great as an icing and is as versatile as regular Buttercream. This would be the icing to mix up if you are planning to make dark colored icing flowers/decorations. (Add 1/2 teaspoon meringue powder if using to make flowers/decorations.)

1/2 cup vegetable shortening 1/2 cup butter 1 teaspoon vanilla

http://www.yummyarts.com/collections/cdme1/buttercreamicinga733.html


4 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar 3/4 cup sifted cocoa 3-4 tablespoons milk 3 tablespoons light corn syrup

In a medium mixing bowl, cream together shortening, butter, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in sugar and cocoa on medium speed, scraping down bowl often. Add milk and corn syrup and beat until light and fluffy.

Chocolate Ganache

This is the icing to use for a velvety smooth chocolate finish. It is thick enough to pipe borders and other simple decorations.

8 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped to bits 1 cup heavy cream 2 tablespoons light corn syrup 3 tablespoons unsalted butter Place chopped chocolate in medium metal mixing bowl. In a sauce pan,

heat cream over medium heat, stirring constantly, just until boiling. Pour hot cream over chocolate and let sit for 5 minutes. Add the butter and corn syrup. Stir gently until smooth.

Note: When you first start stirring what looks like chocolate cream soup,

you’ll think we’re nuts for saying it can be used to pipe decorations. Have some faith! It does take a long while to stir and cool it to spreading/piping consistency, but it will happen, trust me!

Place your bowl of chocolate soup over a larger bowl of ice water (being

careful not to splash any water into the bowl) and it will cool down and set up a lot faster. You’re looking at a good 20 minutes of stirring, so if you’re into meditation, now’s a good time to relax!

You’ll end up with a wonderfully velvety smooth icing that is an absolute

dream to work with! One more note! You can change the ratio of chocolate to cream to get

different consistencies. For a light Ganache cake filling, use 1 part cream and 1 part chocolate. And for a glaze, substitute 1 part cream to


3 parts chocolate. No stirring required for the glaze; it gets poured warm over the cake.

Cream Cheese Icing 1 cup butter 16 oz cream cheese, softened 2 lb. (8 cups) confectioners' sugar 2 tablespoon milk

In a medium mixer bowl, cream butter and cream cheese together until smooth. Add sugar and milk. Beat on high until smooth (1 minute). Thin with a little extra milk to ice cake smooth; use full strength for piping borders.

Royal Icing

If Buttercream is the Queen of Icing, Royal Icing would be the King! It’s a very strong and durable edible and pipable ‘cement’ that is ideal for making icing flowers and for gluing decorations in place. It’s not nearly as versatile and good at multi-tasking as the Queen since it is NOT recommended to cover a cake and it’s rather tasteless, actually. Besides the fact that you could break a tooth! With Royal icing, you’ll want to do a good job of your flowers because they will literally last forever!

3 tablespoons meringue powder 1 lb. (4 cups) confectioners' sugar 6 tablespoons warm water* In a medium mixing bowl, beat all ingredients until icing forms peaks (7-10

minutes at low speed with a heavy-duty mixer, 10-12 minutes at high speed with a hand-held mixer).

*Watch this amount. You may need slightly more liquid or slightly less,

depending on the humidity factor. Makes 3 cups.

Click here to watch the King get whipped! “Mixing Royal Icing VIDEO” (available in the purchased version)


Working with Royal Icing can be tricky. Click here to watch the “Royal Icing Tools” VIDEO (available in the purchased version)

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Chapter 7 – CAKE DECORATING MADE EASY!

You can put away your chemist, engineer and architect hats and don your artist’s beret. It’s time to have some fun! This last chapter serves to initiate you into the wide world of cake decorating. We’ll start out easy with simple techniques that require more imagination than skill to add some color and flare to your frosted and iced cakes. We’ll then move on to learning some basic piping skills which will prepare you for making the more complicated icing designs and decorations in “Cake Decorating Made Easy!” Volume 2. So if your beret’s in place, let’s get started!

Easy Decorating Ideas

Not all cake decorating techniques are complicated and sophisticated; some are just plain simple and fun! The following suggestions are made for those times when you’re looking for a quick way to add some pizzazz to a cake without any fuss. These ideas are especially appreciated by color-crazy kids who love to have a rainbow of colorful and tasty bits sprinkled on their cake. The more the merrier!

Sprinkles

Sprinkles come in many shapes and colors. There are colored sugars, sprinkles, beads, non-pareils and dragees to name a few. Many of these can easily be purchased at the grocery store. For a much wider selection of colors, visit your local baking supply store and add some color to your life!

Flakes & Nuts

Coconut, shredded or flaked, natural or toasted, sprinkled on a cake is a great way to add both taste and texture to a frosted cake. Finely chopped pecans, walnuts, or peanuts can be used in the same way and do wonders for chocolate or spice cakes.


Spray Color

Spray color is essentially edible spray paint for cakes. It is sold in a variety of colors that you can mix and match to make a freehand tie-dyed effect on your cake, or you can use then with stencils. Lay a paper doily over your cake and spray to stencil the pattern on your cake. Spray colors are fun to work with and are a quick way to color in background water and beach or grass and sky for your cake scene.

Fresh Fruit

Fresh fruit – all berries, grapes, orange, lemon or lime slices, cherries, can be used ‘au naturel’ and grouped together on top or arranged as a border around the cake. Fresh fruit can be sugared for crystalline effect. Simply rinse the fruit with water and roll in white sugar. The sugar will stick and dry to form a light sugar coating. Instant shine!

Fresh Flowers

Fresh flowers are one of the easiest ways to add a touch of elegance to an otherwise plain cake. You do need to make sure your flowers are clean and free of any pesticides. And not poisonous! Several common flowers are poisonous and will taint the icing on your cake and might make your guests sick. That’s not good! Check with your local florist or nursery for the list of flowers to be avoided. And then ask them for the list of ‘safe’ flowers.

Edible Flowers

Some flowers – the carnation, clover, cornflower, lilac, mint, pansy, rose, and violet, are actually edible and can be used plain or sugared much like fruit. They can be arranged as a small bouquet or placed individually around the top and sides of the cake. You could also mix both fruit and flowers together for a naturally beautiful effect.


Easy Decorating Techniques

All these easy ideas are good and will always come in handy when you’re pressed for time, but at some point, you’ll want to venture beyond what’s easy and try some of the more challenging cake decorating techniques. This next section serves to introduce you to the art of making icing flowers and decorations.

Decorating Equipment You’ll need a few extra pieces of equipment to make your big move into piped icing decorations. There are many little bits and pieces to buy, but luckily many of these items are sold all together in cake decorating sets. We’ve provided here a brief explanation of each of the pieces to acquaint you with their names and functions.

Icing Bags An icing bag, also called a decorating bag, is what professional cake decorators use for squeezing out icing flowers and other decorations. Forget those little tubes at the grocery store; the decorating bag is what you need since joining the big leagues! Before buying your decorating bag, consider the various types on the market:

Disposable

If you don’t plan to decorate often and/or you don’t want to fuss with clean up, a disposable bag might be more convenient.

• Plastic – ready-to-use disposable bags are usually made of strong and flexible plastic and can even be reused if hand washed for reuse. However, one drawback is that the plastic can get slippery and difficult to handle.

• Paper – makes for a less slippery alternative. Paper bags come in the form of either pre-formed parchment triangles or a roll of parchment paper, which you would use to cut and shape your own.


Non-disposable Non-disposable bags are made from plastic, canvas, rubber and other materials. Some are dishwasher safe or can be boiled to sterilize. Many of them have a cloth outer layer, making for a more secure grip. Here are a few examples of some of the most frequently recommended ones:

For a personal VIDEO demonstration on Pastry Bags Click Here (available in the purchased version)

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Coupler The coupler has two parts, the base and the ring, which work together to secure the decorating tip to the bag. The base fits inside the bag and is pushed down into the small opening. Next the decorating tip is positioned onto the base from outside the bag and secured in place with the ring. Tips are easily interchanged without changing the bag full of icing.

Decorating Syringe The decorating syringe serves the same purpose as the bag but is smaller (holds less icing) and uses a pressing rather than squeezing motion to push out the icing. It’s made of metal and/or plastic and cleans up easily. Their smaller size makes them easier to handle, but that means you’ll be refilling them more often than you would a decorating bag. Decorating syringes are generally sold as part of beginner decorating kits that include several basic decorating tips. Speaking of which …

Decorating Tips!

These mini bits of shaped metal are the central tools for cake decorating. They each have a different shape and size holes that magically transform icing into either thin lines or thick ropes, polka dots, shells, leaves, and flower petals of

every shape and size. The possibilities of design are endless! There are literally hundreds of these little tips, including a series of extra-large sizes and left-handed designs to choose from. It can be quite overwhelming trying to choose just the right tip from among the hundreds


of others. Fortunately, each tip is numbered to correspond to a certain shape and size of hole. And decorating instructions will generally include the tip number(s) to be used to make specific decorations. All you need is that number to bring to your local baking supply or online store and they’ll know which tip you’re talking about. Tips are also organized into several different groups making it easier to find the shape you need.

Star Tips This group of tips is used more than any other on cakes. This may not sound quite right, but it’s true! The star group includes a variety of shapes, namely rosettes, shells and zigzags, which are regularly used to make decorative borders to finish cake edges. The sizes most often used in the star group are: 14, 16, 18 and 21, and on large cakes: 32, 199 and 4B.

Drop Flower Tips If you want an easy way to make flowers, try the tips in this group. Fully formed flowers are “dropped” from the tip with a simple push or squeeze. You can create either a plain or swirled flower with each tip – your choice! The more commonly used sizes include numbers 31, 107, 129, 136, 191, 224, 225, and 2D.

Round Tips

The round tips are used to create everything from dots and beads to lines and ropes. You’ll use these tips for dotting the centers and adding stems and vines to flowers, piping either beads (polka-dots) or rope borders and for writing

and scroll work. The most popular of the round tips are numbers 1, 3, 5, 10 and 12.

Leaf Tips

Add realistic leaves, plain or ruffled, to the flowers and stems with a tip from this group. The leaf tips have a v-shaped opening with two tiny ‘teeth’ that provide the veins in the leaves. Look for numbers 65, 67 and 352 to add a little greenery to your cake!


Rose or Petal Tips

For fancier flowers choose a tip from this group. Following the directions provided later in this book, you will soon be creating beautiful roses fit for the most exquisite wedding cake, as well as pretty carnations, daisies and pansies. Those elegant, ribbon swags and bows that encircle some of the most charming cakes are

also created with the rose tips. The most common tips include numbers 101, 102, 103 and 104, and for the larger flowers, tips number 124 and 127.

Basket-Weave Tips

You can turn any shaped cake into a basket with this group of tips. Basket-weave tips have both a smooth and serrated side. By interweaving horizontal strips of icing, you can create a pretty lattice or basket-weave effect. Now all you need are the Easter eggs or pansies! These tip numbers include 45, 46, 47 and 48.

Pastry Bag & Tubes A pastry bag and tubes? That’s right! If you set up a pastry bag (an

oversized decorating bag) with a long-nosed pastry tube (oversized star, round or basket-weave tip), you’ll have an easy (maybe the easiest!) way to nicely cover the sides of a cake. Fill the bag with whipped cream or any other light and fluffy frosting, and pipe individual rosettes or rows of beads or shells. Works great for piping large rosettes or fancy swirls of whipped cream when assembling strawberry shortcake or other desserts that require a ‘poof’ of whipped cream.

If you happen to own a vintage cookie and pastry press that includes the

long-nosed tips, you’re all set to try this easy and fun decorating technique. Fill the press with some whipped cream and pipe away!


Decorating Supplies Along with your extra pieces of equipment, you’ll need a couple of supplies

to make your cake decorating dreams come true. Especially if you dream in color! Your perfectly formed flowers, ribbons and bows will be all the more spectacular if they are colored to coordinate with the surrounding décor and theme of the party or wedding. spectacular if they are colored to coordinate with the surrounding décor and theme of the party or wedding.

Food Coloring

Food coloring comes in several different forms – liquid, gel paste and powder form and each form is suited for different purposes. Depending on what you’re trying to color (cake batter, icing or filling) and how intense you need the color to be, you’ll find that some forms of color are better suited than others to produce the color you want.

Liquid Colors

There are several kinds of liquid food coloring, but the most commonly used and readily available is the small plastic or glass bottles of red, blue, yellow and green that you can buy at most grocery stores. Liquid colors are relatively weak compared to the other forms and are not suited for producing dark, intense colors such as red, purple or black. The color is squeezed (plastic bottles) or allowed to drip (glass bottles) one drop at a time into your icing.

Paste Colors

Paste color is a highly concentrated form of food coloring and comes in tiny screw-top pots in a variety of colors. Depending on the brand, the paste color may be more liquid or thick and gummy. For color that is too gummy or that dries out over time, add a drop or two of glycerin into the pot and leave it sit for a couple of days before mixing into the paste. Use a wooden party pick to pick out the tiniest amount of paste to color your icing.

Gel Colors Gel color is the consistency of liquid honey and is equal to paste color for intensity. It comes in small squeezable plastic bottles or tubes and like paste colors, is available in a variety of colors. The number of premixed colors Simply squeeze the bottle or tube to add a drop of color to your icing.


Powdered Colors

Powdered colors are the most concentrated form of food coloring and should be handled with care. The powder is very fine and with the slightest disturbance or breeze, it will drift and stain anything it lands on. If you’ve ever worked with powdered ink toner for photocopiers or printers, you have an idea of the mess it can make! Handled with care, this risk is manageable and well worth taking if you need to mix dark colored icings. You’ll need much less powder than any other form to turn your icing red or black.

The Color Forecast

As with the Baking Forecast and High-altitude baking, there are several factors at work behind the scenes that will affect the color of your icing. The factors include ingredients, temperature and humidity, time and light.

Ingredients – Back to the Chemistry lab we go! The chemical properties of certain ingredients are known to react with food colors to darken, lighten or alter the desired colors.

• Fat (butter, margarine, lard, and vegetable shortening) tend to darken colors, while lemon juice tends to ‘bleach’ and lighten colors.

• Salt tends to absorb color and each grain of salt will suck up extra color leaving you with speckled icing. To avoid this from happening, mix the icing the day before to allow each grain of salt to completely dissolve and dilute into the icing.

• Then there are the ingredients that come already colored – butter, yellow margarine, cream cheese, condensed milk, and pure vanilla extract to name a few. Use any of these ingredients in your icing and you won’t be starting from white. They’ll be slightly cream colored and will taint your blue to green, reds to orange and pinks to peach.

Temperature and Humidity – Icing containing any amount of fat will be susceptible to absorbing the heat and humidity from the air. The warmer the icing, the darker the color. The more humid or wet the icing, the longer it will take to dry and the longer the drying time, the darker the icing. An air-conditioned room is the ideal environment for cakes, from mixing the batter to placing the last icing flower in place.


Time – When using buttercream icing, soft colors can be made and used immediately and will only darken slightly. But when you are striving for dark colors, mix in the colors and then let the icing sit overnight before decorating: and you won’t have to use quite as much color. Charcoal gray will turn black, and an “almost” red will turn bright red. When mixing red, I start with a bright orange or pink and add red food color. This cuts down on the amount of red color needed and helps prevent the bitter taste associated with too much red color.

Light – Exposure to bright light causes more problems for colored icing. Once you’ve spent hours and hours mixing the colors and piping our your beautiful flowers and perfect borders, you don’t want to sit your cake in direct sunlight or other bright light and watch all your hard work fade away to pale. Pink will pretty much disappear and turn back into white, black will fade to purple (or green), purple to blue, and blue to gray. A car with green wheels or a gray cake for a baby shower just doesn’t quite look right.

Keeping all these factors in mind, you’re ready to mix your icing palette!

Mixing Icing Colors

To mix your icing colors, you’ll need some icing and colors (we like to state the obvious … ), clean bowls and spoons, party picks (if using paste colors), and a color chart if you’re less familiar with combining colors.

The thing to remember when adding color to icing is that a little goes a long way. If this is the first time you’re mixing your own colors, you might be surprised how one drop of liquid or tiny dab of paste can color a whole cup of icing. It’s always wise to add the tiniest bit of color at a time. You can always add more, but it’s not always so easy to dilute the color back to pale.

Dark Colors

When mixing dark colors such as red, purple and black, there is another (just one more!) thing to consider. Colorants are by nature bitter tasting. When you mix dark colors, you’ll need a LOT of color to turn your icing red, purple or black. This won’t cause you any grief until you and your guests take that first bite of your beautiful, but bitter, red buttercream rose. Blech! To save your cake and your reputation, try following these tips for mixing dark colors.


• Use the more concentrated forms of color – gel, paste or powder, to mix dark colors. Powder is the best choice. The more concentrated the color, the less you’ll need to use and the less bitter your icing will be.

• Add a pinch of salt to your icing (the day before, remember?) The salt will cut the bitter taste.

• Use colored ingredients – maraschino cherry juice for the liquid in red icings or chocolate for brown or black icings.

The Pied Piper

You have your cake, still sitting there on the counter (or in the fridge) waiting for you make your move; you have your cake decorating equipment and supplies all lined up; you have your icing, colored and ready to go; and now it looks like you have the courage to pick up the decorating bag and pipe out some decorations! Let’s not waste your enthusiasm and let’s get started!

First up is how to properly hold the decorating bag. How the decorating bag is held and the angle at which you hold your icing bag is very important. The decoration produced depends on the angle of your icing bag in relation to the cake’s surface. The two basic positions are 90 degrees (vertical, straight up and down) and 45 degrees (half way between vertical and parallel to the decorating surface).

Deciding which hand you will use to hold the bag depends on what works best for you. A right-handed decorator will usually hold the icing bag with the right hand, guiding with the left. Do what feels most comfortable for you. Instructions are written for right-handers, so if you are holding the bag with your left hand, and the instructions say to “hold the decorating bag over to the right,” then do the opposite and hold your decorating bag over to the left.

Whichever hand holds the bag is the hand with which you apply the pressure that pushes the icing out the tip. Your free hand will support and guide the icing bag. If this is your very first time, don’t be discouraged if holding the icing bag feels quite awkward. Follow these steps, and it won’t be long before you’re manipulating the bag like a pro!

1. Hold the bag in the “V” between your thumb and index finger.


2. Squeeze out the icing by applying even pressure with your other three fingers on the side of the bag and with your thumb on the top of the bag while continuing to support the bag in the crook of your hand.

3. With your free hand, steady and support the weight of the bag and direct the tip. Steadying the bag is very important because if it wobbles or shakes, your writing or decorations will be turn out wobbly and messy.

4. The direction in which you navigate the tip will depend on which hand is holding the bag. If you are holding the bag in your right hand, then decorate from left to right; conversely, if you are holding the bag in your left hand, decorate from right to left. There’s one exception; left-handed cake decorators will of course still write from left to right!

5. Where to start? Begin at 3 o’clock and after you’ve created a decoration or two, rotate the cake clock-wise and continue your run.

It takes some (sometimes much!) practice, so be patient with yourself, learn from your mistakes - and have some fun!

Here are some of the easier piped decorations to practice your piping skills:

Rosette Set up your decorating bag with a star tip. Hold the decorating bag at a 90 degree angle with the tip positioned slightly above the surface of the cake.

Squeeze and rotate your hand slightly to the left to ‘swirl’ the rosette . See “Rosette” VIDEO (available in the purchased version)

.

Bead Set up your bag with a round tip. Hold the decorating bag at a 90 degree angle with the tip positioned slightly above the surface of the cake. Squeeze with an even pressure and as the bead forms, keep the end of the tip buried in the icing and raise the tip up. To finish the bead, release pressure on the bag and bring the end of the tip to the surface of the bead. If you get a slight point, smooth it

over with the end of the tip. See “Bead” VIDEO (available in the purchased version)

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Rope Set your bag up with one of the larger round tips. Hold the decorating bag at a 45-degree angle with the tip positioned slightly above the bottom edge of the cake. Begin squeezing the bag with an even and steady pressure and gently pull

the icing along the edge of the cake to form an even and continuous rope. See “Rope” VIDEO (available in the purchased version)

Shell

Set your bag up with tip 21. Hold the decorating bag at a 45 degree angle in 6 o’clock position with the tip positioned slightly above the surface of the cake. Squeeze hard and let the icing build to form the shell. Release pressure and pull the tip to a point. For a shell border, begin your next shell over the tail of the first shell to

make a continuous line of shells. See “Shell” VIDEO (available in the purchased version)

Reverse Shell The trick to this is remembering which part you are on. First, you squeeze and pull down into the shape of the top of a ‘?’, and then squeeze and pull down into

the shape of the top of an ‘S’. See “Reverse Shell” VIDEO (available in the purchased version)

Triple Shell

This makes for a beautiful border for large sheet cakes. It consists of a series of three shells. Begin with three basic shells, one after the other, as if you were creating a basic shell border. But instead of finishing the third shell in the usual spot, drag it out the end for the length of a shell. Repeat this process until your

border’s complete. See “Triple Shell” VIDEO (available in the purchased version)

Zigzag

We’ll be using a medium size 18 star tip for this one. If you want a larger zigzag, tip 21 works just as well. Hold your icing bag at a 45 degree angle. Remember to steady with two of the fingers on your free hand. Squeeze very lightly, moving tip back and forth, for a very nice and neat little zigzag. Or use the same motion, but


squeeze with heavy pressure for a nice, fat, puffy zigzag. See “Zigzag” VIDEO (available in the purchased version)

Leaves

Hold your icing bag so that one of the pointy sides of the tip is facing down, and the tips of your fingers holding the bag are facing you. Squeeze while holding the tip in place just long enough to allow the icing to fan out at the leaf’s base. Then ease off the pressure while pulling the tip away and drawing the leaf to a point. As you are completing your leaf, lift up the decorating tip so the leaf bends up slightly in a natural manner. Thanks to the corn syrup in your buttercream, the

leaf’s tip should stay intact as it comes to a nice, graceful point. See “Leaves” VIDEO (available in the purchased version)

Variations Ruffled Leaf - For this pretty leaf, follow the steps above with one exception. As you pull the tip away from the leaf, move it back and forth to create the ruffled effect. Rising Leaf - For leaves that stand up, follow the same steps above, except hold your icing bag at a 90 degree angle.

Drop Flowers

These are fun, fast, and friendly. And, easier to learn by watching! Click here to see the "Drop Flowers" VIDEO (available in the purchased version)

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Cake Writing Set up your decorating bag with round tip 3. Hold you icing bag at a 45 degree angle with the tip lightly touching the surface of the cake. For script writing, apply even pressure until you’ve completed a word, but remember to stop squeezing before you lift the tip. Go back and cross your t’s and dot your i’s. To print, keep the back of the bag to the right for horizontal lines, such as when crossing a T, and toward you for vertical lines. Again, be sure to let off the pressure before you

lift the tip. See “Cake Writing” VIDEO (available in the purchased version)

Congratulations!


You’ve just completed Cake Decorating Made Easy! Volume 1! You may be covered in icing sugar and your kitchen’s probably a mess, but you did it! How does your cake look? If you found some of the piped designs a little difficult to master, that’s normal and easily fixed with lots of practice. Give yourself a pat on the back for trying something new and keep

practicing to develop your skills and build up your confidence!

And if by chance you’re very pleased with your cake and feeling quite successful, thank you very much, you just may be ready to move on to the bigger ideas and grander designs. So pack up your tools and equipment, we’re

moving over to Volume 2 ! See you there!

A Baker’s Dozen Worth of Tips

• Center the rack in the oven, preheat your oven and prepare your pans prior to mixing any of your ingredients.

• Invest in a $5 oven thermometer to test the accuracy of your oven’s thermostat. Once you know your oven’s ‘true’ temperature, you’ll save yourself from a lot of frustration and failed cakes.

• The shinier the pan, the better for baking cakes. Shiny pans reflect

heat protecting the sides of your cake from over-baking.

• Refrigerated cake ingredients such as eggs, milk, sour cream and butter should be warmed to room temperature for best results.

• To lower the cholesterol in your cake, substitute two egg whites for

every 1 whole egg.

• Your recipe calls for buttermilk or sour milk but you’re fresh out? You can make your own! Add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar to 1 cup of milk and allow it to sit for 10 minutes before using.


• To soften butter or margarine, microwave on high for 10 seconds or so until soft, but not melted!

• Cream butter or margarine and sugar according to the directions provided in your recipe. Different cakes require different creaming and beating times.

• For a mocha chocolate cake, substitute cold brewed coffee in place of the water in a regular chocolate cake recipe.

• To keep chopped fruit, raisins and/or nuts suspended in the cake batter, toss them with some flour before adding to the batter. A light dusting of flour will help them ‘float’ and not ‘sink’ to the bottom of the batter.

• To lighten the color of a whole-wheat flour cake, add 2-3 tablespoons of cornstarch for every 1 cup of flour.

• To protect your cake from cracking, add one envelope of unflavored gelatin powder to the dry ingredients.

• Never fill a cake pan more than half-full.

• After pouring the batter into the cake pan, tip it slightly from side to side to settle and level the batter to make for a more evenly baked cake.

• Never open the oven door during the first half of the baking time. Any disturbance to the circulation of heat may interfere with the cake rising and cause it to sink in the middle.

• If the top of your cake starts to brown too early, place a pan of warm water on the oven rack above where the cake is baking.


• If you’re out of toothpicks, you can use a piece of uncooked spaghetti to check the doneness of your cake.

• When possible, bake your cake one day before icing and decorating. Fresh cakes are less settled and more difficult to work with.

• If your layer cakes bake to different heights, you can level them once fully baked and cooled by slicing off any extra height with either a serrated knife or a cake leveler.

• Cake layers must be completely cooled before they are stacked. Stacking warm layers may cause them to crack and break apart.

• Dust your cake platter with powdered sugar to prevent the cake from sticking.

• Use a clean paintbrush to gently brush away any crumbs on the cakes surface prior to icing.

• To cleanly cut through a cake, dip your knife in water to keep the icing and cake from sticking.

• To slice a light and fluffy Angel Food cake and keep it from either crumbling or sinking, place it in the freezer for 10 minutes prior to slicing.

• For loaf cakes, rather that begin slicing from one end, make the first cut through the middle. After slicing off the desired number of pieces, slide the remaining two ends together and wrap in plastic.


• Most cakes (except cheesecakes) can be frozen (un-iced) up to three months.

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