Cake decorating tips

Leaving a cake plain, just the way it emerges from the oven with its appetizing golden crust, is often the nicest way of serving it. A light dusting of caster or icing sugar may be all that’s called for; or clear
honey brushed over the surface and set aside until dry. For a shallow chocolate cake with a level top, a delicate layer of sieved cocoa powder can provide the finishing touch. If the top of the baked cake is not level, then adopt the French method of simply turning it over. !e flat side of the cake that has
been in contact with the baking tin provides an easily decorated surface.
!e simplest way to produce an even layer of icing sugar or powdered cocoa is to spoon a little into a fine-mesh sieve. Hold the sieve above the cake, and as you move it across the surface tap the side with a teaspoon to release a fine drift of the powder.
For a more stylized effect, place a stencil on top of the cake, then dust with sieved icing sugar or cocoa powder. Remove the stencil to reveal the decorative design. Plain strips of paper evenly spaced across the top of the cake before adding sieved icing sugar produce a striped effect on top of the cake when they are removed, or if the strips overlap diagonally a pleasing diamond pattern results. Children enjoy making their own stencil – start with a piece of paper the same size as the cake and fold in half. !en repeat two or three times to produce a dart shape, before cutting small pieces from the folded edges. Unfold the stencil, place on top of the cake, dust with sugar and carefully remove – to a small child the decoration that results seems like magic.
Should you want a name or greeting on top of a cake and wielding an icing nozzle does not appeal, letter and number stencils can work surprisingly well.
Paper stencils can be as simple as a paper circle cut in half with a wavy line:
place the stencil on the cake and remove one half, dust the cake with sieved icing sugar and cover with its stencil, remove the other half and dust with sieved cocoa or brush the surface with clear honey and sprinkle with chopped nuts. Remove both stencils, and hey presto! a two-tone cake decoration.

Another easy technique is to trail glacé icing or melted chocolate over the
top of a cake by drizzling a spoonful of a fairly liquid mixture quite quickly
back and forth across the cake, starting at one side and working across the
surface to leave a fine tracery of parallel lines.
Even the least practised cook can spoon thick cream over the top of a cake
then sprinkle with toasted flaked almonds, grated chocolate or fine shreds of
citrus peel.
Although usually reserved for special cakes such as Simnel and Battenberg, a thin layer of marzipan is an attractive and delicious decoration, made with either ground almonds, hazelnuts or pistachio nuts, left in their natural state or subtly tinted with a food coloring. Remember to first brush the surface
of the cake with sieved apricot jam before covering with the marzipan. !en, you should use a rolling pin to gently press it into place. If the fancy takes you, small marzipan decorations – molded by hand or cut to shape – can be applied to this foundation, using a thin layer of beaten egg white as an adhesive. Alternatively, a lightly toasted finish is attractive: brush the marzipan with beaten egg yolk and place under a hot grill until just changing color, remove immediately and set aside to cool.

Large shallow cakes full of fresh fruit might be decorated with a layer of
toasted meringue just before serving. Whisk two egg whites until stiff, then
gradually fold in 2–3 tablespoons of golden caster sugar. Pile spoonfuls of the
meringue over the cake and place in a moderate oven or under a hot grill –
though not so close that it scorches – until set and golden brown. Serve the
cake within 30 minutes.
Occasionally, the appearance of an iced or frosted cake does not come
up to expectations. In that case, a rapid disguise is called for before the icing
sets: sprinkle over some chopped nuts – toasted or tinted with a drop of food
colouring, crumbled meringues or amaretti biscuits, or grated chocolate. If
time is short, resort to chocolate vermicelli. Children love decorating cakes
with small sweets – dolly mixture, chocolate buttons, hundreds and thousands,
Smarties and Barbie sprinkles. A charming summer decoration is easily
made by scattering small edible flowers or their petals over the top of a cake.
If you are a dab hand with a piping-bag, then decorating a cake can be
very quick. But take care not to overdo it – leave parts of the iced cake plain
so that the contrast is pleasing.

When you need to cut a cake into layers before filling and decorating, use
a very sharp or a finely-serrated knife with a long blade in a gentle sawing
action across the cake to cut it into even layers. When cutting a slab of cake
into pieces for decorating, use a smaller knife and, if necessary, check the
cutting lines with a ruler. It’s worth bearing in mind that it is easier to spread
icing or cream over the smooth baked surface of a cake rather than across a
cut surface, whose uneven crumb will also absorb the filling.
Readers who specialize in decorated cakes or who bake for a cake stall may
wish to give their work an additional distinctive flourish with home-made
motifs such as marzipan letters and chocolate leaves. Since this kind of cake
decoration is enjoyable but time-consuming to prepare, it is sensible to make
a supply well ahead whenever possible.

CHOCOLATE LEAVES
!e mature leathery leaves from a rose bush are best, due to their strong vein
pattern. Choose clean dry leaves from an spray-free plant, hold each leaf by
the stem, and brush the underside with melted chocolate. Place the leaves,
chocolate side up, on a sheet of baking paper – leave some leaves flat and
curve others over a wooden spoon. Chill the leaves until the chocolate is set,
then gently peel off the green leaf to reveal the chocolate version. Store the
these on crumpled kitchen paper in a lidded plastic box placed in the fridge.


CHOCOLATE SHAPES
Pour melted chocolate to a depth of 5 mm / ¼ in. into a Swiss roll tin lined
with baking paper, then chill until set hard. Turn the sheet of chocolate on to
a flat surface and use a ruler and knife to cut out small squares and triangles.
Use small, sharp petit-four pastry cutters to cut out numerals, letters and
other shapes. Store the shapes between layers of baking paper in a lidded
plastic box in the fridge.


PIPED CHOCOLATE MOTIFS
Spoon some melted chocolate into a piping-bag fitted with a small plain
writing nozzle. Pipe the chocolate on to a sheet of baking paper into pretty
motifs such as figures of eight, music clefs, and other twirly shapes. Chill the
chocolate until set hard, then gently lift the motifs from the paper and store
between layers of baking paper in a lidded plastic box in the fridge.


CHOCOLATE SHAVINGS
Slightly warm a bar of chocolate, then shave along the longer edge with a
sharp vegetable knife or a potato peeler to produce long decorative curls.
!ese are best used straight away since they are fragile. To produce longer,
cigar-shaped chocolate curls known as chocolate caraque, turn to the recipe
for Gâteau Madeleine


GRATED CHOCOLATE
Chill a bar of chocolate, then draw the edge of the bar downwards against one
side of a box grater to produce small shavings that can be stored in a lidded
plastic box.

MARZIPAN LETTERS AND NUMERALS
Use natural-coloured marzipan or marzipan tinted with food dyes. On
a pastry board dusted with a little cornflour, roll out the marzipan until 5
mm / ¼ in. thick. Use small, sharp petit-four cutters to make miniature letters
and numerals. Store the shapes in a lidded plastic box.