Decorator's Frosting

The most important thing involved in cake decorating is the frosting (or icing, I suppose... depending on where you live). If you are thinking, "Shouldn't the cake be the most important part?" then you have clearly never decorated a cake. The cake part of the cake decorating process is 100% optional. You can frost a styrofoam cube or even an empty box and make it look like a cake. People even have a habit of saying silly things such as, "Ooh! It looks too pretty to eat!" They are lying when they say this, however, and will go on to talk to you about the shows Ace of Cakes and Cake Boss while happily eating the beautifully frosted cake.

There is an uncountable number of decorator's frosting recipes on the internet (well, that's not true: it is clearly a countable number). I only use three different frosting recipes when decorating cakes. One is the Wilton Decorator's Frosting, another is the old version of that same recipe, and the final one is a whipped cream frosting that I'll present at a later date. I learned the Wilton recipe when I took the Wilton Cake Decorating courses. The old version is the frosting my grandma always made and learned when she took the Wilton Cake Decorating courses!

Both versions of the Wilton recipe are suitable for simple frosting and making frosting flowers. The frostings are creamy and form kind of a stiff shell when they dry.Each recipe will create a stiff frosting which is optimal for making frosting roses. To cover the cake with frosting, you will need to thin the frosting. To do this, add a tablespoon of water to the frosting and mix it in. Repeat this until you get a consistency that spreads easily.

New Wilton Decorator's Frosting (Printer-friendly PDF Version)
1 C shortening
3 T water
1 t vanilla (or any combination of flavors you want)
1 lb Confectioners Sugar
1 T meringue powder

Beat together the shortening, water, and vanilla. It won't become a creamy mixture, but you want to break up the shortening. Add the sugar and meringue powder. Mix at a low speed for 30 seconds. Scrape the sides of the mixing bowl. Mix together at low speed for 2 minutes.

Old Wilton Decorator's Frosting (Printer-friendly PDF Version)
3/4 C shortening
2 egg whites
1 t vanilla
1/2 t cream of tartar powder
1 lb confectioners sugar

Mix together the shortening, egg whites, and vanilla for about 15 seconds. It will make a chunky looking gross mixture. Add the sugar and tartar. Mix on a medium speed for 2 minutes or until fluffy.

One of the main "rules" when making frosting to decorate cakes is to not "over beat" the icing. This will produce air bubbles in the frosting and that is not a good thing if you are making flowers. Since I don't like to make flowers very often, I extremely "over beat" the frosting every time I make it. In my opinion, this gives it a better texture.

Note: When adding flavors to the frosting, be sure to use clear flavors. For instance, if you use the brown vanilla extract your icing will end up a cream color instead of white.

2nd Note: I lied earlier when I said I only use 3 frosting recipes. I use 2 chocolate frosting recipes, but chocolate frosting isn't very standard in cake decorating.

Prepping the Cake

To make a cake level and smooth after frosting, you need to do some prep work to the cake itself. Before baking the cake, you can prep the pan as shown in this post. You can even lift the cake pan up a few inches and drop it straight down a few times to get rid of air bubbles (doesn't always work!). Unfortunately, most baked cakes usually have a bit of a dome on top which needs trimmed off.

After being baked, every cake to be decorated needs to be removed from the pan. After letting the baked cake set in the pan for 10 to 15 minutes, it is ready to be removed. Have a wire cooling rack, butter knife, and paper towels ready. The butter knife is used to loosen the sides of the cake from the pan; this is optional but I find it to be very helpful. Cover the wire cooling rack with paper towels. Quickly flip the cake pan up-side down onto the paper towels. The cake should release right away. If not, return it right-side up and loosen the sides some more with the butter knife and try again. The cake can now cool completely while up-side down on the cooling rack. If the cake is too domed, you may want to flip it right-side up to cool to prevent cracking.

Once the cake is completely cooled, you can trim off the top. If the cake is up-side down, carefully flip it right-side up.

Wilton sells an amazing tool called the "Cake Leveler", which kind of reminds me of a wire cheese slicer. The Cake Leveler is used to cut the domed top off of cakes. You can also use a large serrated knife, such as a bread knife, to trim off the top.

To trim off the top with the Cake Leveler, you first need to adjust the level of the wire. The top doesn't need to be completely flat; the sides can retain a curve. After the level of the wire is adjusted, slide the wire through the cake using a slight sawing motion. Remove the trimmed off portion and set it aside.

To trim off the top of the cake with a serrated knife, just use a sawing motion through the very top of the cake. Be sure your knife is parallel with the table or your cake will have a slant!

It is common to use cake boards when decorating a cake. They are disposable so you don't have to worry about them being damaged or not returned. An optional step in preparing the cake to be decorated is covering the cake board with aluminum foil or food safe paper or foil. This is easy to do.

Cut a piece of foil slightly larger than the cake board. Place the cake board right-side down on the foil. Starting with the longest sides, fold the foil over the board and securely tape it to the board. Fold the corners of the foil in. Fold the foil over the shorter side of the board and tape it to the board. Flip the covered board right side up and carefully transfer your baked and leveled cake onto the board.

If your cake your cake is being stubborn and won't release after you loosen the sides, place it in the freezer for 15 minutes to chill the pan and try again. Sometimes you will bake a cake that simply does not want to leave the nice and cozy pan or will only release in multiple pieces. With these cakes, you can make amazing things such as cake balls (future post, maybe?) or pudding desserts that include a layer of cake. If your cake ends up being a disaster, don't get frustrated. Just eat some cake and try again

Caking: Pans & Prep

If you have ever been in a cake decorating aisle in a craft store, you know that many different kinds of cake pans are available. Some pans are better than others, but it all comes down to personal preference. Wilton is a well known brand which has standard pans as well as character pans. My favorite cake pans right now are from the line produced by The Food Network. My collection of cake pans is made up of a mixture of Wilton pans, Food Network pans, and random pans people gave me. I have over 25 pans in my ever growing collection.

The reason that I prefer the Food Network pans over the Wilton pans is that the Food Network pans are strong, non-stick, and have a lifetime warranty. The Wilton pans are mostly made from aluminum and require more prep work before a cake is baked. The prep work allows the cake to easily release from the cake pan without breaking or crumbling.

There are two main techniques for prepping a cake pan for baking. One method involves using shortening and flour while the other method involves using cooking spray and paper. Both methods have their benefits. The shortening and flour method can be used on any shape pan, while the cooking spray and paper method can only be used on flat bottomed pans. The cooking spray and paper method is very easy and almost always allows the cake to come out of the pan perfectly.

The Cooking Spray and Paper method:

For this method you will need: a cake pan, cooking spray, wax paper or parchment paper, scissors, pencil

Tear a sheet of paper off the roll that is large enough to cover the bottom of the pan. Place the pan on top of the paper, bottom down, and trace around the bottom of the pan with a pencil. Cut out the shape that you traced, just inside the pencil line. Spray the entire inside of the pan with cooking spray. Place the paper cutout at the bottom of the pan and spray the top of the cutout with cooking spray. You are now ready to bake a cake!

The Shortening and Flour method:

For this method you will need: a cake pan, shortening, flour, sandwich bag, spoon

Place the sandwich bag on your hand. Scoop a small amount of shortening up your bagged hand. Smear the shortening all over the inside of the cake pan, being sure not to miss any spots or else the cake might stick to the pan. Place a spoonful of flour in the pan. Shake the flour around to cover the entire inside of the pan. Tap out extra flour in the sink You are now ready to bake a cake!

There is one more optional step involved when prepping a cake pan. When baking cakes the sides of the pan heat up quickly and bake the outer edges of the cake faster than the inside of the cake bakes. This causes the top of the cake to dome and the sides to harden. A way to combat this is with the Wilton Even Bake strips. These are amazing and work great on anything you bake in a cake pan! I've had a set of bake even strips for 3 years now and they are still in great condition.

For this you will need: bake even strips, cake pan, water

Soak the bake even strips in water until entirely soaked. Lift up one end of the strip and slide the strip between two fingers to get rid of excess water. Pull the strip taut around the cake pan and pin the strip together.

Unfortunately, I can't seem to find the Food Network line of bakeware anymore. They used to be sold at Kohls, some stores may still have the bakeware (it is not online). Other pans in the Food Network family of bakeware may have the same amazing quality, but I'm not sure.

If you are interested in the Wilton Even Bake strips, you can find them here Wilton Small Bake Even Cake Strips

To view the wide variety of Wilton cake pans, click here Wilton Cake pans

The Food Network brand cake pans can be found here, but I can't honestly recommend any of them: Food Network bakeware