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In this tutorial I demonstrate 6 ways to decorate cakes with cookies cutters, including sprinkle designs, shaped mini cakes, piñata cakes, and chocolate toppers.
For my tutorial on 8 Ways To Use A 1M Piping Tip, click here: https://youtu.be/waHzTfrEm3M
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Hi! I'm Emily from British Girl Bakes and I'm going to show you six ways to use
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cookie cutters to decorate cakes. To start with, you can use cookie cutters to
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cut shapes out of cakes. To make shaped cakes, take your cake layers and press
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your cookie cutter into them, trying to get as many shapes out of each layer as
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possible. The layers should be thinner than the height of your cookie cutter
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for the neatest shapes. You can spread or pipe filling onto each layer. Here I'm
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using a 4B tip to pipe little open stars of frosting on as a filling and
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then arranging the next layer of cake on top. You can leave these cakes naked or
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you can frost them. Smooth frosting is tricky on shaped cakes, especially when
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they're this small, so it's easier to pipe the frosting on and if you're
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looking for ideas I have a tutorial on eight ways to use a 1M tip and you can
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watch that by clicking the link in the top of the screen or in the description
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below this video. I'm adding some sprinkles on top of this cake and I'm
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going to leave it naked so to prevent it from drying out I'm putting it in the
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freezer for about 30 minutes, just until the frosting has set and will hold its
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shape, and then I'm wrapping the whole cake in cling film and putting it in the
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fridge until I'm ready to serve it. I'll take it out about one hour before
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serving it and take the cling film off straight away so that when the frosting
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softens the cling film won't damage it. It's best to keep it in something
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airtight until serving it like a tapioca. Another way to cut cakes with cookie cutters is to create a piñata style cake
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also called a sprinkle explosion cake. Cut a shape out of the middle of all of
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the cake layers except the top one and after assembling your cake as normal
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you'll have a chamber in the middle which you can fill with sprinkles or candy and then place the final layer of cake on top to seal the chamber and to
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provide a flat surface to frost over. Frost the cake as normal and decorate it
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however you like. This would be a fun design for a gender reveal and then when
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you cut into the cake the sprinkles will explode out of the cake. You can also use
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cookie cutters to shape chocolate, candy melts or cookies and you can use these
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as cake toppers or to decorate the sides of cakes. To use chocolate or candy
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melts to make shapes there are a few techniques. Melt the chocolate and if you
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want to colour it you can use gel colours for a strong colour without making the
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chocolate seize. The first technique is to arrange your cookie cutters on a
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silicon mat or parchment paper and spoon the chocolate into the cutters, pushing
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the chocolate right up to the edges and sprinkling them with sprinkles or edible
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glitter or any other decorations you like and leaving them to set for a few
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hours or putting them in the fridge to set more quickly. Then you can just push
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the shapes out of the cutters. If you're enjoying this tutorial please click the
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thumbs up button! Alternatively you can spread the melted chocolate or candy melts onto parchment paper or a silicon mat using an offset
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spatula and then dip your cookie cutters into hot water and when you press them
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into the melted chocolate you'll cut out a neat shape which you can then lift up
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out of the rest of the chocolate. Attach the shapes to your cake by pressing them into piped rosettes of
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buttercream, either on the top or on the sides. You could also use melted chocolate
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to attach them to the sides if you prefer and once the buttercream or
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melted chocolate sets the shapes will be secure on the cake while it's chilled
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and for a few hours after coming out of the fridge. To add some height to your cake you can make cookie toppers on sticks. I'm using
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sugar cookie dough for these but you can use whatever recipe you like as long as
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it will hold its shape. I leave the baking powder out of my recipe so that
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the cookies don't spread out while they're baking. After rolling out the
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dough and cutting out the shapes I push a paper lollipop stick into each one
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just going in about a centimeter or half an inch. I freeze the cookies before
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baking them and this also prevents them from spreading out as they bake. Once the
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cookies are cool you can decorate them with royal icing or just make a glaze
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with powdered sugar and a few drops of milk and I'm dipping this one in some
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edible glitter to make it sparkly. You can also use your cookie cutters to cut out thinly rolled fondant and stick
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that to the cookie by brushing the back of the fondant with a paintbrush dipped in water
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To decorate a cake with these you can place them straight onto the cake or you
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can pipe some swells of buttercream and push the sticks gently into them, varying
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the height of the cookie toppers so they're all visible. Finally you can use
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cookie cutters to guide you as you pipe or spread frosting or attach sprinkles to
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a cake. After frosting your cake you can press your cookie cutter into the
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frosting to leave an imprint and you can do this on the sides and the top of
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the cake. I like to do it after chilling the cake so the frosting has set and you
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won't accidentally damage it by smudging it with your finger. Also the imprint
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you leave when you pull a cookie cutter off will be neater when the frosting has set. Then you can pipe over the imprint, using it as a guide to trace over. This
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is buttercream thinned out with a bit more milk than normal and I'm wiggling
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the piping bag slightly as I pipe to give the impression of lace. After piping
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the outline you can leave the decoration like that or you can fill it in with
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free-handed patterns. For this cake I'm piping over the outline of the cookie cutters and then
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I'm using an offset spatula to smudge the frosting inwards, creating more of a
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crochet effect. If the decoration is smaller you can smudge the frosting with
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something smaller like a bowl tool or a paintbrush. To get coloured shapes or sprinkled shapes on cakes you can trace your cookie
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cutters onto parchment paper and cut the shape out, leaving the outline which you
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can use as a stencil. Chill your cake for at least an hour in the fridge so the
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frosting sets and holds its shape and then when you take it out of the fridge
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if the room you're decorating in is warmer than the fridge, you'll get a tiny
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bit of condensation on the frosting which will allow the parchment stencils
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to stick to the sides of the cake. Use an offset spatula to spread frosting over
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the stencil shapes, spreading inwards so you don't get any frosting underneath
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the parchment. Then when you peel the parchment off you'll leave behind
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perfect coloured shapes. You can make these even more fun by spreading
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frosting and then pressing sprinkles onto the frosting so that they stick. As the
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sprinkles fall off they won't stick to the rest of the cake because that frosting has set. If there are any parts of the shape that aren't covered in
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sprinkles you can just pinch a few sprinkles and press them into the sticky
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frosting you've just spread to fill in the remainder of the shape. To get
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sprinkled shapes onto the top of the cake you don't need to use parchment paper. You can just place the cookie cutter on top of the cake, pour some
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sprinkles into it, press the sprinkles down onto the frosting all the way up to
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the edges of the cookie cutter and then lift the cookie cutter up to leave the
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sprinkled shape behind. I hope this tutorial has been helpful! For more ways
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to decorate cakes, check out my online course on 10 Cake Decorating Techniques
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and I've put the link in the top of the screen and in the description below the
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video. Thanks for watching! Subscribe to my channel and click the notification
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bell to see a new cake decorating tutorial every week
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