Buttercream Cake Design Tips

Creating beautiful and mouth-watering cakes is not as scary as it might seem. A variety of resources are available to guide you through your cake creating experience—books, websites, online videos and classes are just a few ways that you can learn how to decorate cakes.

This guide covers the basics of making and decorating tasty and beautiful cakes with buttercream icing and details. We explain the basics of icing, tools needed for decorating, how to design your cake, and how to transport and assemble the cake. In addition to buttercream, we touch briefly on fondant and royal icing, which can be used to make accent details for the cake; however, you can make a beautiful and edible creation using only buttercream. Get ready to decorate!

Icing 101

There are hundreds of different icing recipes and options for cake decorating. As an amateur or a pro just looking for inspiration, fundamentals are always at the core of any success project. Here is just a sampling of information from my new eBook "Buttercream Cake Design Tips".

Poured icings, spread able icings and rolled icings are just a few available. For most special-occasion cakes, the tastiest option is buttercream icing. In recent years, rolled-fondant icing has taken over as the "look" preferred for cake creators and brides-to-be. However, those cakes are more expensive and less tasty than cakes decorated with buttercream icing. In this section, we discuss the basics of buttercream, royal and fondant icing and provide recipes for each. It is possible to decorate a cake entirely with buttercream and have a beautiful design. In case you are ready to try some details with fondant, you will be able to branch out. The green and pink cake pictured above is iced with buttercream, with the detailed polka dots and diamonds made of fondant or gum paste. The cake to the right is decorated with buttercream, satin ribbon and flowers, for an elegant and wholly edible look!

What is Buttercream Icing?

Traditional buttercream icing is made mostly of eggs, butter and sugar. Versions best suited for home-decorating of cakes do not contain eggs. Buttercream is the tastiest of standard cake decorating icings and is quite flexible. Various consistencies allow decorating of the entire cake, and creation of larger details such as flowers and small, intricate details such as scrollwork.