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Skip the turntable, piping bags, textured cake combs, fancy stencils, custom cake boxes and more with these 10 cake decorating shortcuts!
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0:00 Intro
0:13 Smooth frosting shortcut
0:51 Textured frosting shortcut
1:28 Turntable hack
1:52 Piping bag substitute
2:17 Piping tips shortcut
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0:00
Skip the turntable, piping bags, textured cake combs, fancy cake stencils, custom cake boxes and more with these 10 cake decorating shortcuts
0:13
To get the frosting smooth on your cakes, you can scrape 10, 20, 30 times, but if the consistency of your buttercream is too stiff, or if there are air bubbles in it, even 100 scrapes won't smooth it
0:27
Here's a shortcut. scoop up a third of the buttercream and microwave it for 10 seconds
0:32
You'll melt the butter and when you stir it back into the main bowl of frosting
0:36
it will thin out the consistency and, bonus, get rid of any air bubbles in the process
0:42
This microwaved frosting will glide onto your cake and your cake comb will whisk away the excess
0:47
to leave a silky smooth surface behind. Cake combs come in all sorts of patterns that can be used to texture the frosting on a cake
0:55
But do you really need to buy a new one every time you want a different texture on a cake
1:00
Nope. Just grab your offset spatula or palette knife or even a spoon
1:04
and press it against the cake just after frosting it, while the frosting is still soft
1:10
Drag slowly upwards to create grooves, spiraling up the sides of the cake
1:15
Or pull straight up to make these vertical swishes. Or use arc motions to create this rustic texture instead
1:23
It's quicker, easier, and cheaper than mastering cake comb texture. If you don't have a turntable
1:30
you can still achieve perfectly smooth frosting on your cakes. Take the ring or wheel out of your microwave
1:36
and place your cakeboard on top. To spin the cake, instead of gripping onto a turntable
1:42
hold the cakeboard instead and the little wheels underneath will make the cake spin almost effortlessly as your cake comb leaves a beautifully smooth surface on the frosting Run out of piping bags Don panic Spoon your frosting into a Ziploc or sandwich bag
1:57
and push it down to one of the bottom corners. Snip off the tip of the corner and twist the
2:03
bag tightly where you grip it so that when you squeeze you'll push the frosting out through
2:07
that hole, just like you would with a piping bag. Now you can pipe dots
2:12
beaded borders and lines without a piping bag. If you have piping bags but no tips
2:20
cut the end off the piping bag to leave a small hole to pipe dotted or pointerless designs
2:25
And the longer you squeeze the piping bag while holding it still
2:29
the bigger the dots will spread out to be. You can even use a piping bag with no piping tip to write pretty messages like this
2:37
A coupler allows you to switch a piping tip between different piping bags
2:42
If you don't have a coupler, use this shortcut. Drop the piping tip into a piping bag and prepare different piping bags
2:49
without piping tips, filled with coloured frosting. Drop the first coloured bag into the bag with the piping tip
2:56
and as you squeeze the bag you'll push the coloured butter cream through the piping tip that's in the other bag
3:01
Pipe all of the details you want with that colour, and then lift the coloured bag out and drop the next colour in
3:08
squeeze the last little bit of the previous colour out into a bowl until you see the next colour come through
3:15
Pipe those details and repeat for as many colours as you want to use
3:19
remembering each time to squeeze out the remainder of the previous colour into a bowl before piping onto the cake
3:25
With this shortcut you can switch quickly between several colours, all using just one piping tip with no washing and drying in between and no coupler necessary To pipe intricate flowers you don need a flower nail and parchment squares and several different piping tips
3:42
Skip all of that by using Russian tips as a shortcut. You can pipe colours onto a piece of plastic wrap
3:49
using a different colour for the middle, or just stir the colours slightly together in a bowl to make a marbled effect
3:54
before spooning it into a piping bag. If you're using the plastic wrap method
3:59
roll it up tightly and twist both ends, cutting one end and then drop that end down into a piping
4:05
bag with any flower-shaped Russian tip inside. Squeeze and release and ta-da! Detailed colorful flowers
4:13
with individual petals in seconds. Add more detail with a leaf tip, adding some greenery
4:19
and conveniently filling in any gaps in between the flowers. Stenciled cakes are stunning
4:25
but stencils are expensive to buy for each cake you decorate. Instead, grab a roll of parchment paper. Cut a piece out a few inches bigger than your design
4:34
and draw your design onto it. If you're using different colors, use a different piece of
4:39
parchment for the details of each color. If your design has four colors, you'll have four stencils
4:46
Cut the design out, keeping the surrounding paper intact. You'll need a cold cake for stenciling
4:51
so that the buttercream frosting chills and sets and gets really firm. And that way you won't
4:57
damage it when you press the stencils against it. When you take the cake out of the fridge
5:02
tiny beads of condensation will form after a few minutes. Wrap your homemade stencil around the cake
5:07
and it will stick to the condensation. Spread frosting over the design you cut out
5:13
scrape off the excess with an offset spatula or cake comb and you'll leave a thin, smooth
5:18
layer behind Peel the paper off and voila Repeat with the rest of the stencils if you using more than one colour You need to put the cake in the freezer for about five minutes in between each one
5:30
to set the previous colour so that the parchment paper doesn't smudge the details you've already
5:35
stenciled onto the cake. Use a toothpick to tidy up any smudges or texture on the buttercream and ta-da
5:42
Easy homemade stencils to make neat designs that are completely customizable. For even level cake layers like these, you could let your cake layers cool and then trim the tops to get rid of the domes
5:54
Wrap your cake pans with baking strips before baking. These need to be soaked in water for five minutes and then squeezed so that they're very damp but not dripping wet
6:04
Your cake layers will bake evenly without burnt edges and amazingly, they'll be perfectly flat without needing to trim them
6:12
When you cut into your cake, the slices look beautiful with straight even layers of cake and
6:17
and filling. For delivering cakes, instead of buying bigger cake boxes for tall cakes or tear cakes
6:24
or cakes with cake toppers, use this shortcut. Cut the lid, no pun intended, with two diagonal
6:30
slits on opposite sides of the box, which will make a flap in the middle on those sides
6:37
Then slide the flap into the inside of the box. The shorter you cut the diagonal slits
6:43
the higher up you'll raise the lid to make more space for your cake. Now the lid won't touch the top of the cake and damage it
6:50
And you'll be able to safely transport your cakes without needing to buy new packaging
6:55
I hope you've seen some shortcuts you'd like to try. Tell me in the comments which is your favourite and visit my cake school on Britishgirlbakes.com
7:01
for individual cake decorating courses and memberships. Thanks for watching
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