What do I need to start me off cake decorating?

nettles77

Just for fun with the wee ones. I've been looking on ebay and see wee tool sets for moulding, a smoother, stencils - are metal best?? Do I need paintbrushes and some type of glue? Do you buy the sugar paste or make your own? Also am looking at nozzles and piping bags, do you need big sets f nozzles? Sorry for all the questions. Thank you.

Nanamia

Hi Nettles what sort of decorating are you planning on doing? Cupcakes or celebration cakes? I've been cake decorating for a couple of years now and love it. Specially love baking with our DGDs. I started off just picking a tool up each time I visited the local cake decorating shop although have recently bought a set of tools from amaz0n for £2/3 they are ob a copy of the more expensive brands but are great for using with the children. These would be used for making fondant figures- very similar to playing with playdoh. I always use shop bought fondant- shop brand is cheaper than the big name and I've not had a problem (touch wood). A smoother is essential for applying fondant to a celebration cake to smooth out any imperfections ( I have a make one but have also just ordered one a cheaper version also from amaz0n for using with the children. In the supermarkets at the mo there is a pack of 4/5 different coloured fondant to start you off. Buying the colouring pastes can be quite pricey so build your collection as you go. You only need a little each time so it lasts ages.
There is a homemade cake thread and I'm sure the lovelies on there will be a great help x

harrybear_1988

Hiya!

Well if it's just for fun with the kids then you don't need too much flash stuff.

I'd say for basic cake decorating you need icing/sugarpaste, buttercream, icing sugar, food colouring, a spatula, a rolling pin, some fun sprinkles etc for decorating, maybe some cookie cutters.

You don't really need a piping bag unless you are either using a buttercream swirl top on a cupcake or wanting to pipe fancy borders etc from stiff liquid icing.


As for whether to buy or make, I would probably buy the sugarpaste icing (in a white block from supermarket) and colour it with a bit of food colouring. You can make liquid icing from icing sugar and water. Buttercream can be made from butter, trex and icing sugar with a splash of milk and vanilla essence if you want (keep in air tight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks)

To stick sugarpaste to a cake the easiest way is to cover the top of the cake with a layer of something yummy - jam or buttercream work well. The roll the icing, cover, trim and decorate.

You can use anything you like to decorate, I mentioned the cookie cutters as the kids might like to cut out shapes in different colour icing and stick them to the iced cake.

Sugarpaste icing can be stuck to other sugarpaste icing using a tiny dab of water - I use warm water and the back of a teaspoon to smooth it on.



Happy cake decorating!
xxx