I'm going to show you 12 tools that you already have in your kitchen that you can use to decorate
cakes. Use these instead of buying fancy cake decorating tools and you'll save money and space!
Cupcake pans aren't just for baking cupcakes. Those little cups in the pan are perfect for
tinting small amounts of frosting for cake designs instead of using lots of little
bowls which will take you forever to wash afterwards. Since you'll only have a tiny
amount of frosting in each cup you'll only need a tiny drop of gel to get really bright colours.
Casserole dishes or baking dishes can double up as cake pans. You'll need to bake the cake for a few
more minutes than normal since a glass or ceramic dish is thicker than a metal cake pan. This makes
a cake that you decorate inside the dish so you don't have to worry about covering up the sides.
Piping is a fun way to add lots of colour and texture or you can spread frosting to cover the
top instead. You're not limited to cakes either - try this with brownies or chocolate chip cookie
dough! These are quick and easy to decorate and they're easy to transport to an event and also
easy to serve. Leftover buttercream? Don't throw it away! Pipe or spoon it into a ziploc bag which
is airtight to keep the buttercream fresh for two weeks in the fridge or two months in the freezer.
After you push the air out it lies flat, taking up almost no space. I share everything I know
about buttercream in my MasterCourse on The Basics of Buttercream and the link is up in the top of
the screen and in the video description. You can also use ziplock bags for piping beaded borders
or piped lines or dotted decorations if you run out of piping bags or want to use up buttercream
in a ziploc bag from the freezer without dirtying a piping bag. You'd never guess this border was
piped with a ziploc bag! Let's make this stencil next. Parchment paper or wax paper is perfect for
stencils because it's easily available, it's cheap, it's lightweight and it's flexible.
Draw your design or you can trace an image and then cut it out and wrap the stencil around
a cake after chilling it. This is my 4 Minute Buttercream which gets really firm when it's cold
so you won't damage it with the stencil. The recipe for my buttercream is at the top of
the screen and in the video description. Spread buttercream all over the stencil,
scrape off the excess to leave a thin smooth layer and then peel the stencil off. Now you can create
any design on a cake instead of buying expensive stencils. Non-slip mats are intended to line
drawers and shelves but any mesh one will act as a non-slip mat to stop your cakes sliding around
on the turntable. You only need a small piece and this makes frosting cakes so much easier!
You can also use it inside cake boxes if your cake board isn't as big as the box to stop the
cake from moving within the box. You can wash and dry these and use them again and again! I always
have a box of toothpicks handy because they're great for outlining designs and they're so tiny
that they're the perfect tool for manipulating frosting to tidy up lettering, stencil smudges,
or borders on cakes. Cleaning up isn't as fun as baking and decorating so make that part as quick
as possible by putting your cake on a tray or baking sheet when you're using sprinkles.
The tray will catch any sprinkles that roll off the cake board, saving you from crunchy footsteps
and finding stray sprinkles everywhere for days. When you finish decorating, tilt the tray to pour
the sprinkles down into one corner and into a bowl or jar to use for another project. Boba
straws are these wide straws and they're stronger than normal straws which makes them perfect for
supporting tier cakes. Use one to measure the height of the cake and then measure that against
the rest of the straws so that they're all the same length. Push them into the cake and these
will hold up the next cake on its own cake board so the top cake doesn't sink into the bottom cake.
Use paper straws to make your own cake toppers of any shape and size. Draw or trace your shape, tape
a piece of parchment or wax paper on top and put it on a plate or tray or cutting board - something
flat and small enough to put in the freezer. Melt chocolate chips, spoon them into a ziploc bag,
cut off a corner and squeeze the melted chocolate through the hole to outline the shape and then
fill it in. This doesn't need to be perfectly neat. Use a toothpick or a spoon or a small offset
spatula to spread the chocolate flat and then pour more sprinkles on top straight away while
the chocolate is still soft and sticky. Press the sprinkles gently into the chocolate and then
put the plate into the freezer for five minutes to set the chocolate and attach the sprinkles.
Lift the shape off the parchment paper and flip it over and make a little line of melted chocolate
towards the bottom of the shape which will act as glue. Push a paper straw into the melted
chocolate, leave it to set and then push the straw into a cake to make a fun, colourful cake topper!
Ice cream scoops can be used to divide batter between cupcake wrappers without spilling onto
the top edge of the wrappers or onto the cupcake pan and if you fill the scoop with
the same amount of batter each time, all of your cupcakes will be the same size. You can do this
for cake batter too which will make sure you have the same amount of batter in each pan so
each cake layer is the same height. It's also great for marble cakes so you can alternate
between different flavors of batter and then swirl them together to marble them at the end.
Another multi-purpose utensil is a basic fork. As soon as you've frosted a cake, while the frosting
is still soft before it sets, press the prongs of a fork gently into the frosting and spin the cake
to imprint whatever pattern you like. This is an easy way to add lots of texture and detail
without needing to buy a cake comb and the process with a fork is much quicker than with a cake comb!
Finally, a tall glass will be your best friend when you're using piping bags. Drop the piping
bag in so that the piping tip is at the bottom of the glass and fold the top edge of the bag
over the rim of the glass. Spoon your frosting into the bag, unfold the bag, squeeze the frosting
down to the bottom, twist the bag and this way you'll keep the top edges of the piping bag clean
so you don't get frosting all over your hands when you pipe. I hope these tips have been useful! For
more ideas for easy cake decorating SUBSCRIBE to my channel for a new tutorial every week and
visit my online cake school for hundreds of cake designs and techniques and join my ClubPLUS for
access to every MiniCourse, MasterCourse and Live Workshop. The link is at the top of the
screen and in the video description or go to www.britishgirlbakes.com Thanks for watching!