One of my favorite things about the cake and cookie decorating community is their willingness
to share their know-how, inspiration, and encouragement with other decorators. If only the world worked this way ...
Below you will find some of my favorite tips and tricks that have made the work of cake decorating much easier!
I owe thanks for these tips to online sources, books, classes I've taken, and lots of experience. I hope you
find them all helpful!
Achieving a moist cake ...
Make a simple sugar syrup using equal quanities of granulated sugar and water. Heat this
on the stove being careful to stir well as to not burn the sugar. When it boils, remove from stove. Using
a pastry brush, paint a light coating on the cake prior to icing. Don't let the cake sit too long on the counter
after it's cools. Air is the enemy to your cake. A quick coating with sugar syrup followed by a quick
crumb coat of icing will all help the cake stay as moist as possible. Tasty!
Achieving a crumb free icing finish ...
When the cake is cool enough to handle, gently wipe away any loose crumbs. Add you sugar
syrup at this time is you like. With a small portion of your buttercream icing in a separate bowl, begin to lightly
coat the cake - not worrying about crumbs. As they loosen, just keep keep icing. As you need to refill your spatula,
remove the crumby icing on the side of the small bowl. Pick up clean icing and then the crumby icing and continue spreading
on a thin layer. It will look awful. This is call crumb coating. As the icing dries (crusts) it will seal
in the crumbs. In about 15-20 minutes you can ice the cake without worry. Just make sure you have plenty of icing
between your spatula and the cake. It's easier to remove extra icing than to add bits at a time and possibly loosen
crumbs. You'll be glad you used a small portion of your buttercream in a separate bowl insuring that most of your
icing stays far from the crumbs.
Achieving a smooth buttercream finish ...
After you cake is crumb coated and completely iced in buttercream, let it set undisturbed
for 20-30 minutes. The cake icing will crust or dry. Have ready a VIVA brand paper towel. It has no texture.
Other brands are textured - try them for a textured finish. But first, work on the smooth finish. It's key
to a polished end project. Lay a Viva towel on the top of the crusted icing. You can use a fondant roller, a fondant
smoother, or my current favorite - my hands. I lightly rub over the towel in a smooth circular motion over and over
working the entire surface. Remove the towel gently - it should be clean. If icing stuck, your icing wasn't
dry enough for this technique. Give it a few more minutes and watch out for humidity. It can make this process
much longer. Move the towel around the sides, gently swirling your hand up and down, round and round in an even motion.
You'll be amazed how easy this is and what great results you'll produce. No more hot, wet spatula's!
Loading a coupler to a disposable or reusable pastry bag...
Remove the outer ring from the coupler and push it down in the bag as far as it will go. Make sure it's snug. Take a pair of kitchen scissors and pretend as if you
are cutting off the end of the coupler just beyond the rings. Roll the blades around the coupler. This will sort
of cut through the bag - enough so that if you give the tip of the bag a tug, it should snap off. If it didn't go
back and make sure your scissors go over the seam of the bag. I hope you find this tip as snappy as I did! No
more guessing and wasted bags!
Never clean another decorating bag.
This trick stands alone as the best tip I've EVER heard! I have to print
this tip in a colored and larger font. It is deserving of the honor. This tip will make you fall in
love with plastic wrap again too. Have your icings colored and your bags fitted with couplers and rings. Take
a piece of plastic wrap from it's box (good luck) and lay it on the counter. It should be about 12" long -
about as long as your bag. Plop your icing in the middle of the wrap. Roll the wrap over the icing from the side -
you are making a tube of icing. Twist the ends a bit to close - don't worry too much about keeping it closed as
long as the icing is completed rolled up. To put this in the bag, I find it easiest to practically turn my decorating
bag inside out...at least near enough to the coupler end that I can easily feed the end of my wrap through it's hole.
Peel the bag back up over the "tube" of icing. Give the end of the wrap a good tug til the icing reaches the
coupler. With kitchen shears, cut off the extending wrap. Add your tip and ring and wa-lah! It's no
thrill now but just wait til you clean up. Remove the ring and tip, push out any icing worth saving into a container,
pull out the plastic wrap and toss in the trash. Your bag will likely only need a quick wipe off of the coupler.
I will never wash another bag. EVER. Can you hear my cry of joy?
There is one teensy problem with this
tip. You can't add more icing to this bag. Likely you won't need to but I won't mind making up another
bag if I need more. It's the cleaning that is the huge hassle and waste of hot water!