Cake Tips Part I: Tools

Making a basic birthday cake is actually very easy. With these simple tips, you'll be on your way to making better cakes in your own kitchen. You don't need special ingredients, but there are a few tools to make the job easier.

* Large bread knife: for splitting and leveling

Some people use string or dental floss or professional cake levelers, but I love my giant bread knife. You'll find what works best for you.

* 11" spatula: for icing the tops of large cakes

* 8" spatulas: for icing the sides, the tops of smaller cakes & spreading filling

* Large icing bag with Kwik Icer tip: for icing the sides

~*~If you have a few dollars to spend~*~

* Medium icing bags with couplers & various tips

Otherwise, buy a few star (21 & 32), rose (104), round (4 & 5) & leaf (352 & 87) tips to get started, and learn how to make paper bags out of parchment paper. Some people actually prefer paper bags, anyway.

* Flower nail for making roses.

Do not bother purchasing a flower lifter to lift the rose off the nail.. Any small pair of scissors will do.


~*~If you are going to be doing a lot of decorating~*~

* Turntable

Thurntables make frosting cakes so much easier, but good ones can be costly. I bought mine from the bakery where I used to work when they were getting rid of it. it's ancient and ugly, but it spins like nobody's business, and that's all that counts.

Remember, you don't need a turntable to decorate cakes. If you can't afford one, don't worry about it.

* Various Wilton gel or paste colors

If you are on a budget, just purchase the colors you need for your project. Each time you make a cake, you'll add to your collection and soon you'll have a rainbow of colors. I suggest you purchase the gel or paste colors rather than the liquid. Gels and pastes are concentrated and will last for ever. Liquids will thin your icing as well. No one wants to attempt to make red icing roses with icing colored with red liquid dye--which is next to impossible anyway!