When it comes to birthday pastry decorating, you have many options at home. You have covered everything from using icing sugar and marzipan to marshmallows and more for cake decoration. You have suggestions for cake decorations and toppers if you need them.
1. Melted chocolate and ganache
The use of chocolate as a cake embellishment is a fan favorite within our group. Melt it, combine it with cream to make the ganache (opens in a new tab), or coat your cake with cocoa powder. You can use chocolate to cover any cake you like; it doesn’t have to be a chocolate cake.
Top tip:
Maintain a low temperature and stir the chocolate occasionally to keep it from scorching as the temperature rises. Due to the higher sugar content, white chocolate melts significantly more quickly than milk or dark varieties.
2. Fruit
Fruit is the most excellent option if you want your cake to have a summery feel without being too heavy. To decorate your cake, you can use various fruits, from fresh raspberries to dried raisins. For a summery take, use berries, and for a wintry one, try clementines and dried fruit.
Top tip:
When using fresh fruit, throw it in at the very end. The buttercream or cream topping on your dessert may shift or melt slightly if your fruit is juicy.
3. Buttercream and frosting
Butter, icing sugar, extract, and a touch of milk are all you need to make buttercream (opens in new tab). Due to its versatility as a flavoring agent, coloring agent, and presentational tool (from piped swirls to a smooth palette-knife finish), buttercream is one of the most widely used cake tops. Make your buttercream into cream cheese frosting by exchanging the butter for cream cheese the next time you want to try something new.
Top tip:
Buttercream that is too thin to pipe onto a cake can be fixed by adding more icing sugar or chilling it for a few minutes.
4. Edible flowers
Using flowers, such as rose petals or sprigs of lavender, to garnish your cake will bring to mind the arrival of spring. They will lend an air of refined sophistication to your cake as well as a calming, floral fragrance. You can decorate your cake by sprinkling rose petals over the buttercream or by tying together bouquets and laying them around the edge of the cake.
Top tip:
If the flowers weren’t designated as edible or purchased from a store, you probably wouldn’t advise eating them.
5. Chocolates
Your children will be delighted by a cake covered with an abundance of store-bought chocolates, whether you pile them in the center, cover the entire cake with them, or arrange them in a pattern such as spelling out their names. Candy bars like Maltesers, Milky Ways, Smarties, Mars, and more come to mind.
Top tip:
If you want to use chocolates to decorate your cake, you should cover it in a thin layer of buttercream or melted chocolate beforehand so that the chocolates don’t slide around.
6. Ready to roll fondant or Sugar paste
Your local grocery store probably has ready-to-roll fondant in the cake decorating section. It’s excellent for building a cake stand because it’s so flexible. You may find fondant in various colors at the store, or you can make your own by mixing food coloring with white fondant.
Top tip:
Before you begin, check that the surface you’ll be using to work with the fondant or sugar paste is dry and spotless.
7. Marshmallows
Marshmallows, whether melted or left whole, are a quick and easy way to elevate a simple baked good to a new level of deliciousness. You can either heap them high or melt them over a moderate flame to drizzle over the top of your cake. Marshmallows may be purchased at a reasonable price at the majority of food stores, which makes them a simple option for use as an addition to children’s celebration cakes or as a present.
Top tip:
Using a non-stick pan is ideal for melting marshmallows.
8. Icing sugar
Decorating with icing sugar is a great option if you want to use a straightforward method to do the job. Use it to freely dust your cake, form shapes by cutting out paper templates and brushing them, or mix it with water and flavor extract to produce an icing sugar paste that can be drizzled over large cakes or cupcakes.
Top tip:
Make sure the cake is cold before dusting it with icing sugar; the Sugar may melt. Your butterscotch pastry cake dessert can be a work of art even if you don’t consider yourself an artist. Until decoration, a cake is just a blank canvas. Experimenting with various approaches to cake decorating can be a lot of fun. Regardless of whether you are doing it by yourself, with a group of friends, or with your own children. When getting ready for a significant event, everyone likes the chance to employ their imaginations in creative ways.
