Cake Decorating Tips anyone?  

Here's what we did, especially for wedding cakes.

You can cover with a flour sack or put a very light coat of icing on your cake, this is called crumb coating and it seals the freshness in your cake.

Use the icing recipe that calls for meringue powder and water, no refrigeration necessary. This recipe also is great for 'gluing' cake together.

You can freeze that cake as long as it's well protected, saran wrap, foil and freezer paper. To thaw, put in refrigerator 24 hours before serving.

HTH a bit!

I let mine cool for just a few minutes, then wrap very well and freeze, thaw in the fridge, and ice while it is still a bit frozen so the icing never tears the cake! Make sure when your not working with it it is covered really well and the moisture will stay!

I trim my cakes to make even or round or whatever with a serrated electric knife. It doesn't "squish" the cake, doesn't mess up layers, just cuts right through.

I also have previously practiced with "drawing" with the icing on paper, before on the cake, to make sure my hands were steady. It's harder to draw "freehand" without your hands resting on something and without the tip resting on something, but over time it gets easier. I have a lot of experience with airbrushing, and it's kinda like that.

If you make homemade whipped cream (super easy), make sure the bowl, cream, and mixer thingies are very cold - I stick mine in the freezer for at least an hour.

Here is a great recipe for homemade marshmallow fondant:


1/4 cup vegetable shortening (Crisco)

1 pound of white mini marshmallows

1 teaspoon clear vanilla flavor

1 teaspoon butter flavor

2 tablespoons water

2 pounds powdered sugar

Grease the inside of a large microwavable bowl with vegetable shortening (Crisco).

Note: Be careful with this first step. The melted marshmallows can get extremely HOT!

Put marshmallows, flavorings, and water into the bowl. Microwave on high for 60 seconds. If marshmallows are completely melted, you’re ready to move on. If not, stir and return them back into the microwave for 30-second intervals – stirring after each - until the marshmallows are completely melted.

Put powdered sugar into large mixing bowl. Fit stand mixer with dough hook. (If not using a stand mixer, use a wooden spoon.)

Add liquefied marshmallow mixture to powdered sugar. Process at low speed until well incorporated, then turn speed up slightly and allow dough hook to “knead” mixture until sugar is fully blended into the liquid.


Turn your Fondant out onto your work surface that has been dusted with equal parts of cornstarch and powdered sugar. Make sure your hands are well dusted too. (If fondant is still sticky, knead in some more powdered sugar.)

Knead fondant into a loaf. Wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and let cool for at least one hour.

To store fondant, wrap in plastic wrap and then put it in a re-sealable plastic bag. Squeeze out as much air as possible. Marshmallow Fondant will keep very well in the refrigerator for weeks.

If you're looking for ideas on how to make or decorate a microphone cake, I'd look at cakecentral.com for ideas. They have 2 pages of microphone cakes in their galleries.

I think you might consider baking a cake, then putting a microphone on top. Marzipan or fondant would be a good way to do that, but you could also sculpt the mic out of cake. Just use a serrated knife (electric would work fine I'm sure, but I don't have one, so I use my bread knife). I usually make my cakes about 2 days before we need them, and they keep just fine in the fridge. Half the time I don't even wrap them, and the icing keeps them moist and fresh. Just pull the cake out at least 30 minutes before serving, and let it come to room temperature. It will taste better.

I prefer to make buttercream icing for decorating. I don't use meringue powder in mine, but I do make it with half crisco/half butter, whatever the recipe on the Wilton site says. Everyone has their own ideas about which type of icing is best and what works best for them.

Cakes will keep well frozen if they are wrapped well. Again, Cake Central is a wonderful reference.

Also, this is just me, but I really enjoy adding a "fun" filling to my cakes. I'm always doing something different. Cookies-n-cream goes well with chocolate cake, and it's great for a kid's cake. They have recipes for it over at Cake Central. Delish!

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