I bake and decorate each of my boys’ birthday cakes! It’s become quite the yummy tradition – even though I started with ZERO baking and decorating experience. I’m completely self-taught and definitely don’t have lots of extra time, so this blog post is full of time-saving hacks, as well as some amazing tips for making a box mix taste like a bakery cake.

Here’s a step by step guide to easy cake decorating:

1. Choose your design and get inspiration (I create a Pinterest board). You’re looking for a simple design. Don’t get crazy. 😉 

Side note: I’ve always planned our babies’ first birthday themes around their nursery themes! We did a lion cake for Banner’s safari and world travel nursery, and a woodland bear cake for Anchor’s woodland adventure nursery.

2. Cut out a template (using paper, posterboard, etc).

3. Figure out how that template can fit into your cake pans. I was able to “cheat” with a rocket cake template I found on Pinterest, but often times it just takes some trial and error. My go-to cake pan setup is two of these round pans.

4. Bake your cakes (check out this quick video on how to make a boxed cake taste AMAZING).

5. Let cool.

6. While cake is baking, make buttercream frosting (I’ve used this recipe for years). Make more than you think you need. Trust me. 😉 

7. Mix your frosting colors. If your design needs red, pleeeease order this one. You don’t want to waste your time with a regular red food coloring because you’ll never get a deep red color, only pink. If you need to add small black detailing, just buy this gel color and apply it directly to the cake!

8. Gently remove cakes from the pans and set them on cutting boards. Use this handy tool to cut straight across, so that the cakes don’t have rounded tops. It’s my favorite cake tool for sure!

9. Set templates on the cakes and double check your work. When you’re ready, cut your pieces out with a steak knife.

10. Arrange your pieces on your serving board (I often cut thick cardboard and wrap in aluminum foil so it’s custom to my cake). 

11. Frost your first layer (called the crumb layer). I just use a rubber scraper but this rotating stand and frosting spreader are on my wish list! Try not to get crumbs in the frosting container. It will look terrible at this point and that’s ok! If your frosting is too hard, microwave it in short bursts until it’s softer. 

12. Let the frosted cake harden in the fridge for 10+ minutes. 

13. Frost your second layer. (See! So much better.) At this point you may have good coverage.

14. Let harden in fridge for 10+ minutes.

15. While cake hardens, practice your frosting detailing on plastic wrap (so you can easily put it right back into the frosting container). I highly recommend this frosting tip set with reusable bags, and this gorgeous Russian frosting tip set. These make great stocking stuffers!

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You’ll be using 4 parts: frosting bag, tip, ring, and base. Insert the base into your frosting bag BEFORE you put frosting in. Then fit the tip onto the base from the outside (the bag will be between them). Screw the ring onto the base from the outside to lock the tip into place. This contraption makes it so you can switch tips super easily!

This all seems intimidating, but remember that decorating a cake is just a bunch of small steps. Take one step at a time! Practice making your decorations over and over until you feel comfortable. Remember, worst case scenario is that you scrap off the decorative frosting, re-coat with a little of the base frosting, and let harden for another 10 minutes!

If you’d like to dabble with fondant, it’s actually really easy (even though it tastes gross!). This is my favorite tutorial. I used fondant to make the puppy’s facial features on this cake, among others. It’s a fun way to appear super talented. 😉 This super helpful tool is great for adding details to fondant.

16. Once it’s decorated the way you’d like it, stick some toothpicks around the cake, then cover it with plastic wrap and place it in the fridge. The toothpicks allow the plastic wrap to not sit directly on the frosting.

17. When you remove the toothpicks, just stick a little frosting in the holes to cover! And never get rid of your excess frosting until you are serving the cake. I have a terrible memory of getting cut off in traffic and having a cake fly from my passenger seat to the floorboard of my car… SO glad I had extra frosting with me!!

I’d LOVE to see photos of your cakes! You can DM me on Instagram! Also, these cake decor supplies are great gift ideas for mom. 🙂

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