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.

Two Easy Ways To Ice A Cupcake

Using a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip, here are two easy ways to ice a cupcake. The different techniques look pretty together on a platter and can serve a practical purpose.

For example, if you are serving different flavored cupcakes but want to ice them with the same frosting, the different techniques are a way to distinguish the flavors for your guests. 

One:
Start on the outside edge and pipe a circle, spiraling in towards the center of the cupcake.

Two: 
Pipe a straight line across the center of the cupcake. Pipe more straight lines on both sides until the top of the cupcake is completely filled.

A Simple Cake

A simple cake can make a big impression.

When I want to "wow" without fussy details, I turn to a moist chocolate cake with fluffy white frosting.

This is the cake I made for my daughter Eleanor's birthday party because it's special and easy at the same time. So when you need a cake but have other things to worry about, make this cake.

My favorite cake recipe comes courtesy of Nigella Lawson. It's "Guinness Chocolate Cake" and it's moist, rich and foolproof. The best part is that it comes together in one pot and is mixed by hand. Easy easy easy.

I made two cakes for Eleanor's party but one layer topped with icing and maraschino cherries looks just as nice.

Chocolate Guinness Cake
1 cup Guinness
1 stick plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and butter and line a 9-inch springform pan.

Pour the Guinness into a large saucepan, add the butter in slices and heat until the butter is melted. Turn off the heat and whisk in the cocoa and sugar. Beat the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla and pour into the beer mixture and finally whisk in the flour and baking soda.

Pour the cake batter into the greased and lined pan and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Leave to cool completely in the pan on a cooling rack, as it is quite a damp cake.


Easy Fluffy Frosting
1 egg white
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup boiling water

Mix all the ingredients except the water in a deep mixing bowl. Add the boiling water and beat until stiff.