Mini cakes are perfect for mini celebrations or if you want to give each
person their favourite flavour or personalised decorations! In this
tutorial I'm going to show you how to bake mini cake layers without special
tools and how to assemble and frost such
tricky little things and then I'll share a few ideas for
decorating them. There are lots of ways to make mini
cakes and I have tutorials on how to make them in special mini cake pans
and in cupcake pans and I've put the links for those tutorials in the video
description but the quickest way is to bake a sheet
cake and then cut out mini cake layers with a round cookie cutter.
This is a 9 by 13 inch pan and this is the 6 inch batch size of my Perfect
Chocolate Cake but you can use any cake recipe and any
size or shape of pan, for example I had some extra layers of
vanilla cake so i cut out some mini cake layers from those with a round cookie
cutter and also with a star-shaped cutter,
which I turned into naked mini cakes with pretty piped filling between the
layers. This is a three inch cookie cutter which
is about the width of a cupcake, just to give you an idea of the size of these
but with three layers these mini cakes are going to be much taller than a
cupcake. To frost mini cakes it's essential that
the cake layers are cold so you can either put them in the fridge
for about an hour or if you like you can put them in a ziplock bag and freeze
them for up to a month before you make and decorate your cakes.
The easiest way to add filling to your cakes is to pipe it onto the cake layers
because the cakes are so tiny that it's tricky to hold them still
while you spread filling onto them. From my sheet cake I cut out 12 circles
which makes four mini cakes of three layers each.
They look nice and neat, ready to be frosted but first
you have to secure each one to a cake board. This is a four inch cake board
which is just big enough for these little three inch cakes.
I've put the link for these cake boards in the video description.
Spread or pipe a little dollop of buttercream onto the middle of the cake
board and then press your mini cake down onto
it. When the buttercream sets it will act as glue, sticking the cake to
the board. If you prefer you can do this at the
beginning, putting a dollop of buttercream on the cake board
and then press your first layer of cake onto the board and assemble it there,
alternating cake and filling right there on the board.
Either way is fine. If you're enjoying this tutorial please click the thumbs up
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a new cake decorating tutorial every week!
I want to show you another way to assemble mini cakes and decorate them at
the same time. Put your buttercream in a piping bag
fitted with a piping tip or you can use different colours of
buttercream and different piping tips like this petal tip. After attaching your
first layer of cake to the board pipe the buttercream onto the cake,
giving the filling a pretty shape and texture.
I'm using a 1M star tip to pipe these little orange stars.
Place the next layer of cake on top and then pipe on the next layer of filling.
I'm switching to yellow buttercream and a petal tip for these ruffles.
Only the outer edge of the filling will be visible so it's a good idea to start
there and work your way in so that you focus on the neatness of the
piping on the outer edge. If you start in the middle and work your
way out you'll be guessing on how to space the piping so that you end up
right at the edge of the cake and that's why it's easier to start at
the edge. This is a 199 open star tip and then on
my final layer of cake I'm using a petal tip again to pipe a flower on top of the
mini cake. By adding this detail to the filling of
the cake you're adding a decorative touch now,
while assembling the cake, which means you can present this as a naked cake and
skip the frosting step if you want to. The challenge with frosting mini cakes
is the size and weight of the cake. Because they're so tiny and lightweight,
you have to do something to prevent them sliding around on the turntable
and toppling over when you spread frosting onto them. There are four tricks
for this. The first is to use a non-slip mat, which
stops the cake from moving around on the turntable
or you can use a ring of masking tape instead to stick the cake board to the
turntable. The second trick is to spread or pipe
that dollop of buttercream onto the cake board.
It sticks the cake to the cake board so that the cake doesn't slide around on
the board but this only works if the cake is cold,
which is the third trick. Having a cold cake makes the buttercream
dollop set so that it holds the cake firmly in place when you apply pressure
to it as you frost it. Having cold cake layers also means that
the filling will set quickly and hold the higher cake layers in place
so when you frost the cake, the cake won't fall over.
The fourth trick is to make sure your buttercream is the right consistency.
If it's too stiff, like this, it will pull off the cake when you try to spread it
on or push the cake around on the board. Add
a bit of milk or cream to make it thinner
and it will be much easier to spread onto your cake as you frost it.
This is a crumb coat which is a very thin layer of frosting
to trap in any crumbs so that they don't get into the final coat of frosting.
After you've crumb coated your mini cake you can freeze it for up to a month
wrapped in two layers of cling film or saran wrap or leave it in the fridge
overnight or you can move straight on to
decorating it. You can frost these mini cakes normally and the non-slip mat or
ring of masking tape will hold them in place on the turntable
or you can avoid smooth frosting and instead you can cover them with piping
like roses piped with a 1M star tip or ruffles piped with a petal tip
and I have tutorials on 8 ways to decorate cakes with each of those tips
and I've put the links for those tutorials in the video description.
Thanks for watching! Remember to click the thumbs up button and subscribe to my
channel for a new cake decorating tutorial
every week!