Hi! I'm Emily of British Girl Bakes and I'm going to show you ten hacks for cake
decorating to make professional-looking and tasting cakes!
[Hack #1: Bake Even Layers] This first hack is a
bit mathematical but none of the rest are. When you've made your cake batter,
prepare even cake layers by weighing your batter as you divide it between
your pans. Place each pan on your scale, reset the weight to zero, and then weigh
the batter as you spoon it into the pan. My recipes include the total batter
weight, which you can divide by the number of pans you're using or if your
recipe doesn't include a weight you can weigh the mixing bowl before you start
and then subtract that number from the weight of the bowl with the batter to
get the weight of just the batter and divide that by the number of pans you're
using.
Here I'm making six layers of 80 grams each so I keep spooning batter into the
pans until I reach that weight or take a bit out if I go over that weight. A few
grams on each side of your target weight is fine. Then spread your batter flat in
the pans, tap them a few times on the counter to get rid of air bubbles and
bake them. You'll probably need to level your layers after baking and optionally
divide them and I cover these techniques in my online course on the Basics of
Bake and I've put the link for more information in the top of the screen and
in the description below this video.
[Hack #2: Keep Cakes Moist] After baking your layers but before
assembling your cake you can drizzle them with simple syrup to keep them
moist. Simple syrup is ridiculously easy to make: just put equal amounts of water
and sugar into a saucepan (and this is one cup of each here) and turn the heat
to medium and stir occasionally until all of the sugar has dissolved, which
will happen by the time the mixture starts bubbling.
You can include other ingredients to make flavored syrups like an orange peel
if you like. Let the mixture cool and then drizzle your cake layers, going
right up to the edges because that's where they're most likely to dry out.
[Hack #3: Fill Piping Bags] If you pipe buttercream onto your cake, either as a filling or for the frosting
on the outside of the cake, you'll need to put your buttercream into a piping
bag. An easy way to do this that avoids mess is to fold the top of your piping
bag over a glass and then spoon the buttercream into the bag, pushing it all
the way down to the bottom. Then you can unfold the piping bag and you'll have
space to twist the bag to stop the buttercream oozing out at the top of the
bag and making a mess on the bag and your hands. If you need to refill the bag
you'll get air pockets between the old buttercream at the bottom of the bag and
the new buttercream at the top of the bag so before you start piping, squeeze
the bag into a bowl, pushing the old buttercream out and wait for the squirt
of air which will spray out some buttercream with it, before you use the
piping bag again.
[Hack #4: Stop Cakes Sliding Around] When you assemble your cake on a cake board, start by spreading
or piping a dollop of buttercream on to the middle of the cake board to secure
the first layer of cake, pressing the cake firmly down so
that it sticks to the buttercream. This will prevent the cake from sliding
around while you assemble it but before you frost it you should chill the cake
in the fridge for 30 minutes or in the freezer for 15 minutes, which will chill
and set the buttercream dollop on the cake board, causing it to stick more
securely to that first layer of cake so that it doesn't move when you spread
frosting onto the outside of the cake.
[Hack #5: Prevent Bulges In Your Frosting] If your fillings are more liquid than
buttercream like fruit sauces or dulce de leche you should use a buttercream
dam on each layer of cake to contain the filling. This is just a ring of
buttercream piped around the outer edge of the cake and then you can spoon the
filling into the middle and spread it right up to the dam. The filling
shouldn't go any higher than the dam. Place your next layer on top and push
down to make sure that the filling doesn't ooze out. This will prevent a
bulge in the frosting on the side of your cake where filling oozes out under
the weight of the cake and fillings and frosting on top of it.
[Hack #6: keep Cakes Steady On The Turntable] Before placing your cake board onto a turntable, place a ring of masking tape in the center of
the turntable and press your cake board down onto it to secure it in the middle
of the turntable so that it doesn't slide around while you're frosting or
decorating it. You can use masking tape or a non-slip mat for this and you can
buy these non-slip mats as drawer liners on Amazon or at grocery stores. You can
see that even though this cake is really tall, with a non-slip mat underneath the
cake board and a dollop of buttercream securing the bottom layer of cake to the
cake board, it isn't wobbling around as I frost it.
[Hack #7: Prevent Crumbs In Your Frosting] This frosting is the next hack. It's called a crumb coat and it's a thin
layer of frosting that completely covers the cake from the very top of the sides
all the way down to the cake board at the bottom, and the top surface of the
cake as well. Its purpose is exactly what the name suggests: a crumb coat is a coat
of frosting to trap any crumbs that come off the cake. It doesn't need to be
pretty - it's fine if you can see the cake layers through it and it will probably
have visible crumbs in it but you're going to let it set before applying the
final coat of frosting, which will sit on top of this and the
crumb coat will act as a barrier between the cake and the final coat so that
crumbs can't get into the final coat of frosting. If you're enjoying this
tutorial please click the thumbs up button! [Hack #8: Create Neat, Even Borders] A quick, easy, and therefore
popular way to add a border to the bottom of a cake is to use sprinkles.
Place your cake on a tray for this, to catch any falling sprinkles so they
don't go all over your kitchen and you'll need parchment paper for this
hack. Fold a piece of parchment paper in half and cut along the seam to make two
strips of parchment paper and tape them together to make one long strip. Wrap the
strip around a chilled cake, covering up the top section of the cake but leaving
the bottom exposed where you want the sprinkles to go. It's fine if the
parchment strip doesn't go all the way up to the top of the cake,
just a few inches above the exposed area where you're going to press the
sprinkles is fine. The cake needs to be chilled so that the frosting sets and
gets cold and hard so it holds its shape and doesn't get damaged by the parchment
paper wrapped around it. Now just press your sprinkles into the exposed frosting
below the parchment strip using an offset spatula or a spoon or your hands
and when you peel the parchment paper away, you'll leave a perfectly neat
sprinkle border around the base of the cake.
[Hack #9: Decorate Cakes A Month In Advance!] After you frost and decorate your cake, you can refrigerate it until the next
day or if you want to store it for longer you can freeze it, fully decorated.
To do this, place your cake in the freezer for 30 minutes to an hour to set
the frosting and the decorations so that they get hard and hold their shape for
the next step. Then take the cake out and wrap the whole thing (the cake and the
cake board and any decorations on top) in cling film or saran wrap. You'll need at
least two layers to completely cover the cake and the point of this is to prevent
any condensation in the freezer getting to the cake because any drops of
condensation will stick to the outside of the cake and can damage the
decorations. Then put the wrapped cake back in the freezer for up to a month,
moving it to the fridge 24 hours before serving it to defrost gradually. Unwrap
the cake as soon as you take it out of the fridge, while the frosting is still
cold and hard and won't get damaged while unwrapping it.
[Hack #10: Beautify Cardboard Cake Boards] A quick hack to make
even these cheap cardboard cake boards look pretty is to wrap them in fabric
ribbon. Squeeze clear craft glue all around the edge of the cake board and
the easiest way to do this is to hold your hands still with the tip of the
glue bottle against the side of the cake board and then spin the turntable to
apply the glue all the way around. Then choose where the back of your cake will
be and press the end of the ribbon into that point on the cake board. Spin the
turntable again, pressing your finger against the ribbon as you go to keep it
taut and to stick it to the glue. Fabric ribbon works best for this because it's
flexible and sticks easily and it also looks pretty, especially if you choose a
color that matches or complements the colors of the frosting or decorations on
the cake. When you get to the end, cut the ribbon so that it will overlap the
beginning of the ribbon by a little bit, maybe half a centimeter, and then squeeze
a dot of glue onto the beginning of the ribbon and press the end against it. Make
sure the width of the ribbon is the same as the height of the cake board so that
it completely covers the cardboard edging but doesn't stick up above the
top of the cake board. Don't move the cake from the surface you did
this on for about an hour, until the glue has dried and the ribbon has stuck to
the cake board, so if the cake is on a turntable and you want to refrigerate it,
put it in the fridge on the turntable. And that's it!
I hope you found these hacks useful. Please click the thumbs up button and
subscribe to my channel to see a new cake decorating tutorials every week!