- Today I'm gonna show you all of my cake decoration
tips and tricks.
You know, I love cake, it's delicious.
But it's also like a special thing that can bring people
together, be it at a party, be at a breakfast, wherever.
It kind of like focuses the moment
and it just is like this one thing that can transcend like,
whatever your phone says, what email this came in,
and it's like it's cake.
This is important, let's focus on it right now.
So I love having them look special
as well as taste delicious
and that involves cake decoration.
I get so many questions about just various minutiae
on how to decorate a cake.
There's a lot of different techniques people haven't tried
before but are curious about and sometimes people have had a
cake-tastrophy at home,
and they wanna know like what can they do next time.
So I'm making a video that's comprehensive with all
the answers together that I could possibly think of for you.
Okay, let's get started. Let's talk about our grapes
because there are a lot of strong opinions going around.
In America where I live Los Angeles specifically,
American buttercream is kinda like the rule of thumb.
So it's what everyone grew up with.
It's super easy to make all it is is like a little bit
of cream, a lot a bit of butter and even more sugar,
and then some flavorings and you're done.
Pluses are that it's really stable so you can build things
up with it and they're not gonna fall over.
The minuses are the consistency is not as silky smooth
as you might want.
And it can be sweet for many people,
especially outside of this country.
I get a lot of questions about like how clearly sweet
American buttercream is in general,
but it's kind of like a cultural thing, if you will.
So that's one then there's Swiss and Italian buttercreams,
which I love to use.
They're very creamy, you can make them with less sugar,
so they're not nearly as sweet.
And they take flavors really well.
They're beautiful to decorate with,
and they're just a joy.
They are kind of soft though.
So if you're in a warm weather climates,
not the best gonna tell you right now,
that cake is gonna be leaning and falling
and those flowers will be wilting,
but you know if it's chilled, totally fine.
There are other kinds of buttercreams like I haven't
personally used French buttercream yet.
I hear it's delicious,
but I will tell you that if you wanna try a non merengue
based buttercream,
I love using mascarpone cheese to make either mascarpone
buttercream, which is kind of like an American buttercream
with mascarpone folded in,
or even more of a favorite of mine
is mascarpone whipped cream.
I get so many questions about people wanting to know how
to use whipped cream to decorate a cake
and when I was just starting out,
I had some questions 'cause I love whipped cream.
I love creamy things. It's not too sweet.
It complements all these flavors.
But as you know if you've ever tried it doesn't last long
and it's really soft.
So as it gets a little bit older at weeps,
it loses its consistency and your cake will fall down.
Sad times, if you fold in some mascarpone cheese,
which tastes like solid cream,
cause that's basically what it is,
your whipped cream will be much more stable
and you can do some more building with it
and it is just lasts longer.
It's also delicious and it reminds people
slightly of cheesecake.
So we all know that one of the most delicious things
in the world is fresh cake straight out of the oven.
But you can't decorate it,
you have to let it cool down clearly,
I'm sure you all know that.
But you also really need to chill your cakes at various
portions of the decoration.
So when I decorate a cake here's what usually happens.
I let my cake layers just hang out and firm up a bit
because there's so tender and delicate at the beginning
they're just not really stable enough to stack.
Then once that happens and they're totally cool
and a little bit firm
I'm going to pipe on the first layer of buttercream,
stack the second layer, pipe the third and continue
If it looks unstable at that point like if you see it
wobbling, don't crumb coat it yet at a skewer through
the center and chill the cake but just make sure you covered
in saran wrap so it doesn't absorb any fringe smells.
After that once it's firm,
then you can add your buttercream
on the outside crumb coated
it and it's now ready to chill again.
I know it sounds like it's like so much fridge time,
but it's really important and I've had so many disasters
in the kitchen that are off camera when I have the hubris
to just keep decorating and my cake becomes unstable
and it just goes
so I can tell you though even I've chilled
cakes, trying to save them sometimes if I don't add
a skewer to the center.
I'll open the fridge and a cake piece let's go.
Because it was it was firming up in the fridge but it wasn't
firm enough to hold together
and it was just waiting to explode.
So take my advice skewer through the center, chill it
And then have that nice crumb code that you can use as a
base for any decoration scheme in the world.
I love for all of my cakes to have a surprise of some kind
when you cut into them so I often make a two tone or even
multi-tone interior buttercream.
You can do that two ways.
If you wanna do various colors just go ahead and pipe
different rings in between each layer.
If you wanna have a two tone look it's like a swirl.
You're gonna add one color buttercream in one piping bag
another into a second piping bag.
snip the tips off of those two piping bags
and then add them into a third piping bag either
with a large round tip or just the tip sniffed off as well.
Make sure you don't overfill those piping bags
because it has to be manageable.
It's like squeeze it with one hand while you twirl the cake
or it's gonna be frustrating.
A couple things you wanna watch out for when you pipe
a swirl are bubbles in the piping bags.
Those suck because the piping bag will go
and it'll have this gap.
Which is a little bit frustrating, it doesn't ruin it,
you can go back over it,
but it's breaking up that perfect line you created.
So, you know, try not to have any bubbles in there.
I've said it before and I'll say it again,
it is so important to whip your buttercreams just before
adding them into your piping bags
especially for Swiss and Italian marine buttercreams.
The Marine gives it a wonderful consistency.
It's glossy and smooth, but it's very temporary.
So if you let hang out for too long before using it,
it'll become kind of frothy and bubbly
and it just won't pipe well
and you can't smooth it well either.
Which is sad because you've put all this effort
into a buttercream you might as well
get the most out of it.
So let's make sure you give it
a quick whip for a few seconds either by hand
or your mixer right before using it.
So after you have your crumb coat done,
you can add your second or final layer of buttercream.
This is an opportunity for you to experiment
with different colors or just get a perfect smooth layer.
A lot of the times I'll have an American buttercream
on the inside of my cake because it's thicker
and more stable in warm weather.
And then on the outside I'll have a Swiss or Italian marine
buttercream because it's lighter, creamier,
less sweet and it will decorate perfectly smooth.
I love that cross that kind of combination.
You don't have to do it, you can do all one kind,
but something that I prefer when it's time to smooth
that exterior layer,
I will use a bench scraper for the sides.
And if you've seen my videos,
you probably know that I always have a twirling kickstand,
it makes things so much easier.
You can DIY one at home or you can just buy one online
there's lots of different kinds
and they're basically all fine as long as they spin
and don't stutter, meaning they have to have
an okay ball bearing inside.
For better control.
When I smooth the top of the cake I'll
use an offset spatula.
You just twirl it and smooth
and then to clean off the edges.
You're gonna pull in slowly and gently
Just make sure to clean your tool after every swipe.
You won't get any little ruffles of stray frosting
anywhere that way.
Some people love drip cakes and some people hate them.
My husband is not a fan for example,
but I am kind of in between I like them sometimes,
but not all the time, I think they can be a nice way to
introduce another flavor or texture to a cake to by adding
like a chocolate ganache on top,
for example, to give you a little bit of added richness,
and of course, I love the contrast
and color that you can introduce as well.
There's one thing I'll tell you though,
it's the most frustrating part of cake decorating.
For me personally, I find it so difficult
because the drip has to be perfect consistency wise.
If it's too thick, it won't drip, if it's too thin
it's a stripe that goes straight to the bottom.
So here's the deal, you have to do a couple of things,
making a ganache or whatever candy melt
situation you're doing.
Try to get a consistency that looks dripable.
Once that's done, it has to be the right temperature.
So if you wait too long,
and that ganache chills,
it's not gonna drip this is gonna be very thick.
But if it's too hot, it'll melt the buttercream.
So you want to be a little bit kinda like tepid almost.
And then when you're ready to pipe it,
find any flat surface, take it to vertical,
and then use your piping bag to test it out.
If you can see the drip going down nicely, good.
If it's too thin and might need to cool down
or do you might have to add more chocolate
and if it's too thick,
maybe a little bit of cream or maybe just heat it up a bit.
So it's a very good idea to experiment on a plate
or any kind of surface you can go to vertical
and just do a practice drip or two.
I like to add my drips on first at the edge of the cake.
Then fill the top with the ganache and then give it a very
light smoothing with my offset spatula.
That way I can control as much as possible.
This is my best friend for testing buttercream consistency.
If I'm ever piping a dollop and I'm worried it'll be too
droopy or too hard and like how have weird ridges in it.
All this use my piping bag, pipe it on to a spatula
and oh good or bad.
Like he knows it's good to go or I have to add some more
cream or some more sugar or some more butter
or whatever else to get that just right consistency.
Dolls are really fun and easy way to zazz up a cake
and it should be really low stress.
Sometimes though your buttercream is too thin,
sometimes it's too thick.
So once again, I wanna say use that spatula to practice.
I love skirts on cakes, a skirt just so you know is like
a band of something on the lower part of that cakes rim.
So I often will use either like confetti sprinkles,
you could use crushed chocolate cookie crumbs,
graham cracker crumbs, anything you can imagine,
even cocoa nibs.
For example, one of my favorites
on my ultimate chocolate cake.
All you're doing is using your hand to press a handful
onto the bottom of the cake
and then because I'm an extra Virgo,
I will hand place a couple have the bits
and pieces that are I'm using up higher
so I get kind of a gradient.
I don't wanna solid band I want it to be really thick
transitioning to like a thin sprinkle on top which means
you're just gonna be either dragging your hand up
carefully or adding little bits on individually
and once again, I will say your cake should not be super
warm trim is it's best to have it a little chilled,
not totally hard, cause they think what you're adding
on might not stick very well but it should be a chilled cake
because it can get messy really fast.
So you could also use a tooth decorating comb to get more
texture on your buttercream.
But let me tell you something.
This has to have a very smooth buttercream.
It can't be really thick because this tooth comb will pull
out chunks of that buttercream so it's probably best
for like an Italian or Swiss meringue buttercream
or a more silky American buttercream.
Not just thick.
Alright then you're using this you're going to use it just
like you would a bench scraper
and pull across the cake while you turn it,
you'll now have some texture here.
That could be the end of the story,
but I like to chill my cakes.
So those are now hard.
And then I'll add on a very soft layer of buttercream,
and then smooth that with the flat side of my comb.
And then I can have stripes is a little bit like an
intermediate slash advanced technique,
but it can give you a pretty cool effect.
Sanding sugars have a larger grain than regular old
granulated sugar and they're often colored.
I see blue, red and green for the holidays.
And you can use them a couple different ways you could use
them as a skirt like we just talked about,
or you can roll the whole cake in them and by doing that you
can make a design like I did on my winter wonderland cake.
To do that you have to chill your cake
and it's a good idea to have the top
and the bottom covered with parchment paper so your warm
hands are not like lifting off the buttercream
and melting the cake, so chill your cake really well.
Add your sanding sugar into an enclosed area so it's less
messy like I use the large baking tin and then roll the cake
and it will pick up that sanding sugar
and a lot of the color too.
It's a really easy way to hide imperfections if you weren't
able to smooth your cake completely
but you want it to look professional.
So try sanding sugars out you can do a gradient like I did
all one color or go crazy.
I love pedal cakes.
They're so easy to do but they look really impressive.
All you need is a piping bag and nothing else.
You don't need any tips to make this if you do wanna use
tips, you can use a large round tip but all you need to do
is snip the tip off of your piping bag,
add a dollop on smear it
and continue the process.
You can make ombre cakes all one color or multi-colors.
You can click up here if you wanna see my Neapolitan cake
that uses this pedal design and learn all about that.
An even easier cake to make that is more impressive.
In my opinion,
is the shag cake all you need is one grass piping tip.
I actually picked up a set of 20 plastic ones from Amazon
that were like super cheap.
So I didn't have to switch piping tips
and they're also larger so like finish
the cake even quicker.
All you're doing is is piping some grass
on it's different colors.
Looks kinda like a crush ball
a palm palm, a shag rug, it's very versatile.
Really easy, natural and beautiful way to decorate
a cake is this to add fruit on top,
you can add all one kind, multiple types a ring solid,
it's totally your choice and I think it really highlights
fresh natural ingredients and beautiful tastes
and oftentimes that fruit will have a nice zing which helps
take away from the sweetness of the cake.
You know, I love buttercream flowers.
I use them all the time.
I have buttercream rose cupcakes,
I made buttercream flowers of various types on top
on the side, all over various cakes and even cookies.
I just love the effect, it's very good cheerful it harkens
back to nature and people love them.
Whenever I make my friend's birthday cakes
and you know they have a lot of special requests,
I will often have like buttercream roses on top,
I'll have cupcakes with flowers made out of buttercream.
And the funny thing is like at the party,
I'll have like a set of like regular cupcakes
and flower cupcakes.
And people always get the regular ones first
because they're like, flowers are two pretty bid.
I'm not special enough.
I'm like, are you kidding me, you're an adult,
eat the buttercream flowers.
And if I point is that like it means a lot to people
when you put the extra effort in to do something for them.
And that's part of what I love about cake decorating.
Like yeah, you could just make a bundt cake
or a loaf cake and it's delicious.
But people really understand that you put extra time into
something and you're making it for them.
And I think that in this world of technology
and modern conveniences that's very impactful.
So it's something that I hold close to my heart.
If you wanna learn all about buttercream flowers
and how to make them you click up here for my buttercream
flower tutorial video.
But in this one I just wanna say that when you're adding
them on, it's a good idea to chill them in the fridge
or freezer so they're easy to handle.
And then you can use either your fingers
or a pair of scissors to snip off the base
and then add them on to wherever you're gonna add them
on the cake.
For all the advanced bakers out there,
this is a technique that I'm just starting to play with it's
painting with buttercream onto a cake.
You can see it in my painted rose cake which is covered
in delicate little pink roses.
So fun, I love the way it looked.
You can use a palette knife or even a regular knife to do
almost all the application and once again,
I encourage you to practice on a plate so you're not like
trying to decorate a cake and getting frustrated.
It took me like 10, 15 minutes of practicing to understand
how to apply the buttercream the consistency it needed
to be and the structure of the flowers.
But once you're there,
you're gold in and making it is a snap.
So by the by, you probably can tell but I spliced together
a lot of different footage over the course of last year
to make this video for you, it has different haircuts,
different cameras, different screaming babies.
But I just thought it'd be nice to have like all the
different cakes I've made so you get the various techniques,
and hopefully, you'll find this to be instructional
if not entertaining.
So, thank you so much for watching.
Hit that like button and don't forget to subscribe.
Happy baking