Frosting Recipes

When it comes to cake decorating and icing techniques, a picture or video is worth a thousand words.

Good Housekeeping has a series of cake decorating slideshows and step-by-step videos that beautifully illustrate some great techniques you can use at home.

For example, piping dots around the border of a cake can look so elegant, but it requires some technique.  How and where you hold the pastry bag, as well as how much pressure you exert, affects how your icing comes out.  This particular slideshow also includes how to make cake border decorations like dots, squiggles and chains that don’t look like there’s been an accident.

Icing Piping Techniques – Dessert Decorating Ideas – Goodhousekeeping.com.

Let’s face it.  Kids like the frosting the best, so try having your kids make this simple frosting recipe.  It doesn’t involve eggs or the stove, so kids just measure and mix the ingredients and start cookie or cake decorating.  You can split the recipe into several batches to make different colors.   If they’re ready, you may have them try using a pastry bag.  Otherwise, an offset spatula or butter knife works great for spreading.

Ingredients

1 stick butter
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 tbsp. milk
Food coloring

Directions

Cream 1 stick of softened butter and 3 cups of confectioners’ sugar.

Add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and 3 tablespoons of milk, then cream until smooth. Add desired food coloring.

Recipe from:

Cookie Frosting Kids Can Make – and More Great Family Fun Recipe Ideas.

Deep down, I sometimes get a little irritated with other people’s perfect birthday cake decorations.  But cake decorating doesn’t have to be all fondant and roses.  We loved this cake from Melbourne, Australia that is designed to look like a discarded pizza box with an ashtray of cigarette butts and a remote control.   Everything including the chewed pizza crusts are actually made with fondant!

While the pizza box cake stood out among other more traditionally decorated cakes, we thought it was a creative, inspired contribution that pushes the boundaries of cake decoration.

Show-stealing pizza cake a matter of taste.

If you can’t make it to the Wilton School in Darien, Illinois for their cake decorating courses and workshops, you’ll also find their four session cake decorating class taught locally.  Here’s an overview of the four-course program.  Each course consists of four sessions and sound like great fun.

Course 1: Discover Cake Decorating

Your Instructor will show you the right way to decorate, step by step. You will share the fun with other students, who encourage you along the way. As you learn each new decorating skill, you will gain a sense of pride in your accomplishments. Plus, you will be able to share your delicious results with family and friends!

Course 2: Flowers and Borders

Create lovely new flowers like rosebuds, daisies, daffodils, mums and more. Use these flowers in a grand finale — an impressive flower basket cake using the interwoven basketweave technique.

Course 3: Fondant and Tiered Cakes

Begin with intricate accents such as embroidery and lace, stringwork, garland and ruffle borders. Discover the beauty of decorating with rolled fondant — for covering cakes with an immaculate smooth surface and shaping fun figures and elegant flowers.

Course 4: Fondant and Gum Paste

You will see how to use tools to cut and shape amazing textured ribbons and borders. Each new technique will prepare you to decorate a Grand Finale cake you will be proud to take home.

Check the Wilton site for a class location near you.