Cake Decorating Tips for the Beginner

It takes a lot of practice to become a skilled cake decorator. This does not however mean that beginners can't decorate a cake. As long as you choose a design that is not too complicated you should have no trouble with decorating it as long as you keep a few basic tips in mind.

Probably the most important cake decorating tip for beginners is to choose a design for your cake that is appropriate for your skill level. It takes years of practice to get to the level where you can create the elaborate cakes that you see being produced on television. There are lots of books and websites that contain cake decorating ideas for beginners, stick to these when you are starting out.

Another useful tip for the new cake decorator is to use multiple layers on your cake. This is not required of course and it may not be appropriate for the design that you have selected but in most cases you will find that it is easier to work with the cake if it is in multiple layers. Equally important a tiered cake just looks more elegant.

The most important thing to getting the cake to look the way that you want is to get icing as smooth as possible. The way to do this is to hold the spatula that you are using flat. This will help to spread the frosting out and keep it smooth. Another option is to use as ganache instead of icing. A ganache goes on really smooth so it takes almost no experience to apply it properly.

One useful tip that a lot of people find to be helpful when they are first learning to decorate a cake is to try a practice run first. You don't have to actually bake a cake to do this; you can put the icing on a plate so that you can get the design worked out before you start working on the cake. Even the professionals do this when they are working with a new design.

One other thing to keep in mind when you are decorating a cake is to have fun while you are doing it. When you first start out the cakes probably won't turn out exactly the way that you want them. It really doesn't matter as long as they taste good. With more practice you will get better at it.