Make Ahead Cake Decorations

When I decorate cookies, I often have leftover royal icing and instead of tossing it, I use it to make rose decorations that I keep on hand for decorating cakes in a pinch.

Just let the royal icing roses dry completely and then store them in an airtight container. They'll keep for months and they are so handy to have on hand.  And, they're so pretty that no one will even think for a second that they were made in advance and your cake was a breeze to decorate.

Here's how:
Whip the royal icing until it is very stiff and tint it using gel coloring. I like to make two-toned roses so I tinted some rose and some cream. Fit a pastry bag with a petal tip. My preference is a Wilton #103.

I used a rubber scraper to spread some rose colored royal icing on the inside of my piping bag.

Then I dropped in the cream colored icing. This will give me a nice two-toned effect and keep the pink color just on the edges of the petals.

Adhere a small piece of parchment to a flower nail. Pipe a dollop of icing on the center.

Add a petal around the dollop. When you use a petal tip, it's essential that the narrow end of the tip be up as you pipe. This gives you realistic looking thin-edged petals.

Keep working around your dollop of icing and add two more petals to completely go around the dollop which is the center of the rose.

Add another layer of petals. I stopped after the second layer since I wanted small roses but you can keep going if you want to make a bigger rose.

Set the roses on a sheetpan to dry completely. I let mine dry for two full days and then I removed them from the parchement and put them in a single layer in an airtight container.

Using a #67 Wilton tip, I also made some leaves.

Before I add my handy dandy rose and leaf decorations to a cake, I experiment with placement on a sheetpan first to get them exactly how I want them.

A pretty cake that was a cinch to decorate.

Cake Tip: Add A Frosting Frame

A cake with a frame. Adding the design detail is easy when you create an outline to follow.

A piped icing frame around lettering on a cake is a nice way to add decoration and little extra oomph to the design. Piping a perfect shaped frame is easy to do if you first create an outline and you do this using a dish. That's right, a dish.

Let me explain. First add the lettering to your cake then find a dish with a shape you like that fits around the writing.

For a recent sheetcake, I used a 2.5 quart CorningWare casserole dish. Once you have your dish, you just carefully set it upside down centered around the lettering on your cake so that the lip creates an outline in the base frosting to follow for piping your frame. Carefully remove the dish, add the piping and you have a frame for your cake.

The casserole dish that I used.

Adding the piping.

Piping closeup. I used a Wilton star tip for this design.

A few icing roses are also nice but that's another story.

Cake Frosting Tips

Frosting a cake can be frustrating so here are some tips to make it a more pleasant experience. And the recipe for my favorite frosting - Chocolate Buttercream.

1. Cool your cake completely before even attempting to frost it. The colder the cake, the better the icing will adhere. Plus, watching your frosting slip and melt on a too warm cake can induce tears.
2. Use a serrated knife to even out a cake if necessary. You can't hide an uneven cake with icing. Start out with a even cake and you'll end up with an even cake.
3. Crumb coat your cake and then chill it before doing a final icing. A crumb coat is just a quick thin layer of icing to hold the crumbs in place. It's an extra step but well worth it.
4. Invest in a revolving cake decorating stand. Being able to turn your cake as you decorate makes a world of difference.
   
5. Invest in a long thin spatula for spreading the frosting.
   
6. Invest in a heavy offset spatula for lifting the cake layers.
7. Make a frosting that's light and easy to spread. My recipe for Chocolate Buttercream is ideal.

My revolving cake decorating stand is nothing fancy. It's just plastic but it makes decorating so much easier.

A heavy offset spatula is a must for lifting cake layers.

A thin spatula for spreading the frosting.

Chocolate Buttercream
3 large egg whites
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
pinch of fine sea salt
1 teaspoon espresso powder, dissolved in 1 teaspoon hot water, cooled

1/2 cup dark chocolate pieces, melted and cooled

Place the whites in a clean mixing bowl. Whisk in sugar and cream of tartar.

Place bowl over a double boiler on medium heat, stir frequently until the mixture is very hot (120 to 130 degrees Fahrenheit).

Move to mixer and whip whites on high for 2 to 3 minutes; turn down to medium low until cool (use the bowl as your guide).

In a separate bowl with a wooden spoon, stir butter to soften.

With mixer on medium/high speed, add the butter one tablespoon at a time, adding the next tablespoon just as the previous one is blended in. Once all the butter incorporated, add in vanilla, salt, coffee and chocolate whip on high speed until fluffy.