The first question you will ask yourself is “can I do it? “ The answer is Yes, of course.
As with most other things, one needs to start at a basic level and then build up. There is such a great number of methods and techniques that you are surely bound to find one which you will feel comfortable with and which you can adopt and perfect as you go along.
If you love art, you will love cake decorating but you do not really need to be a Matisse or aVan Gogh to produce a cake which is not only tasty, but also an eye catcher! All one needs to do is follow some basic guidelines and then let their own creativity and necessity guide them .
The frist thing we need to do is plan how we want our cake to look and feeling confident that we can do it. Next, we have to make sure that we have all the necessary equipment to obtain the results we want. After that, we need to get all the ingredients together.
There are many options of how we can decorate our cake and some of the decoration methods compliment also the texture of the cake itself. Forexample, it if we have a spongy light cake, we will most probably need a light creamy covering or a soft icing one but if our cake is of a dark rich fruity variety, a marzipan, sugarpaste covering will probably be more adequate.
Certain cakes are usually associated with specific occasions but we should not feel bound and restricted by tradition and if you can think out of the box and produce something outlandish and unconventional, go right ahead.
The presentation of your cake should make an impact. Cakes are by their very nature a focal point. All eyes are turned towards it during cutting and even before, it is usually displayed. Your cake should reflect not only the capability and versatility of the Chef, but also the occasion, the character and temperament on whose behalf the cake is made, and the guests who will partake of it.
All of these factors have to be kept constantly in mind. When putting all the ingredients together, there is one ingredient of which you need to have quite a substantial amount. This ingredient, which can make the difference between a hurried, last minute after thought of a cake or a well planned, carefully thought out and finely executed masterpiece is Time.
Initially, everything takes a bit longer so allow yourself quite a bit of undisturbed time and space so that you will not have unnecessary pressure.
At a later stage, when we become more confident about our capabilities and what we are going to do, we may opt to start a part of the decoration before even cooking the cake, but we shall leave that option for a future date to avoid confusion.
So now we have an idea of what we are going to achieve (it could be a picture, a design, or simply an idea of how we would like the finished cake to look), we have the tools, and we have the ingredients.
Let us start.
