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If you’ve ever watched a pastry chef decorate a cake, one thing’s for sure: They make a difficult task look easy. Combine the fact that baking is an exact science – you can’t just add or subtract things to taste like you can in cooking – with the steady hand and artistic eye needed for decorating, and you’ve got a real challenge. Take heart. When planning your child’s birthday party, crafting your own cake may not be an impossible dream.
Since Darmayne Robertson and her husband opened Sweet Confections Cakes in Harrisburg (www.sweetconfectionscakes.com) nearly six years ago, everything from a Pokemon monster to a six-foot-long bowling lane cake has emerged from the bakery’s kitchen. When beginning to make your own works of pastry art, Robertson suggests starting with a cake you feel good about. And she says a boxed cake mix is perfectly acceptable. “It depends on what you’ve been baking with all your life,” she says. “Most younger people are using boxed cakes, and there’s nothing wrong with that.” Store-bought icing is also fine, she says. “If you buy it, I’d buy something that’s whipped because it’s smoother-textured and easier to move around on the cake without tearing the cake up.”
A round 8- or 6-inch cake (most likely the size of a pan you already have) is a good choice and can be the base of many creative cake options. While most bakeries have hundreds of decorating tools, Robertson suggests looking for a starter kit that can be found in most big-box or craft stores. For less than $10, the kit includes all the basics: four must-have metal tips, decorating bags and plastic tip-holders, food coloring for dying your frosting and an instruction booklet offering some decorating tips. Ken Schenk, owner of and baker at his family’s business, The Pennsylvania Bakery in Camp Hill (www.pabakery.com), also suggests adding a turntable, icing spatula and candy decorations to the kit’s basics.
Next, decide on a simple idea. Your child may love a specific cartoon character, but it may behoove you to begin with a more basic item, like a ball of some sort. Robertson suggests using some extra icing to round out the edges of the cake. You can dye the icing orange for a basketball, or use several colors for a beach ball. “You don’t have to have it perfect; all you have to do is use some extra icing,” she says. “Until you become accustomed to baking, you’re always going to have a mound on the top of the cake anyway!” Schenk suggests shapes that are easily made by cutting a cake once or twice. “For a butterfly-shaped cake, use an 8-inch round cake, cut down the middle and put the curved sides together to make the wings,” he says. “For a fish-shaped cake, cut an oval shape out of an 8-inch round cake and use the cut pieces for the tail.”
Fondant, a dough-like covering for a cake that makes it look smooth, is another trick that Robertson suggests to the at-home decorator. “If you’re creative, it’s a great way to do a nice cake,” she says. Because it’s the consistency of play dough, fondant can be shaped into nearly anything. It can be dyed any color and is available in most grocery and craft stores. “Just work with it; play with it,” says Robertson. “That’s a great way to learn, and that’s how you teach yourself.” However, be aware that “though fondant usually gives an attractive finished product, some people do not prefer the taste,” Schenk says.
“If you are not used to working with fondant, start out by using cookie cutters for simple shapes for decorations,” he says. Dye a piece, cut out the shapes, and stick them to your cake.
Whatever you try, there are a few things to leave to the professionals. “I would not try carving a cake,” Robertson says. “I would not try stacking a cake.” While it may seem like an easy concept, both carving and stacking a multi-tiered cake require experience and skill to assemble. It also puts you at risk for having your creation collapse or sink into itself. Says Schenk, “Avoid detailed flowers, stay away from drawings or pictures on a cake, detailed drapings, gum paste and rolled fondant decorations.”
Perhaps the most important thing to remember is practice makes perfect. The day before the party is not the time to attempt any cake for the first time. And don’t underestimate the beauty of the simple techniques that Schenk suggests for first-timers, such as a personalized inscription or even a basic piped border. “Most people don’t realize how much work is involved in it,” Robertson says. “But it is a lot of fun.”
Freelance writer Noreen Livoti is a mother of one from Harrisburg.
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