Easy/Impressive Cake Decorating

I may have mentioned that I was taking a Wilton Method cake decorating class at my local Michaels store. I had actually attempted to take the class a couple of years back but, due to health reasons, I had to quit halfway through. I'm pleased to say that this time around I received my certificate of completion along with a bunch of tips and tricks for cake decorating! Today I want to show you just how easy it is to add pictures and drawings to the tops of your cakes.

I made this cake in my second class. I wish I had pictures of the process to share but I was mostly covered with buttercream the whole time, not to mention the teacher probably would have looked at me strangely! But the concept is really simple.

All you need to start is a line drawing. Obviously, mine was of a cupcake but you can use anything you find on Google or in a colouring book - just try to keep it simple for your first try. Tape a piece of parchment paper over your drawing and then use piping gel to trace all of the lines. Piping gel comes in a tub or a tube - if you're not going to be using it often then just buy a tube. It doesn't really matter what colour since you'll be covering it up with icing.

Once you've traced your design, take your parchment paper and invert it onto the top of your cake. Use your finger or a little paintbrush to go over all of your piping gel lines. Then carefully peel back the parchment to reveal your drawing transferred onto your cake. The next part is easy - just fill in the design with various colours of icing!

Mine is far from perfect but it gives you the idea. The best part is that I only had to use one icing tip to make this whole cupcake (except for the skinny wavy lines on the cupcake bottom). I even used the same Wilton 12 tip to pipe the simple border at the bottom of my cake.If you want to try this out without investing in tips you can always just snip the corner of a Ziploc back and pipe your icing through the hole!

Easy and impressive - try this for your next birthday celebration!