Q&A for How to Decorate a Cake

Make buttercream icing for your cake by combining 1 and 1/2 cups of butter with 5 cups of icing sugar. Mix well, then add a few drops of vanilla extract and continue to stir until it reaches a light, fluffy consistency.

A turntable is very useful for this. Use a spatula or knife to scrape off the excess icing while spinning the table. This will also make your cake smooth. Another tip is to dip your spatula or knife in hot water, wipe off the water, and use that to smooth out the icing.

You can sift the icing sugar on top of the cake to form an even, thin layer. This will look simple but cute. You can also buy special stencils to create various designs on the cake. However, stencils can be costly. An inexpensive option is to use paper doilies as stencils.

You can take a zip lock bag and cut a small corner to make a very small hole.

Get yourself a book on cake decorating and practice! Do not expect to decorate one cake and have it look professional.

You can use cake candles to decorate your cake. You can tie ribbon around your cake like a present, but do it very carefully and remember to remove it prior to eating. There are many different ways to decorate a cake without using edible frosting/candy. If you have fruit, you could cut the fruit in a tasteful manner and place it on top of your cake.

The best way to decorate is with a piping bag. Nerdy Nummies, a YouTuber, has great videos about decorating a cake.

Use a resealable bag to make a piping funnel and make zigzag lines with it. Place the almonds in between the zigzag lines.

Generally you don't make piping tips, you have to buy them. You could try using the tip of a Ziploc bag as one, however.

You can make good fondant by using vanilla icing and adding powdered sugar to it. If you want more fondant, then start by using 2 tubs of vanilla icing, and keep on adding the powdered sugar to it. If you want colored fondant, just add food coloring to the fondant when it's no longer sticky. If you want thinner fondant, add less powdered sugar, and the opposite for thicker fondant.

Food coloring is a bottle of dye that can be used in cooking and is often used to change the color of a cake or icing. You can easily find it in a local supermarket.

Put a small amount of buttercream in the middle of your cake board and place the sponge/cake in the middle. Then either spread or pipe a layer of buttercream before placing the second sponge/cake on top. Spread a thin layer of buttercream around the cake, using a flat edge (knife, spatula, palette knife, cake scraper) and refrigerate. When the buttercream is set, spread more buttercream on the edges and top of the cake, making sure to get them straight and flat with your straight tool. Decorate with flowers, sugar work, chocolate decorations, dollops of buttercream or any other decoration.

It depends on what type of icing you are using. When making buttercream, I always reduce the sugar quite a lot because that won't affect the consistency of the buttercream as it would with fondant. With fondant and sugar paste, you can't really make it less sweet because sugar is what makes the icing have a dough-like consistency.

First, you would need to make the fondant and shape it around your cake. You would then need to flatten it and trim the edges. I would recommend finding YouTube videos that demonstrate the technique.

Add red or yellow food dye. Don't add too much or it might change the flavor.

You can add melted chocolate to your icing, or even cocoa powder.

No. As long as it is cool when it's time to ice it, it will be fine.

You could use a spreading knife or spatula. For a substitute piping bag, cut a small hole in the corner of a Ziploc bag.

Icing is preferable from the standpoint of taste. However, if you want a better look for the cake, fondant is smoother than icing and is made for decor.