What is Cake Decoration in Culinary

Pastry Bakery Knowledge: Cake Decoration

What is Cake Decorating?

• Cake decorating is one of the sugar arts that uses icing, frosting, filling, topping, glazing, and other edible decorative elements to make plain cakes more visually interesting.
• Alternatively, cakes can be molded, cut, and sculpted to resemble three-dimensional persons, places, and things.
• Decorating a cake usually involves covering, glazing, it with some form of icing, and then using decorative sugar, candy, chocolate, or icing decorations to embellish the cake.  
• It can be as simple as sprinkling a fine coat of icing sugar or drizzling a glossy blanket of glaze over the top of a cake.

Cake Decoration

Read: The Famous List of Bread Types and Their Description

Cake Decoration Characteristic

• Sculpting/ Molding: sculpt or molding the cake or other pastry products into shapes such as round, oval, square, shoes, pillows, animals, or even people, etc.
• Icing: Coat the cake with icing sugar, royal icing, or any type of sugar decorating 
• Glazing: Cover the cake with a glossy glaze that is made from white chocolate or gelatin 
• Piping: Pipe the cake with buttercream, whipped cream, meringue, etc.
• Covering: Cover the cake with marzipan, fondant, or American roll buttercream
• Coating: Coat cake with ganache, mirror glace, etc. 
• Brushing: Brush or paint the cake with edible paint

5 kinds of Cake Decorating

1. Filling
2. Frosting
3. Topping
4. Glazing
5. Icing

Kinds of Cake Decorating

Read: 9 Types of Breakfast

1. Filling

• A filling is any substance inside of the cakes or any pastry product (a filling inside a cinnamon roll, a filling inside a pie).
• Anything between layers of cake is a filling such as a layer of jam, ganache, whipped cream, buttercream, cream cheese, or fruits.

2. Frosting

• It is made from sugar, butter, milk, cream, and sometimes egg whites and is often flavored with extracts, chocolate, and/or fresh fruit. 
• Some frostings are cooked, but most are uncooked and whipped together using a whisk or mixer. 
• The consistency can range from a thin glaze to a thick spread.
• E.g. Buttercream, Whipped cream, Cream cheese, etc.  

3. Topping

• In general, things on the top of a cake are called toppings, in the same way, that things on the top of a pizza are called toppings, but that usually doesn't count the frosting or icing or glaze.
• E.g. Fruit, Nuts, Crumble, Chocolate chips, Shredded chocolate, Grated cheese, Meses/ hegelslag 

4. Glazing

• A sweet glaze used to cover or decorate baked goods like cookies or cake.
• To make a surface of the cake shiny by putting a liquid substance onto it and leaving it or heating it until it dries 
• E.g. White chocolate base, Dark chocolate base, gelatin, etc.

5. Icing

• A sweet, creamy spread, as of confectioners' sugar, butter, and flavoring, for covering cakes, cookies,
• A sweet coating for baked goods (as cakes)
• E.g. Royal icing, icing sugar, etc. 

Types of Cake Decorating

1. Meringue
2. American Buttercream
3. Italian Buttercream 
4. Swiss Buttercream
5. French Buttercream
6. Buttercream-Rolled
7. Whipped Cream
8. Mousse Base
9. Cream Cheese
10. Pastry Cream/ Custard
11. Fondant- Rolled  
12. Fondant- Poured
13. Marzipan
14. Ganache
15. Glazed - Mirror glaze
16. Royal Icing

Cake Building

Cake Building Component

1. Cake
2. Filling
3. Icing/ Frosting
4. Topping

1. Cake

• Prepare and make a sponge cake
• Cut and splitting a cake into two or three equal layers

Prepare and Cut the cake

Read: 10 Types of Compound Butter to Enrich Your Dishes

2. Filling

• Wet the sponge cake with flavored simple syrup (be sure to use enough)
• Spread the filling on the first layer 
• Add a second layer of cake
• Repeat the procedure for the next layer
• Finish with a layer of syrup-soaked cake
• E.e. Buttercream, Cream cheese, or Whipped cream, etc.

Fill The Cake

Read: How To Create Canapes

3. Icing/ Frosting

• Place a large amount of icing on top of the cake
• Spread the icing over the top and just to the edge
• Using the icing hanging off of the top, start spreading icing on the sides of the cake
• Repeat until the cake is completely covered and smooth
• Finish as desired
• E.g. Buttercream, Cream cheese, or Whipped cream, etc.

Icing / Frosting

Read: 10 Types of Amuse-Bouche as Chef's Complimentary

4. Topping

• Garnish with fruit, chocolate chips, crumble, shredded chocolate, meses/ hegelslag (chocolate sprinkle), grated cheese, or nuts, etc.

Kinds of Topping
Fruit, Grated cheese, Shredded Chocolate

Read: 5 Basic Recipes of French Mother Sauces and Their Derivatives

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