Learning how to decorate a cake can seem challenging, but with the right techniques, it’s simple to achieve stunning results. Whether you’re preparing a cake for a birthday or any special occasion, our cake decorating tips for beginners will help you create beautiful, professional-looking bakes.
In this guide, we’ll take you step by step through the entire process, from preparing your layers to applying a flawless buttercream finish. Ready to get started?
Or, if you’d like us to bake and decorate your next cake, explore our range of stunning cakes, available for London delivery.
How to Decorate a Cake: Follow Along
Watch our buttercream cake decorating video with Cupcake Jemma for a step-by-step visual guide. From levelling your layers to achieving a smooth buttercream finish, you’ll have everything you need to decorate your cake like a pro.
Tools You’ll Need
Before decorating your cake, it’s important to have the right tools to make the process easier and more effective. Here’s what you’ll need:
- Cake Board: Use a completely flat, rimless cake board as your base. Unlike a plate, it ensures the cake stays level and is much easier to handle while decorating. A straight surface is key for even layers and stability.
- Turntable: A turntable is invaluable for decorating as it lets you move the cake rather than yourself. This prevents awkward angles and ensures consistent movements, making it easier to apply icing evenly and smoothly.
- Cake Leveller: If you want perfectly straight, even layers, a cake leveller is essential. Simply set the wire to your desired thickness, and it does the work for you. If you use a serrated knife instead, be extremely careful to cut steadily and avoid veering off-course.
- Palette Knives: We recommend two types for frosting:
- A straight palette knife is ideal for smoothing the sides of your cake.
- A cranked (offset) palette knife is perfect for the top, as its angled design keeps your knuckles away from the frosting, preventing accidental smudges.
- Cake Scraper: This simple yet effective tool helps achieve smooth, straight sides. It’s essentially a piece of plastic or metal that you use to gently sweep around the cake, levelling the frosting and giving a clean, polished look.
- Piping Bag with a Round Nozzle: Perfect for evenly layering buttercream between cake layers. A piping bag ensures consistency, making it easier to create a smooth and even filling.
How to Decorate a Cake Step by Step
Now that you have your tools ready, it’s time to dive into the decorating process. In this section, we’ll guide you through each step, from preparing your layers to creating a smooth, polished finish.
Need help perfecting your cake before decorating? Check out our detailed Cake Baking Tips for everything you need to know to get started.
1. Level the Cake
The first step to creating a professional-looking cake is levelling your layers. This ensures your cake is stable, even, and visually appealing when stacked. Uneven layers can lead to a tilted or wobbly cake, so it’s important to take your time with this step.
To level your cake:
- Trim the Tops: Use a cake leveller to carefully slice off the domed tops of each layer, creating a flat surface. Make sure both legs of the leveller remain in contact with the table for an even cut. If you’re using a serrated knife, go slowly to avoid cutting unevenly. Keep your hand on the side of the cake - not the top - to avoid pressing down and creating dips.
- Trim the Edges: Use a smaller plate or cake board as a guide to trim away the crispy, darker edges. Gently hold the template in place and carefully slice around it with a small knife, keeping the blade straight. This creates clean, uniform edges for stacking.
Top Tip: Place each trimmed layer on a piece of greaseproof paper. This makes it easier to move them around without breaking or handling them directly.
Repeat this process for all your layers to ensure they’re identical in size and perfectly symmetrical, creating a strong foundation for your cake.
2. Filling the Cake
Now that your layers are levelled and ready, it’s time to start building your cake. Properly filling your cake ensures stability, even layers, and a delicious bite in every slice.
- Set Up Your Base: Place a cake board or plate on your turntable, then add a small dollop of buttercream to the centre of the board. This will act as “glue” to hold the bottom layer in place. Centre the first cake layer on the board, ensuring it’s level for smooth stacking.
- Pipe a Buttercream Wall: Use a piping bag fitted with a round nozzle to pipe a buttercream ring around the edge of the cake. This “wall” helps contain the filling and ensures an even thickness.
- Fill the Centre: Inside the buttercream wall, add a spiral of buttercream and spread it evenly with a cranked palette knife. If you’d like, add extras like jam, chocolate chips, or chopped fruit - just be sure to distribute them evenly so the next layer sits flat.
- Stack the Layers: Add the next cake layer carefully, ensuring it is centred and level by checking from all sides. Continue layering by filling and stacking until complete.
Top Tip: Always check that your cake is centred on the turntable and that each layer is straight before moving on. This will prevent a leaning cake and make decorating much easier.
3. A Crumb Coat
The crumb coat is an essential step for achieving a polished and professional-looking cake. It’s a thin layer of frosting that locks in crumbs, creating a clean base for your final layer of decoration. Skipping this step can result in crumbs showing through your frosting, making the cake look untidy.
- Start with the Sides: Using a straight palette knife, spread a thin layer of buttercream vertically along the sides of the cake. Work gently and focus on covering the entire surface with about 1 millimetre of frosting. Don’t worry if it looks a little messy - this layer is purely functional.
- Cover the Top: Use a cranked (offset) palette knife to spread a thin, even layer of buttercream across the top of the cake. Smooth the frosting to the edges to meet the sides.
- Tidy the Edges: Where the top and sides meet, gently smooth any excess frosting with your palette knife to create a clean transition. This helps avoid lumps in the final coat.
- Chill to Set: Place the cake in the fridge for about an hour to allow the crumb coat to firm up. This creates a solid base for the final layer of buttercream and makes decorating much easier.
Top Tip: Hold your palette knife straight and steady, and let the turntable do the work. This ensures an even application without gouging the frosting.
4. Decorating
Now it’s time for the final step - decorating your cake! This layer of buttercream is where your cake gets its smooth, polished finish, ready to impress.
- Check Your Buttercream: Make sure your buttercream is smooth and free from air bubbles. If you’re using Swiss meringue buttercream, it will already be silky, but regular buttercream may need a little extra mixing to reach the perfect consistency.
- Apply the Final Coat: Using your straight palette knife, spread a generous amount of buttercream along the sides of the cake. Focus on building an even thickness (about 0.5 cm) all the way around. Don’t worry about it being perfectly smooth yet - just ensure even coverage.
- Smooth the Sides: Hold your cake scraper at a right angle against the side of the cake. Gently rotate the turntable while sweeping the scraper around the cake to smooth the buttercream and remove any excess. Return the excess frosting to your bowl to use on the top.
- Finish the Top: Spread an even layer of buttercream over the top of the cake using your cranked palette knife. Use the scraper again to smooth the edges where the top meets the sides, ensuring a clean and seamless look.
- Add Your Final Touches: If desired, use your tools to add texture, piping, or other decorations like sprinkles or edible flowers. The smooth base you’ve created is the perfect canvas for additional designs.
Top Tip: Keep your tools clean as you work, wiping off any frosting build-up to maintain a flawless finish.
More Cake Decorating Tips for Beginners
Once you’ve mastered the basics of levelling, filling, and frosting, there are still plenty of ways to refine your skills and add unique touches to your cakes. Here are a few extra tips to help you take your cake decorating to the next level:
- Use Gel Food Colouring: Gel colours are vibrant and won’t alter the consistency of your frosting, unlike liquid food colouring. Perfect for creating bold designs.
- Practice Piping: Before piping designs directly onto your cake, practice on parchment paper to perfect your designs. This helps build confidence and ensures neat, consistent decorations.
- Warm Your Palette Knife: Dip your palette knife in warm water and dry it before smoothing buttercream for an ultra-smooth finish.
- Create Texture: Use stencils, comb scrapers, or even the back of a spoon to add texture to your frosting. Patterns like waves, ridges, or swirls can make your cake stand out.
- Keep Your Tools Clean: Frequently wipe down your tools, like scrapers and palette knives, to avoid mixing colours or crumbs into your frosting.
- Store Leftover Buttercream: Any extra frosting can be stored in an airtight container and refrigerated for up to a week. Just rewhip it before using it again.
Cake Decorating Tips: Rounding Up
And there you have it - a clean, smooth, and professional-looking layer cake ready to impress! Whether you keep it simple or add extra touches like chocolate drips or meringues, you now have the perfect base for any celebration.
Now that you know how to fill, crumb coat, and decorate like a pro, get ready for all the cake requests - from birthdays to weddings.
Prefer to leave the baking to us? Explore our range of beautifully decorated cakes, available for London delivery.
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