SOPHISTICATED BAKING

& CAKE DESIGN

MODULE-02

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2. Module 02- Icing:

Table of Contents

2. Module 02- Icing: .............................................................................................................................. 1

2.1 Making Buttercream .................................................................................................................................. 2

2.1.1 What You Need ................................................................................................................................. 2

2.1.2 Techniques and Tools ....................................................................................................................... 3

2.1.3 Tips for Perfecting Your Buttercream ............................................................................................... 3

2.2 Piping .......................................................................................................................................................... 4

2.2.1 What You Need ................................................................................................................................. 4

2.2.2 Prep Work ......................................................................................................................................... 5

2.2.3 Getting Started .................................................................................................................................. 6

2.3 Star or Petal Tips ........................................................................................................................................ 6

2.3.1 Star Tips ............................................................................................................................................. 7

2.3.2 Petal Tips ........................................................................................................................................... 7

2.3.3 Other Beginner Tips .......................................................................................................................... 8

2.4 Patterned Designs ...................................................................................................................................... 8

2.4.1 Mapping Out Your Design ................................................................................................................. 8

2.4.2 Preparing Frosting ............................................................................................................................. 9

2.4.3 Troubleshooting .............................................................................................................................. 10

2.5 Frosting vs. Fondant ................................................................................................................................. 10

2.5.1 Frosting Pros and Cons.................................................................................................................... 10

2.5.2 Fondant Pros and Cons ................................................................................................................... 11

2.5.3 How to Decide? ............................................................................................................................... 12

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It could be argued that the real artistry of cake design always comes down the icing. Sure, the cake is the

substance; it’s the foundation upon which you express your art. And there are, of course, ways to get

creative there—both with flavor, and with the cutting and crafting into various shapes and designs.

But let’s be honest; the icing is what people will notice the most. And it provides your greatest opportunity

for creative expression and detail. No matter what shape you’ve crafted your cake into, if you aren’t

capable of then enhancing that design with various icing techniques—you’ll never be able to present your

final product with any kind of flair or pride.

The icing is what makes the cake something truly special.

So in this module, we’ll go over some of the basic frosting techniques you need in order to begin

developing your skills in this artistic medium. We’ll also discuss the merits of icing vs. fondant, so that you

can gain a better understanding of the pros and cons each cake topping provides.

2.1 Making Buttercream

Everybody loves buttercream frosting. Probably because its main ingredient is butter, which just makes the

final product so delectable and mouth-watering! There are, of course, several frosting options when it

comes to sophisticated cake design. But buttercream is typically where beginners start, and it is certainly

nothing to scoff at—the flavor is phenomenal, and the ability to design with it is substantial.

Which is why we are starting with buttercream in this module!

2.1.1 What You Need

There are a variety of buttercream frosting recipes to be found, both online and in your favorite

cookbooks. These recipes often vary greatly, as different pastry cooks have different variations they prefer.

But a basic buttercream frosting recipe will include:

Butter

Milk

Salt

Vanilla

Confectioners sugar

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Some variations might include adding milk, or using powdered sugar instead of confectioners sugar. Others

might involve additional flavorings, like chocolate or coffee, and some recipes require you to start with a

meringue base. We can’t tell you what the best recipe will be—so much of that is dependent upon both

level of ability and personal taste. But we suggest you start out with a basic recipe first, gaining a better

idea of how to work with buttercream before experimenting with recipe variations.

2.1.2 Techniques and Tools

Regardless of what recipe you use, you should undoubtedly:

Have a large mixing bowl and rubber spatula.

Leave your butter out to soften for several hours before beginning.

Break up clumps of sugar before beginning.

Invest in an electronic mixer of some type. Hand mixing is possible, but electronic mixers produce

better results, particularly because there is often a lot of whipping required.

Use fresh sugar. This might seem unnecessary, but it really does make a difference in both texture

and flavor.

Add in ingredients gradually—buttercream frosting is creamier this way.

Some recipes may call for a sifter or mesh sieve as well.

2.1.3 Tips for Perfecting Your Buttercream

Like all recipes, you will likely make buttercream frosting several times before you feel as though you’ve

happened upon the perfect recipe and execution. As you work through that process, here are some tips

that can universally improve most buttercream frosting recipes:

Don’t hold yourself too stringently to any given recipe. You may find that adding more sugar or less

cream produces a better thickness for decorating than the original recipe calls for. Don’t be afraid to

experiment with thickness levels.

Try chilling your mixing bowl before beginning to see if that helps with maintaining a desired thickness.

Buttercream frosting has a tendency to dry out and develop a crust when allowed to sit for too long.

Unless the recipe calls for refrigerating your frosting for a few hours (as some might), plan on frosting

your cake immediately after completing your frosting recipe.

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If your frosting does dry out or develop a hard crust, whip it shortly before using it in order to re-establish the desired consistency.

2.2 Piping

Piping is going to be your most basic frosting design technique. Up to now, you’ve probably only ever

frosted a cake with a spatula or knife—sticking to that smoothed out texture most of us remember from

our own birthday cakes growing up. Piping is a step up from that; a technique that will allow you to create

designs and texture for your cake that help it to stand out as a form of artistic expression, as opposed to

just a bakery delight!

2.2.1 What You Need

In addition to your frosting (duh!), piping requires:

Piping bags

Plastic couplers

Icing spatulas

You might find that you really benefit from having a rotating cake stand or lazy susan. This is not a

requirement, but it can make it easier to work around your cake and to achieve even frosting results.

Perhaps most importantly, though, piping requires specialized decorating tips. As many decorating tips as

you can possibly get your hands on! Of course, you really only need one to begin practicing your piping

technique. But the more decorating tips you have, the more patterns you can practice, work with, and

begin implementing into your cake design!

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2.2.2 Prep Work

It’s easy to get overexcited about piping and to want to start decorating your cake right away, but you

need to prep your cake, and your frosting, before you begin.

What does prepping your cake involve? Well, you want to start by covering your chilled cake in a smooth

base layer of icing first. Use your spatula to spread the frosting, about ¼ of a inch thick, over every visible

surface of your cake. This will create a layer your piping is more likely to hold to, so that once you begin the

real frosting work, you can remain confident in the durability of your finished product. It also helps you to

seal crumbs in, so that they don’t get stuck to your outer piping level upon completion.

After you have an even layer of frosting over your entire cake, place it in the refrigerator to chill for about

15 minutes prior to beginning your decorating endeavor.

Now would be the time to dye your buttercream, should you want any color other than the soft cream

color buttercream frosting typically is. Opt for gel based food dyes, as these won’t dilute your frosting in

the way liquid dyes might.

Prepare your piping bags by cutting off the tip, inserting a plastic coupler (which will allow you to change

tips more easily once you get started), and the tip you would prefer to begin with.

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2.2.3 Getting Started

Once your cake has chilled and you are ready to begin, follow these simple steps:

Fill your piping bag no more than halfway with frosting, using either a spatula or your hand.

Gradually drag your thumb and index finger down the top edges of your piping bag, forcing air out and

icing into the tip.

Twist the top of the bag to seal frosting in and create the appropriate amount of pressure for piping.

Hold the top of the bag with your dominant hand—this will be the hand you use for squeezing, while

your other hand will guide the piping process.

Use a toothpick or cookie cutter to lightly imprint shape and letter designs into the pre-frosted cake,

which you can then use as a guide.

Consider practicing piping techniques on parchment paper or a cutting board before beginning with your

cake. This is absolutely an acquired skill, and more detailed work—such as writing letters or creating

intricate designs—takes practice. So don’t get discouraged if your piping attempts aren’t perfect at first.

You simply have to gain a comfort level working with the piping bag to achieve your desired results.

2.3 Star or Petal Tips

As you will come to learn, piping can be used to create infinite frosting designs. The options really are

limitless, as there are hundreds of frosting tips to be purchased and only your own creativity to hold you

back. Working with tips is as simple as placing one on your bag and experimenting with the various designs

you can create. You will need to practice with the amount of pressure to use on your bag as you begin

piping, and different tips will require a different level of pressure depending on how big the opening is.

This is where practicing before working directly on your cake can come in handy.

The more you grow in your cake design artistry, the more aware you will become of the various piping

techniques at your disposal. But in these beginning stages of your journey towards sophisticated cake

design, we’ll start with two of the most basic piping tips: stars and petals.

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2.3.1 Star Tips

Obviously, creating a star involves first having a star tip. But don’t think it’s that simple—there are actually

several star tips to choose from. These can create large or small stars, and open or closed stars.

If you’re unsure of which you would prefer, try several star tip options out first. Sometimes practicing on

glassware can give you abetter idea of how these tips will look on your actual cake design.

Star tips are most often used for creating the borders of your cake. Once you begin working with them,

you’ll begin to see why—they layer smoothly in elongated designs, making them perfect for that border

work. When creating borders, you will typically hold your piping bag at a slant against the cake, as opposed

to perpendicular.

You can also use star tips to create actual stars, holding the bag at a 90-degree angle and dotting your cake

with this design technique where you see fit.

Don’t limit yourself there, though. Star tips can also be used to create:

Rosettes

Shells

Leaves

And just about anything else your creativity might lead you to!

2.3.2 Petal Tips

While star tips have fairly obvious star designs to choose from, petal tips appear to be just singular lined

openings. There are, of course, various petal tips to choose from—but again, you almost have to try these

out individually to get a feel fro the variability each option provides.

Petal tips are used a little differently than star tips, as well. You can’t really accomplish a quality design

with petal tips simply by squeezing your piping bag and following a lined path. Instead, these tips require

more detailed work. If you are using a petal tip for a border, for instance, you would hold your bag at a

slant and very slowly move it back and forth as you work along your border, creating an almost layered

design as you go.

If your goal is to create petals, there are countless ways to go about that with these tips, but the simplest

option would be to hold your piping bag at a 90-degree angle to your cake, squeezing small amounts of

icing out in three joined lines. Start with middle line, then attach an additional line at either side of the

base, waving out to the left and right slightly.

Petal tips can create just about any flower you could imagine, as well as:

Ruffles

Ribbons

Scallops

And countless other designs you can experiment with as you go.

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2.3.3 Other Beginner Tips

Once you feel comfortable with star and petal tips, you may want to begin experimenting with these other

tip options:

Basketweave Tips: Perfect for textured borders and creating a realistic basket weave design.

Leaf Tips: For pleats, edges, and leaves.

Drop Flower Tips: Used at a perpendicular angle, these tips can create both stars and flowers.

As you can see, there is no shortage of tips for you to choose from. Over time, you will get a feel for which

tips you prefer and which designs you are most capable of making. But in the beginning, don’t be afraid to

experiment and practice. Work on your frosting techniques even when you don’t have a cake to

decorate—this is how you will begin to develop your artistic ability in this medium!

2.4 Patterned Designs

Now that you have a feel for how to best use your frosting tips, you can begin to expand that knowledge

into creating truly unique cake design patterns. This is where you begin to take those cake ideas out of

your head and implement them on a project you can actually show off and eat with friends and family!

2.4.1 Mapping Out Your Design

You already know what you want to make, and hopefully you’ve also already constructed your cake into

your ultimate design plan. Now, you need to map out your frosting execution.

Sophisticated cake design will often involve implementing several different design techniques and tips, as

well as utilizing a variety of frosting colors. A Spiderman cake, for instance, would require red, blue, black,

and white frosting, as well as tips that will allow for smooth frosting and thin lines.

Use toothpicks to score your design on your already frosted and chilled cake. This will provide you with a

guideline you can follow as you begin to work. It will also allow you to more carefully consider what tips

and colors you will need to create your dream cake design.

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2.4.2 Preparing Frosting

Once you’ve mapped out what you need, create all your required frosting colors before beginning. As

discussed before, you should be using gel based food coloring as opposed to liquid coloring. There is no

science to achieving your desired color; start with less dye and slowly add additional drops until you have

the color you were hoping for.

Have a piping bag for each of your required colors. You may even want to have additional bags for each tip.

While it is simple enough to change tips on bags as you go, assuming you have used the plastic couplers we

discussed earlier, sometimes having a bag for each tip and color you plan on using can allow you to work

continuously without the need to stop for tip changes.

Have your cake on your lazy susan or rotating cake stand for easy movement around the cake.

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2.4.3 Troubleshooting

Mistakes will happen as you begin the detailed design work that frosting involves, especially while you are

still learning and practicing your own design work. Don’t get flustered if your border isn’t as straight as you

would like, or if your writing looks like something a 3rd grader might have done. Fixing frosting mistakes is,

thankfully, easy enough to do!

Start by allowing the icing to set. It will be easier to remove once it is hardened. Then, use a toothpick to

remove more detailed icing patterns, or a flat metal spatula for removing bigger frosting mistakes.

From there, you can simply re-frost the base layer, just as you did before you started your design work.

Allow this to chill for 15 minutes in the refrigerator again, and then resume your piping design.

2.5 Frosting vs. Fondant

We started this module by treating frosting as the go-to decorating option, simply because frosting is the

easier medium to work with for new cake designers. But when it comes to sophisticated cake design, there

really are two options to consider: frosting and fondant.

Each has its pros and cons, and as you grow as a cake decorator, you will come to have your own

preferences, depending on the type of cake you are creating. But there are some basic points to consider

with each.

2.5.1 Frosting Pros and Cons

As you’ve already discovered, buttercream frosting is delicious. But in addition to its preferable flavor, it is

also:

Softer, making it pliable in frosting bags for more intricate designs.

Easy to adjust if you find you’ve added too much sugar or milk; you can always increase the other

ingredients to balance out your recipe and achieve the desired consistency.

Capable of being combined with various flavorings for enhanced taste options.

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There are, of course, also some cons to consider when working with frosting:

When exposed to heat or humidity, buttercream frosting may melt and your design work may be

ruined.

Its soft texture allows from some intricate piping design work, but buttercream can’t be sculpted or

molded into larger designs or characters.

Even just lightly bumping a buttercream-frosted cake may result in damage to your overall design.

2.5.2 Fondant Pros and Cons

Fondant began growing in popularity in the cake design world a decade or so ago. Plenty of cake designers

prefer it because:

It has an almost clay-like consistency, which allows for easy sculpting and molding into just about

any design you could imagine.

It lends to a smooth, flat surface, which can sometimes create a more professional looking final

product.

It’s great for making cutouts that can enhance your cake design.

It tends to be more durable against the elements and simple bumps than buttercream frosting.

There is a reason plenty of cake designers still work with buttercream, though. The cons of fondant

include:

It doesn’t lend well to piping.

The flavor is an acquired taste; some like it, but most prefer buttercream.

Making fondant is a more involved process.

Fondant is not as forgiving if mistakes are made in the decorating process.

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2.5.3 How to Decide?

In the beginning of your cake design career, starting out with buttercream frosting is your best bet. This is

simply the easier medium to work with, which allows you more room to experiment and grow.

But as you become more comfortable with buttercream frosting, you may find you want to expand into

fondant. Start with an easy cake design to test your skills, and then slowly begin to practice your technique

in this medium.

Once you have a solid feel for how to work with both design options, you’ll begin to realize you personally

gravitate towards one over the other. Of course, there are also times when it just makes sense to utilize a

certain option. For instance, if your event will be held outside on a warm day—fondant may hold up better

to the heat than buttercream. But if you are feeding a bunch of children who care more about the taste of

the cake than the look, buttercream may be the way to go!