What are the cake decorating essentials a total beginner should know about? It is possible you already have some needed items on your hands, so stocking up will require only a few more cake decorating supplies.
For starters, if you wish to master cake decorating for beginners, equip yourself with patience and persistence. We have created a short beginner’s guide of cake decorating essentials and the way you should use them. These will serve you as a great introduction to beginner cake decorating.
How to Choose the Right Spatula Knife?
One of the most important cake-making tools is a palette knife. This is a must for every person who wants to master cake decorating for beginners. If you are looking for a perfect frosting spatula to fit your hand and make the work easier, start with a compact small-sized piece. Smaller spatula knives are easier to control and make cake decorating less challenging. A 6-inch blade offset spatula with a rounded tip and a non-slip handle is the perfect choice for a beginner and will serve as a replacement for many cake decorating and cake-making tools until you get the hang of the basics. Also, using a smaller blade spatula ensures precise and smoother moves.
A palette knife is a multipurpose kitchen utensil since you can use it to apply and trim the frosting on the cake, create various effects on icing, ift the pastries, and spread fillings on sandwiches.
Cake Decorating Turntable
Buying a turntable is a larger investment in your cake-making tools compared to a palette knife or a rolling pin. All of these decorating tools are required if you want to dive deeper into cake decorating for beginners. The rotating surface on the turntable allows you to pipe and smooth the frosting, apply buttercream, and stick decorations on your cake easily.
There are a couple of things you should have in mind when buying a cake-turner. The ideal turntable should have a non-slip and sturdy base and spin smoothly. The spin function has to be reliable and rotate freely. The looks and the height of the decorating turntable depend on your taste only.
Pastry Bags as One of the Principal Cake Decorating Supplies
One of the most commonly used cake decorating essentials is pastry bags. With an array of nozzles for icing bags, it is hard to know which ones would serve best for beginner cake decorating.
If you want to perfect your frosting technique, start with a small-sized icing bag with a rounded tip. Use a rubber spatula to insert the filling into the pastry bag. Fill 2/3 of the bag with frosting. To get rid of the air bubbles and form a paste that will flow steadily, use your hand and apply a small amount of pressure on the bag in order to push them out.
Cake decorating for beginners requires time and patience to achieve the expected results, so you would want to start by slowly creating simple shapes. With practice, you will easily master the skill of using the icing and go from beginner cake decorating to a more advanced level.
Food Coloring for Beginner Cake Decoration 101
Liquid and powder food colors are cake decorating essentials ideal for elevating the looks of your frosting, fondants, and buttercreams as well. Usually, these cake decorating supplies do not have any ingredients that will expire, making their shelf life unlimited.
The most common question about food dye in beginner cake decorating is how to determine the proper amount of color to use to create the perfect shade of frosting. Start with vanilla buttercream frosting and add just a few drops of liquid-based color. If the color turns out too pale, continue adding the food dye until you get the shade you desire.
A standard beginner’s mistake is to add too much liquid color, resulting in a low density of your frosting. Using too much liquid color makes the icing watery, and using more powder color than needed may lead to a too stiff frosting.
A great piece of advice by cake decorating professionals is to use a color wheel to have a better idea of combining colors.
Fondant: Rolling and Storing
Fondant is another one of those must-have cake decorating supplies. It’s the pliable sugar-based dough used for cake coverings and making decorations. It is a versatile type of icing, typically applied on themed cakes.
It is recommended to buy pre-colored fondant instead of making it and coloring it on your own since the process of making it can be time-consuming, and the fondant may turn out softer than needed. Before you start rolling out your fondant, you should make sure that it has the right consistency. It is usually firm when freshly bought, so you should use the heel of your hand and apply pressure to it to make it softer. To prevent it from sticking to your surface, lay down a piece of waxed paper or use a silicone mat.
Experts in cake decorating recommend using shortening to create a thin coating over the fondant you want to store because this step locks the moisture in your fondant. From cake-making tools, you’ll only need a rolling pin to work with your choice of fondant.
How to Use Piping Gel?
Since the piping gel is transparent, you can easily adjust it to any shade you want by using dry colorants rather than liquid ones. Combining piping gel with liquid colors doesn’t guarantee consistency; it often gets watered down.
You can use piping gel to bind all the components of a cake together. It can also serve as a stabilizer when you add it to whipped cream because it helps hold the whipped cream shape longer.
The piping gel gives a glossy shine to cakes. For this, it is used for creating glistering decorations. A good start for a beginner is glazing the cake by applying the gel in thin layers using only a simple brush.
A Few More Decorating Supplies to Consider
Besides all the listed essentials, a few more items will become handy as you progress. After you pick up the basics about cake decorating, these utensils will help you in your later progress.
A cake leveler will enable you to create impeccable frostings on your cake. By using a cake comb, you can upgrade the design of your cake by creating textured icing. Starting with a round piping nozzle, you can move to a star or a basket weave nozzle as you develop more skills in icing decorations.
Have we missed some supplies? If you have something you can’t go without in decorating cakes, do share it with us. Over the last forty years, Medina Baking has been making sure that all of our customers’ requirements are satisfied by providing them with high-quality products and excellent service. Contact us, and we will be ready to serve your needs and get you started on making and baking adventures.
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