Today we're sharing some cute cake decorating ideas for everyone who loves baking. Cake lovers are sure to be delighted.
Flavour may be the most important thing, but decorating is another key step in cake-making and an art form in its own right. The look of a cake communicates its concept, its beauty, its charm and even its flavour. If you bake cakes to sell, attractive decoration also helps draw in customers. So MK Unigroup has gathered some simple ideas to make your cakes look even more tempting. If you're stuck for ideas on how to decorate, give these a try.
1. Decorating Fruit and Grain Cakes
Cakes for health-conscious customers have become very popular. They usually feature low-calorie fruits and grains and recipes with less sugar. The top can be decorated in many ways, for example with fresh fruit or large dried fruits arranged to make the cake look even more beautiful.
2. Fancy Cake Decorating
Fancy decorating calls for brightly coloured frosting to add plenty of fun. It is ideal for children's birthday cakes or celebration cakes for festivals. You can use piping bags and serrated cake scrapers to draw animals and cute cartoon characters, and add a variety of toppings too.
3. Minimalist Cake Decorating
A minimalist cake follows the "less is more" idea: simple yet stylish. You may be familiar with Korean-style cakes, which use plain frosting in pastel tones or soft, muted colours, smoothed with a spatula to make decorating easier. You can also pipe a cute message on top to suit a special occasion.
4. Decorating an Orange Cake
Orange cake is popular with people of all ages. Its highlight is real orange segments, which can be layered inside or cut into pieces and arranged on top, with small dollops of cream piped between the orange pieces using a piping tip.
5. Decorating a Chocolate Cake
For a soft-topped chocolate cake, a soft chocolate sauce is used between the chocolate layers to build up several tiers, adding interest and depth. You can finish the top with a dusting of cocoa powder, colourful glitter, or dried fruit, fresh fruit and other bright toppings for a lovely look.
Decorating with Marzipan
Marzipan looks a little like a sweet bean paste but is whiter in colour. It is made from almonds mixed with sugar, and the ratio of almonds to sugar varies according to the producer. Some types include a little puréed apricot or peach, or added egg, depending on the producer's purpose.
Food colourings for marzipan come in water-based and oil-based forms, but oil-based colours are better suited to marzipan. To colour it, take out as much marzipan as you need, add drops of colour and knead until evenly mixed. If it sticks to your hands, a little cornflour helps. Each time you model marzipan, knead it until completely smooth so it is easy to shape and paint. If the surface isn't smooth, the colour will spread unevenly over it.
Decorating with Icing
Tips and Techniques for Preparing Icing
- Sift the icing sugar before mixing it according to the recipe. Sifting breaks the sugar down into a fine powder and helps prevent the piping tip from clogging.
- Finished icing should have just the right consistency for decorating, meaning piped designs hold their shape as sharply as possible. If it isn't right yet, adjust it by adding more sugar or water.
- Mix each colour once, in enough quantity for the whole job. Don't make the colours too dark for each cake, because icing darkens as it dries.
- Cover any icing left in the mixing bowl with a damp, well-wrung muslin cloth to stop the surface drying out.
- When filling a piping bag, fill it right to the tip with no air pockets inside. After folding the bag closed, squeeze out a little icing through the tip to push out air bubbles, so your piped lines are even and don't break.
And those are our cute cake decorating ideas for bakers. Feel free to put them to use!
