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Sugar-frosted fruit and fresh flowers are very popular cake decoration garnishes. They will add a contrasting texture, and add color to your beautiful creation. Using these items will allow you to spruce up a plain cake.

Fruit

Using fresh berries for a garnish on your decorated cake are a colorful, and flavorful addition. You can roll them in sugar, glaze them, or use them plain. Placing fresh strawberries and mint leaves around the top of a chocolate cake will ad a splash of color. Orange sections, grapes, and strawberries glazed with shiny syrup, can be placed on the top of a cake for a beautiful, yet edible effect.

Dollops of whipped cream and fresh figs arranged tastefully on a cake can be quite appealing to the eye. Frosted whole fruit, such as grapes, seckel pears, small apples and figs are great cake decorations for late summer and fall weddings. Berries will last longer than sliced fruit, serve the cake soon after adding the fruit as it tends to bleed onto the frosting.

Flowers

The use of fresh, edible flowers in cake decorating, are a beautiful and easy way to make a cake more appealing. Starting with a cake dusted with confectioner's sugar, or a frosted cake, and add flowers. There are many flowers that are edible, rose petals, sweet violets, honeysuckle, bachelor's buttons, and callendulas etc… You might want to add a generous dollop of whipped cream to the center, or just off center, of the cake. Arrange the flowers around the whipped cream.

When you dust the flowers with super-fine sugar, the look is one of elegance and sparkle. Candied rose petals and candied violets are a wonderful cake decoration. Make sure the flowers you are using are edible, clean, and free of pesticide.

Nuts

Candied or toasted nuts are great on carrot cakes and spice cakes. Coarse or finely chopped nuts can be pressed into the icing on the sides of the cake, or along the bottom edge, for texture and flavor.

The use of fresh fruits and flowers will add an unusual and unique look to any cake. Cake decoration has become a more bold hobby or choice of career. You can open your own cake decorating business and cater to your friends, family. And community. Although it is time consuming, cake decorating can also be a fun and lucrative business.

Artistic cake decorators can just about name their price for one of a kind cake decorating creations. Of course this will all depend on where you are located. Cake decorators in New York City will be able to charge more than those in Jamestown. Of course there is also a cost of living difference, and a more sophisticated group of clients. No matter where you are located, offering unusual, unique cake decoration will put you on top and you will be in popular demand for the cake decorating needs of the majority.

You should never eat flowers that have been sprayed with pesticides. Some of the most popular edible flowers are:

Nasturtiums have a Peppery flavor, Chive blossoms taste like a mild sweet onion, Roses, Violas and Pansies taste a bit like grapes. Other edible flowers are apple blossoms, almond, lavender, borage, chamomile, lovage, lemon, orange blossoms, plum blossoms, peach blossoms, and squash blossoms. We also have daisies, chrysanthemums, geraniums, marigolds, jasmine, lilacs, and violets.

Candied Flowers

Candied flowers are great for desserts and in cake decorating. Here is a recipe to make your own.

Time to prepare: 8 hrs. and 15 minutes Yield: 2 dozen flowers.

1/4 cup beaten egg whites 1/2 cup superfine sugar 2 cups edible flowers of your choice

Clean and blot flowers dry with a paper towel. With a paint brush, brush on a thin layer of egg white on each side of the flower petals or blossoms. Place flowers into a shallow bowl of superfine sugar and sprinkle more sugar over the flowers so that they are coated. Make sure all of the flower has been sprinkled with sugar. Remove flowers and place them on a sheet of waxed paper. Sprinkle each flower with another layer of sugar, again, make sure the entire flower gets a layer of sugar.

Allow flowers to dry on the waxed paper for 8 hours. Store these tasty treats in an airtight container at room temperature until they are needed.

We are seeing more real flowers and fruit in cake decorating than ever before. The addition of these wonderful edible gifts of nature, gives the cake an elegant look. Whether you are making a wedding, anniversary, retirement, birthday, or a cake for any special occasion, you will get many compliments on your choice of decoration.

Cake decorating can be a bit frustrating and time consuming, but once you learn the techniques and utilize the newest ideas when cake decorating, you will find that it can be fun, rewarding, and lucrative. Most cake decorators have an artistic background, or artistic talent.

If you are thinking of starting a cake decorating business in your home you will need to keep up with the latest trends in cake decorating to be able to offer your clients new unique and wonderful choices. As with anything designs get old, while some will stick with the traditional white or ivory for a wedding cake, but there are those who want to step out of the mold and have a little color in their wedding cake.

Let's begin with the basics. The cake decorating tips that are essential and things that you need to know before you. You will need a workplace that will afford enough room to be able to decorate your cake without being cramped. You also need to be away from disturbances and you will not need to move away from because you will be in the way of others. The first thing to know about cake decorating, is the fact that the cake must be completely cooled before you make any attempt to decorate. If the cake is still warm, you will run into many problems.

The next item is to make sure you have gathered all of the tools and ingredients for decorating your cake. Some items you will need are: a syringe or piping bag, the type and size tips you will be using, and the coupler to attach the tips to the piping bag. You will need to plan how you will decorate the cake ahead of time, so you can have all of the tools you need on hand when you begin decorating.

To begin with you need to ice, or frost the cake with royal icing, butter cream icing, or fondant icing. To start with, make sure you place a thin layer of frosting over the top to hold the crumbs together. When that is done, you will frost over that layer. It is important to make sure the icing you use is the right consistency. If the icing is too thin or too thick it will affect the end result of your cake decorating. If you are creating a decorated cake and you think your frosting is too thin, you can add a bit more confectioners sugar. Make sure you add this a little at a time as it can become too stiff if you add too much. If you feel your icing is too stiff, carefully add a bit more liquid.

Icing is used in different consistencies for different cake decorating techniques. When you are making roses, or any flower with upright petals, and will be piping figures on the cake, you will want to use a stiff icing or your petals may droop. To make stars, flowers with flat petals, and shell borders, you will want to use a medium consistency. A thin icing is used for writing on the cake, and thinner, more delicate work such as vines and leaves. If you add about 2 teaspoons of light corn syrup to your icing, you will find the icing will flow easier and make it more flexible.

flowers with flat petals. A thin icing mixture should be used for writing characters, and thinner, pointier shapes and styles such as leaves and vines. Add a couple of teaspoons of light corn syrup to the icing mix to make it more flexible and easier flowing.

Once the cake is iced, it is time to begin decorating. The way you hold the icing bag is important, as the direction and angle you hold the piping bag will influence the way the patterns and shapes you will create, will turn out. Thankfully there are only two positions to hold the piping bag to make certain designs.

The firs position is to hold the piping bag at a 90 degree angle, straight up from the surface of the cake. This is used for the simpler decorations that don't involve a lot of movement in making the design. The center of rosebuds, adding eyes to a character or making stars and dots. The other position involves the piping bag being held at a 45 degree angle, or holding the bag half-way between straight up and the surface of the cake.

In this position you have more flexibility to create sweeping styles, and create shapes with your piping hand. You can use this angle for flower petals, or writing on the cake. Some of the piping tips, like the tips for basket weave, petal and ruffle, have ends that are irregular. There is a right and wrong way to hold the bag when working with them.

Now that you know the basics here are a few tips to start you on your way to making a decorated cake.

- Basket Weave - Using this technique will give the sides of your cake the look of a basket. You may want to practice on a piece of waxed paper until you feel confident enough to begin on the cake. Using the basket weave tip and an icing that is of medium consistency, take turns applying a vertical stripe, following it with a horizontal stripe across the vertical. Make sure the horizontal stripes are a bit longer so the vertical stripe will fit across it. Soon you will see a basket pattern become apparent.

- Bows - This technique will make your cake look like a wrapped gift. Use a flat tip and medium icing. Hold your bag at a 45 degree angle and sweep your bag left, making half of the bow. Make the same movement to the right, making a figure 8. Hold the bag and sweep downward and out from the center of the bow, once on each side to make 2 streamers.

- Lacework - This technique is great for wedding or baby shower cakes. You should practice this technique to make sure you have good control before you use it in your cake decorating. Using thin white icing, hold the bag at nearly a 90 degree angle and very close to the surface of the cake. You will want to make a border so you will need to decide how far you want to go in from the edge and make an icing border.

Move the tip up down and around to make many similar shapes, do not touch or cross the other designs. Do this until the area is as full as you want it to be. Now you can go over the border on both sides with a thicker icing. You will be amazed at the lacework you have created.

1. Buttercream Icing: Buttercream is the icing that is used the most in cake decorating. This is the same type of frosting that we can buy readymade in the grocery store. This icing is easy to use and easy to make. The ingredients are confectioners sugar, and butter or shortening. What you use to thin the frosting will differ with the icing texture you need to work with, to determine whether to use eggs or milk. Take care when thinning the frosting, remember, a little milk goes a long way. If you find the frosting is too thin, you can add a bit of confectioners sugar to thicken it.

To assure an even finish on your frosting, dip the icing spatula in cold water to make the surface smooth. This will give a smoother finish for writing. Buttercream is used to create flowers and other decorations made with a pastry bag. The icing needs to be the right consistency to make flower petals or writing. When you make roses out of icing, you can freeze them and add them to the cake later. This will make them easier to handle.

Buttercream can be stored in the refrigerator without getting hard. Make sure it is back to room temperature before you attempt to use it.

2. Foam Icing: This is a meringue and is used on lemon pie or Baked Alaska. This frosting is made of egg whites beaten into stiff peaks. It is possible to add flavoring and color to the meringue. You will not be able to use this icing for intricate cake decorating, and you won't be able to use an icing bag with this icing. This icing is used when you want the cake to look fluffy, with little ornate decoration.

3. Fondant: This icing is very popular with those who decorate wedding cakes, and cakes for very special occasions. The ingredients are simply powdered sugar, water, cream of tartar, or glucose. Fondant is thick and doughy, with a silky, smooth, texture. Fondant will give the cake a flawless surface, and soft, rounded edges. Working with fondant is an art and will take practice to get it right. Fondant has a translucent quality, and will work best when placed on the cake over a thin layer of buttercream frosting.

4. Fudge Icing: Fudge icing is made from chocolate, peanut butter, almond, or mint. This icing is quite thick and contains both shortening and butter.

5. Glazes: This frosting is thin and watery, and will harden into a shell after it is placed on the cake. This frosting is mostly used on pastries. Glazes help to keep the pastry moist.

6. Flat Icing: This icing is similar to a glaze, but it is a bit thicker. Flat icing is a combination of confectioner's sugar and water and is used to drizzle onto pastries.

7. Royal Icing: This is also a flat icing, and hardens after it is set. Royal icing is a wonderful choice to make flowers, sculptures, and garnishes for cake decorating.

You can use any combination of the basic seven icings listed, to create a personal masterpiece. You will need to practice before you become good at cake decorating. You will get the hang of it sooner than you think, and even the mistakes will taste great.

1. Rolled Fondant Icing White Vanilla, 2 pounds - $8.88. Rolled Fondant cake icing is a premium quality, non-stick, icing that is pliable and can be rolled out for cake decorating with a rolling pin or mechanical sheeter. This Fondant produces a satiny smooth and elegant finish to any cake. This product can also be used as a modeling paste to create decorative flat or 3-D pieces for your cake decoration.

This product has a mellow flavor and is delicious. It is very pliable and easy to handle . This product can be used over a thin layer of icing or a layer of powdered sugar so that it will not stick. Any cake will take on a beautiful, elegant look when Fondant is used. Different flavors of Fondant are available in various weights and flavors.

2. Buttercream Icing 3 1/2 pounds. Ready to use for cake decorating and icing. Price $8.95, 25 pounds- $46.89, 8 pounds- $16.01.

3. Hexagon Cake Pan- 16 gauge anodized aluminum, straight sides, Hemmed rim for durability, even wall thickness. Also available Cut Corner Sheet Cake Pan, Petal Cake Baking Pans, Heart Cake Pans, Square cheesecake pan with removable bottom, Oval Cake Pan Set, 10 x 2 Aluminum baking ring, Round Cake Pan Sets, Wedding Cake Pan Set.

4. Magic Line Round Cake Pans are made to suit all of your baking needs whether you are a professional or a novice at cake decorating. Set includes one 6 inch, 8 inch, 10 inch, 12 inch, and 14 inch pan.

5. Set of 2 round cake pans from 2 x 2 inch, to 20 x 2. Prices range from $4.84 to $34.10. 3 inch deep cake pans and pan sets at lower prices.

6. Round, fluted cake pans.

7. Non-stick angelfood cake pan.

8. 3 tier Cake and Dessert Stand - $29.29.

9. French Chef Rolling Pin - $6.99.

These and many more cake decorating supplies are available at ultimatebaker.com. This site has all of the newest gadgets and tools that will help with cake decorating. This site is an excellent store for all of your cake decorating needs, whether you are a home baker or a professional cake decorator, there are so many tools at this website, you will find it hard to choose. An excellent site for those who own a cake decorating business, you will benefit from shopping here because of their reasonable prices and their large inventory.

Cake decorating is becoming a large industry. Every celebration includes a cake to share with the participants. A cake decorating business can be a very profitable and fun.

Wedding Cake Decoration

There are some fantastic companies out there that cater to weddings and where you will be able to go to get the perfect wedding cake of your dreams.

Wedding Fads

This is definitely one of the most popular companies out there today for wedding cakes of all sorts. Whether you want to choose a cake that is ready to go or have one custom made, you can get whatever you need. They also have a variety of cake toppers and accessories that you can choose from to add onto the cake, to add that special touch.

They are a complete boutique of wedding accessories and reception supplies, and you can find not only cakes and wedding cake toppers but as well cake stands, gum paste wedding flowers, silver cake plateaus, custom wedding favors, and much more.

Sweet Celebrations Wedding Cakes

For an extravagant wedding cake, you may want to check out this next company. They offer photo galleries so that you can see all their different wedding cakes firsthand, and read reviews from past customers so you can see what they had to say.

Their cakes are truly incredible, which you will see when you start browsing through the selection yourself, and whether you want something breathtaking or something more casual, whatever you need, you can find it here and for a reasonable price.

They want to make sure that all of their customers are completely satisfied and so they are always willing to take the time to work with you and make sure that you get everything you are looking for.

To finish it all off, you are also going to want to get a beautiful wedding cake topper. This is something that goes on the top of the cake and which is very commonly used for wedding cakes. You may want to put the basic bride and groom which is what we usually see on top of a wedding cake, but there are also many other ideas that you can go with as well.

Flowers, cards, glitter, and lollipops, whatever you would like to put on top of your cake you will probably be able to find.

Wedding Cake

and in fact there are many other ideas that you may prefer more, such as a wedding cake picture of you and your partner.

If you are looking for a wedding cake topper, you will want to find a store that offers a lot of variety and of course great prices, so that you know you can find exactly what you need but at an affordable price. Here are a few of the top contenders for companies offering wedding cake topper selections that are affordable, and which you will want to check out for yourself.

My Dream Wedding

Whether you are looking for wedding cake toppers, wedding cakes and accessories, or even information on how to plan your wedding, the My Dream Wedding Company is one well worth going through. They want to make sure that your most special day, your wedding, goes perfectly, and so they are willing to be there every step of the way for you.

They offer various links to different companies so you can find just what you are looking for, and they are always updating their information so you can keep checking back to find out what is new and exciting.

Wedding Favorites

Another company that will be worth checking out, whether you are looking for a funky wedding cake topper or more traditional one, is Wedding Favorites. Their collection of wedding cake toppers helps ensure that you find the perfect topper to sit atop your wedding cake. Each one that they offer has been selected to be an artistic reflection of different styled weddings, so no matter what specific details you are looking for, you are sure to love something here.

It is important that you take your time when choosing a topper for your wedding cake, because this is going to reflect who you and your partner are as people and as a couple. Everyone at your wedding is going to be looking at the cake and are going to see the topper that you chose.

Remember that it is all your personal preference, so even if you want to do something humorous with your cake topper you can, it is all up to you and what you want on your special day here.

Simple Elegant Wedding Cake

Whether you are looking for a wedding cake design that is traditional or a more contemporary wedding cake idea, there are a few ideas that will help you out here.

Shop Wedding Cake Stores

One of the best things to help yourself come up with a wedding cake design will be for you to shop through some wedding cake stores. This way you will be able to get some more professional ideas and get off on the right foot, because you do not want your cake to look homemade or too basic.

This is your wedding, one of the most important days of your life, and so you are going to want the cake to be just as extravagant and beautiful.

The best idea, when you are coming up with a wedding cake design is to keep it with the theme of your wedding. If you are doing lots of roses on your tables and around the ceremony area for instance, then you may want to think of adding on some rose accessories to the cake. You could even use a rose cake topper, which would really tie in the whole theme here.

Besides coming up with a wedding cake design, there are a few other things that you want to think about here. For one, if you want to save yourself time and hassle, you could just choose from a cake design that is offered by a professional wedding cake company. This way you would not have to struggle, and know that the job would be done well.

You will need to take a bit of time to shop around at a few different cake stores, so that you can have access to the broadest range of cakes and ensure that you are getting the best price as well. After all, something that all brides and grooms can appreciate is saving money, as there are already enough other things in the wedding to have to worry about paying for.

Your wedding day will go just as you have always dreamed, as long as you take a few important steps, and taking care of the cake is one of the most essential things that need to be covered.

Simple Creative Wedding Cake

This way you know that your wedding is going to go as smoothly as possible. This is your most special day, so of course you want everything to be beautiful.

One of the best things that you can do if you want to come up with a wedding cake idea is browse around on the Internet. If you want a really great wedding cake idea, there are some terrific websites that you can look at, which will offer recipes, decoration tips and ideas, and even valuable advice on where to go to buy a cake.

This is also a great method to use for getting an average wedding cake price, which is important because then you know how much of your wedding budget is going to need to go towards the cake.

Recipes

Now if you maybe want to get super creative with your wedding cake idea and just make the cake on your own, get prepared. Making a wedding cake is certainly not easy, which is why most couples leave it up to a professional to get the job done.

However, it is certainly possible and it will definitely be a nice wedding cake idea because you will know how much of your heart and soul went into making the cake when you are at the wedding, and you can let all the guests know as well.

The Italian wedding cake idea is very popular, which typically includes coconut and pecans, but because many people are not able to eat these sorts of ingredients you will probably want to stick to a more basic recipe. It is probably going to be best for you to stick to a more basic recipe if you have never made a wedding cake before.

You would think that a wedding cake is just like a regular cake only larger, but there is actually much more detail that needs to go into it and the recipes are usually much more extravagant as well. Just make sure that you think you can handle the recipe before starting on it and trying to prepare the cake, and remember to ask for help if you need it.

Getting your friends and family involved would actually be a great idea anyway, because then they can feel as though they did their part to help out with the wedding.

Fondant Flowers Wedding Cake

Italian Wedding Cake

A very popular wedding cake recipe is the Italian Wedding Cake wedding cake recipe. For it you will need:

½ cup buttermilk,

1 tsp baking soda,

1 tsp salt,

½ cup shortening,

½ cup margarine,

2 cups white sugar,

5 egg yolks,

¼ tsp almond extract,

2 cups all-purpose flour,

5 egg whites,

½ cup drained crushed pineapple,

½ cup flaked coconut, and 1 cup chopped pecans.

For the icing you will need :

¾ cup butter softened,

1 package cream cheese softened,

4 cups confectioners’ sugar,

2 tsp vanilla extract,

and 1 cup chopped pecans.

Now to start preparing this wedding cake recipe, you need to preheat the oven to 350ºF, and then grease and flour three 8-inch pans. Then you combine the buttermilk, baking soda, and salt together in a bowl, and set aside.

In a large bowl, you want to cream together the shortening, margarine and sugar until light and fluffy, and then beat in the egg yolks one at a time so that you can make sure they are well mixed. Now you want to stir in 1 teaspoon of vanilla and almond extract, and beat in the buttermilk mixture alternatively with the flour.

Make sure that you mix only until just incorporated, and then you want to use a separate bowl and add to this the egg whites, beat until they form stiff peaks. The next step is for you to gently fold the egg whites into the batter, stir in pineapple, coconut and 1 cup pecans, and then pour the batter into the prepared pans.

Bake in the over for about a half hour, making sure to keep an eye on it, and you will be able to tell it is done by inserting a toothpick into the center and if it comes out clean you know that it is finished.

To make the frosting you cream together the butter, cream cheese and confectioners’ sugar until blended, and then stir in 2 teaspoons vanilla and 1 cup pecans. If you find that the frosting is too stiff to spread on the cake, you want to stir in milk 1 teaspoon at a time until it reaches the desired consistency.

This wedding cake recipe is very popular, and you are sure to love it. Your guests will certainly be impressed.