How to Decorate and Fill a Cake

​I know, two cake posts in one week, but look at how pretty they are! I just can't help but share it with you.

​I have been making cakes for a long time, I remember making a beach themed surfing cake for my schools spring fare, for the cake walk back in 1995. I just like cake, the layers that can be filled with goodness, the different flavours of cake and oh the icing! So many different kinds of icing.

I did recently find out that I have been doing buttercream wrong my entire life. My buttercream was always quite tasty, but it drove me nuts that it was never as smooth or white as the professionals. I looked and looked, I thought maybe they used a colouring to make it whiter, maybe they used shortening? Nope it was a simple fix, trust me on this tip you want to listen...are you ready...your going to kick yourself if you had the same problem as me... you just whip the icing for 6 to 10 minutes! Seriously that's it, it turns WHITE! Like really white, and it becomes this super smooth icing that is so easy to pipe and is super creamy. 

See what I mean? Easy easy fix, now my life has forever changed!
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I recently got asked to make a cake for a friends birthday. She sent me a picture and asked if I would be willing to. I said SURE! This is my first time making this particular style but I am really happy with how it turned out and I hope the special birthday girl will enjoy it tomorrow!

Over the years I have learned a few tips with cake decorating. More in the last 6 months my eyes have been opened to better ways to doing it.

Tip 1:

When you bake your cakes, once they come out of the oven, take a cooling rack and turn the cake upside down right on the wire rack to cool. That way the top will flatten out more verses being bubbled on top.

Tip 2: 

Crumb coat your cake with a layer of icing before putting the actual layer of icing on. What you do is you put a thinner layer of icing, just to cover the outside, and smooth it out. Place it in the fridge for an hour to harden it. That way no crumbs will get on the outside of your pretty icing job.

​Tip 3:

If you have a filling, like a curd or cream, pipe a fairly thick border of icing around the inside of the layer you are decorating. Then fill in the center with your filling. That way the filling doesn't leak out while icing, and also stays where it needs to be, the middle. 
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Tip 4:

When cutting the layers a good thing to do is to save one of the flat bottom layers to actually go on the top. That way you have a perfectly flat top, which makes all other decorating easier as well. 
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Tip 5:

To make the flowers you need to use  the piping tip 1M. What would help when making the ombre effect is to have three different 1M tips and three different piping bags filled with the icing. How to make the flowers is to gently apply pressure with your tip to the cake and then basically draw out an lower case "e" while squeezing the icing out in a circular motion. There is a great YouTube tutorial found here.

Tip 6:

Have a base vanilla and chocolate cake that are tried and true and you know are moist and tasty every time. It saves you money and ingredients so that you aren't throwing away bad cakes. When you find the ones you love stick to them and experiment on your own time. But when doing it for others stay true to the good ones that always turn out perfect. For me I have Matt's Grandmas white cake I always use and then my Great Grandmas Skamahorn's chocolate cake recipe. They have been around a long time and always taste great.

So there are my tips and thoughts on how to decorate and fill the cakes. A great filling is also a whipped ganache, super rich but just adds a bit of depth and level to the center. 

Happy baking! Do you have any baking tips?