Cake Decorating Instruction

Posts Tagged ‘icing’

Rosie Bakery All-Butter Fresh Cream (A Real Buy Used Order Today)

What can one say about the modest Raspberry, except that it is delightful, nutritious and makes the most amazing jam and cake frosting. Hands up those who have smacked their lips at the even sight of Raspberry Butter Cream Frosting?

They also make a perfect addition to muffins, fairy cakes and ice cream and Oh! Not to forget raspberries and fresh cream with a scone or on their own. Am I making your mouth water yet?

When I think of Raspberries, I think of my grandpa Ted who I adored and how I used to help him in his enormous, and I mean enormous vegetable and fruit garden. Granddad Ted and granny Min had 11 offspring and when they grew up and got married, they lived close by; some of them even built houses on land bought from granddaddy.

Each child produced many children, quite a clan we were all fed from Granddad's grand garden plus his pigs, poultry and rabbits.

Anyhow back to the story. Whenever granddad was not working as a Master Baker, you would come across him, in his garden or looking after the livestock. This is where I loved to come and assist, and be taught the "How To" on it all.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful 5.0 out of 5 stars Heaven on Earth:

With the publication of this cookbook, now folks can truly enjoy their own heaven on earth in their own home. Thank you, Rosie! Or I should really say Judy! I can truly fully understand now why her bakery was always so very packed with customers. Besides of being easy to follow, full of helpful tips and interesting antidotes, these recipes are to die for. I've tried quite a few, and every single one is hands down without fail the most delicious, delectable, divine desserts I have ever made. You cannot go wrong with this cookbook if you are looking for delicious treats to bake. Besides of cookies and bars, she has recipes for cakes and pies, scrumptious frostings. (book worm)

Review paraphrased for size — view original review here.

I recall the Raspberry Canes, they would line 3 lines deep 2 canes per hole either side of the path to the house, which also led off to the pigs, poultry and rabbits. Each Cane standing around 6 feet. And I used to love helping grandad stake and tie these canes before fruiting, as each one gave of its best

gramps was really proud of his garden; the land was rich and rich and produced only the best of produce. After each harvest the ground was fed with well rotted manure and compost, dug in deep, turned 2-3 times left for a 2-3 weeks, turned again, then new crops planted in a rotation system.

I remember how It was drummed into me "Raspberry Canes, are tricky little devils, they don't like to get soaked feet, and won't do well if weeds tickle their legs Margie" he used to say. "Don't tie them too tight, you will bruise the cane, just enough to give 'em support, show 'em love and they will yield you fruit to be proud of" was the repeated instruction every time we gave the canes support.

The Raspberry canes did show us love, with an abundance of fruit, flawlessly formed sweetened, scrumptious berries ready for us to pick and eat as is, or turn into something comforting and delightful like grannie Mins Double Sponge Cake which was so light, I used to believe one puff of wind and it would blow away. All filled with fresh whipped cream, layered with fresh raspberries and topped with the best raspberry frosting I have ever tasted.

Grandfather is long departed now, even after all this time, I still miss him at times, it is funny how memories can come bouncing back when you look, touch or smell certain things. Raspberries, those delightful berries do it for me all the time.

Oh those Raspberry canes, they kept on giving, year after year, after year.

Maggie has been an outstanding cook all her life thanks to her Grandfather who was a Master Baker and trained her everything she needed to know. She has several sites dedicated to baking and cooking. Visit her site now

For beginner cake decorators, one of the hardest things to overcome is uneven icing. It takes some practice to attain a nice smooth finish to the buttercream on the cake.

Chill the cake before you start frosting. A warm cake is more apt to break apart. Chill before and after filling it. Often, if you frost the cake right after you fill it, later on the filling will bulge out of the middle of the cake. By chilling first, the cake has time to settle and anything that wants to squeeze out of the sides can be smoothed with the spatula.

When working with any round cake, a lazy susan can make the job much easier. This tool allows you to turn the cake while you are frosting the sides so there are fewer start and stop marks on the cake. You may want to crumb coat your cake before getting started. Use either a very thin consistency buttercream to glaze the whole cake or brush it with thinned apricot jam. Thin the jam with hot water and strain it before applying it with a pastry brush. (You should also chill the cake after this step).

A quick way to get the icing on the cake is to use a large cake decorating tip to pipe it all over the cake before spreading it. The #789 Wilton cake decorating tip works great for this. It's such a big tip that you'll need to devote a cake decorating bag to it because the hole is much too big to hold a coupler. Once you cut the hole, just drop the tip right into the bag. If you're not using this tip then carefully place the icing on the side of the cake and push from the middle of the icing outward. You don't want to drag the spatula across the cake. That pulls crumbs into the icing and can tear the cake. Medium consistency buttercream works best. If it's too thin, it will slide off the cake. Too thick and it will tear the cake and be very difficult to spread.

Start piping the icing on the cake, starting from the base. Hold the tip against the cake so the lines are facing inward. Pipe all around the bottom and then start another line of icing all around the cake right above the last one. Continue all the way up the cake, going a little past the top of the cake. This extra overlap of icing at the top will help to make a cleaner edge on the cake. Now use either a metal spatula, a bowl scraper or a spackle knife held vertically against the side of the cake at a 45 degree angle to smooth the sides. Scrape off excess icing as you go. Continue going over the sides until they're pretty even.

Next, pipe icing on top of the cake. Using your spatula again, pull the icing from the edge of the cake towards the center. Each time you do this, wipe off the excess icing. After you've done this all around the edge, take the spatula and go straight across the top. Do this to the entire top of the cake. Any excess icing on the edge can be lifted off.

Not every type of buttercream crusts. If you do use crusting buttercream, you can do the next step to get the icing really smooth. Let the cake sit for at least 15 minutes. Touch the icing and see if it's hardened. If it comes off on your finger, wait a little longer. Now, take either a Viva paper towel (patterned paper towels won't work for this), wax paper or parchment paper and lay it on the side of the cake. Use the spatula again to smooth across the paper towel a few times. Move the paper towel to the next spot and repeat. Do this to the entire cake. The wax paper and parchment paper don't bend as easily but they will still work.

Theresa Happe is a baker, cake decorator and co-creator of CakesWeBake.com, a social network for cake decorating where you will find thousands of cake ideas , cake photos, cake decorating videos, a live chat and forum.