If you love baking cakes, then this article is especially for you! In this article we will look at a wide variety of ways to decorate cakes with your own hands at home. You can transform an ordinary cake using fondant, marzipan, glaze, wafers, chocolate, glaze, cream, cream, meringue, fruit, jelly, sweets, marmalade and sprinkles. We will look at each ingredient of the decoration separately, get acquainted with the recipe for its preparation and, of course, be inspired by a huge number of ideas.
Some cake decorating options will require special materials, such as: a pastry syringe with nozzles, parchment paper, a sharp thin knife, spatulas of different thicknesses.
Decorating cakes with fondant
Mastic is a special dough for decorating a cake. You can roll it out and cover the top of the cake; you can also create various animal figures, letters, numbers, flowers, leaves, openwork patterns and whatever your imagination desires.
The basic rule for working with mastic is that you need to work with it very quickly, as it hardens instantly. But there is a way out! When you form the decoration, pinch off the desired piece and wrap the rest of the mastic in film. Large figures may crack when dry.
Mastic recipe
Ingredients: condensed milk, milk powder or cream, powdered sugar, food coloring (optional). The amount of ingredients directly depends on the size of the cake.
Preparation process: Take a deep bowl and mix milk powder or cream with powdered sugar. Gradually add condensed milk and mix well. You should have an elastic dough that does not stick to your hands. Add food coloring drop by drop and mix into the dough. After cooking, immediately wrap the mastic in film.
Decorating cakes with marzipan
Marzipan is a nut mass consisting of almond flour and sugar paste. Its advantages are that it holds its shape perfectly, is quite elastic and has an amazing delicate taste. It is convenient to create all decorative elements from it - small figures, cake covering and voluminous decorations.
Marzipan recipe
Ingredients: 200 grams of sugar, a quarter glass of water, 1 glass of lightly toasted almonds, butter.
Preparation process: Peel the almonds and finely chop them in a blender or on a grater. Prepare syrup from sugar and water. The consistency of the syrup should be thick. Add ground almonds to the syrup, stir and cook for 3 minutes. Take a bowl and grease it well with butter. Pour the marzipan into a bowl. Cool the marzipan and pass through a meat grinder. Marzipan is ready! If it turns out liquid, add powdered sugar. If the marzipan is very thick, add a little boiled water.
Decorating cakes with chocolate
Decorating with chocolate is considered a classic decoration for cakes. This ingredient goes well with biscuits, souffles, mousse, puff pastry and various creams. The advantages of chocolate are that, once melted, it can be given any possible shape, and when the chocolate hardens, it will not crack or spread. To decorate cakes, you can use any chocolate - black, white, milk, porous.
Methods for decorating cakes with chocolate
To decorate a cake with chocolate chips, simply grate a chocolate bar and sprinkle it over the cake.
To decorate the cake with curls, lightly warm the chocolate bar, then take a thin knife, or better yet, a vegetable cutter and cut thin strips, they will immediately begin to curl. You can create gorgeous patterns from them.
Here is another way to decorate a cake with openwork patterns, inscriptions and drawings. Melt the chocolate bar in a steam bath. Place the chocolate into a pastry syringe. Take parchment paper and draw patterns. Use a pastry syringe to draw patterns onto the parchment paper. Place the parchment in the refrigerator to allow the chocolate to set. Carefully remove the chocolate from the parchment and decorate the cake. If you are not good at drawing, find a beautiful pattern on the Internet, print it out, attach transparent parchment paper to the drawing and simply copy it.
To decorate the cake with chocolate leaves, you will need real leaves from trees or a houseplant. Wash and dry the leaves. Melt the chocolate in a steam bath and place it on the inside of the sheet with a silicone brush. Place in the refrigerator, and when it hardens, carefully remove the chocolate from the leaf and decorate the cake.
Another creative way to decorate a cake is to use cherries and chocolate. Discard the pits, place each cherry in the melted chocolate and decorate the cake.
Decorating cakes with whipped cream
Whipped cream is an original airy, voluminous and delicate decoration. Their preparation does not require special products. To beautifully decorate the cake with whipped cream, you will need a pastry syringe. You need to work with cream fairly quickly. Make sure all ingredients and tools are prepared. The surface of the cake should be smooth and not too sticky.
Whipped Cream Recipe
Ingredients: half a liter of high fat cream from 33%, a bag of vanilla, 100-200 grams of powdered sugar, 1 bag of instant gelatin, food coloring (optional).
Preparation process: place the cream in the refrigerator for 12 hours. Pour chilled cream into a deep container. Take another deep container and pour ice water into it. Place the container of cream in a container of ice water. Dissolve gelatin in the manner indicated on the package. Beat the cream with a mixer (do not use a blender, as it will not create foam). Beat them until the foam becomes strong enough. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla, then whisk to combine. Add dissolved gelatin in a thin stream. Place the cream in a syringe and decorate the cake.