CaceyKlein.com

Since I was already in the middle of decorating a cake I decided to take a few pictures along the way and share some tips with you. There are a few easy things you can do to make your cake look fantastic!

• Always generously grease and flour your pan.
• Under-bake your cake by a few minutes. It will continue to cook a little once you take it out of the oven and taking it out early will insure that it stays nice and moist.
• Let it cool for 10-15 min, run a knife along the edge, shake gently to loosen it from the bottom, place a plate or cake circle on the top, and then flip the cake to remove it from the pan.
• Using a large bread knife, cut off the top of the cake to make it level.

• Using Wilton tip 12, pipe a circle around the edge of your cake. This will help keep the filling inside.

• Fill with the filling of your choice and then place the other leveled layer on top, crumb side down.

• Now you’re ready to start frosting! I would recommend that beginners start with a white or yellow cake – chocolate cakes have dark crumbs that easily show up against white frosting.
• I like to make my own  butter-cream frosting (you can find lots of great recipes in the back of any Wilton cake decorating book). If you’d like to use store bought then just make sure that you remove it from the container and re-whip it, adding extra powdered sugar until it loses its sticky consistency.
• Wipe off any loose crumbs and start off by frosting the entire cake with a thin crumb layer. This helps lock in some of those nasty crumbs that threaten to ruin your cake!

• Let your cake rest for a few minutes or until the frosting has started to harden. Sometime it helps to place it in the freezer – just don’t forget about it and let it freeze
• You’re ready to add you final layer of frosting! Spread frosting generously until smooth.
  

• Now you have a beautiful, level, smooth cake to begin decorating! Use your imagination and have fun!

• Fresh flowers can make any cake look amazing! And they’re easy to add – just stick them directly in the frosting (don’t put them on too far in advance or they may begin to wilt).
• You can purchase a beginner cake decorating kit or take a class at any Michaels or Jo-Anns. Or check out Wilton’s web-site – they have tons of great ideas!