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Cake Decorating Naturally
Valentines Day, birthday parties and many other celebrations throughout the year are all reasons to
bake scrumptious, nutritious cakes. These cakes can also be fun and beautiful. Decorating cakes is
not hard and it can be enjoyable using your artistic talents. If you are like me, and not very
artistically talented, use a picture as a reference. Once you begin to decorate, you may surprise
yourself with really terrific, creative ideas. Even if you are not a Leonardo Da Vinci, the guests
won't care as long as it tastes great. After all, they are your friends. I've also found, that
most guests will ooh and ahh at any decorations on a homemade cake since so few people
bother now days.
Decorating
The fastest and simplest way to decorate is by using nuts, edible flowers, raisins or fresh fruit.
You can write a "Happy Birthday" message using nut pieces or raisins. Thin slices of fruit make a
decorative border. Even just sprinkling coconut or other nuts all over a frosted cake makes a
simple cake look festive.
An easy way to get beautiful results is by using a pastry bag with various tips. In lieu of a
pastry bag, you can use a device that looks like a giant plastic syringe and attaches to different,
decorative tips. I have seen this at many supermarkets. 
Choose the decorating tip and attach it to your pastry bag or syringe and then fill the bag/syringe
with frosting. Before you begin to decorate the cake, squeeze some of the frosting out onto a
plate. This will give you a feel for how the frosting comes out and what it will look like.
Practice on the plate until you are confident that you are proficient with that particular tip and
frosting combination.
Using a stencil is really quite easy. You can use a doily or use the same technique as for making paper snowflakes. For paper snowflakes, fold the paper into eighths or sixteenths. Cut out half or quarter circles, notches and triangles in any pattern you please. Open the paper and there you go!
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| Folded into sixteenths |
Folded into eights |
Your finished snowflake |
For silhouettes, sketch the shape and then cut it out. If you have a picture that you can trace or
even look at while you sketch, this will make the task much easier. Once the silhouette is drawn,
trace the picture onto wax or parchment paper. Then cut out the center.
First frost the entire cake. Then refrigerate the cake in order to make sure that the frosting
is cold and as hard as possible. Lay the stencil flat onto the cake.
Next spread the coloring ingredient evenly, paying close attention to corners. Depending upon the color that you want, you can spread cinnamon, cocoa or
carob powder by using a sifter. You can also sprinkle with shredded coconut or finely minced nuts.
If using something coarse like nuts or coconut, press lightly to make sure that it is sticking to
the frosting. Gently remove the stencil straight up and off of the cake. Voila! You will have a
picture on your cake!
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| Frost the Cake |
Lay stencil onto the cake |
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| Spread the coloring ingredient |
Gently remove the stencil |
If using cocoa, carob or any other
powders, serve immediately as they will begin to blend in with the frosting and the silhouette will
disappear over time. If making the cake the night before, very finely ground nuts and coconut will
work well.
A final word of advice from one who has prepared food and cakes for many parties: Make sure to
leave yourself plenty of time to decorate the cake. The whole point is to have fun doing it! Also,
artistic inspirations usually do not come to people in a rush.
Happy decorating and happy Valentines Day from the staff of Aura's Kitchen.
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