Common Cake Decorating Terms
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 Photo courtesy of: Stefan Baudy |
CAKE DECORATING TERMS
AIRBRUSH - An artist's paint gun using a compression air pump, sprays a fine mist of food coloring over a cake's surface. Perfect for creating a background or scene on a cake.
BAG STRIPING - A method for piping out two-tone decorations. Apply stripes of color using color paste or icing into a pastry bag before putting in the tinted icing. Perfect for piping out flowers with light and dark tones.
BORDER - A continuous decoration or thread of icing that is placed around the top, sides, and/or bottom of a cake.
BUTTERCREAM ICING - Buttercream icing is an all-purpose icing, perfect for spreading or decorating. A thin consistency is best for icing a cake, making leaves, or writing. Borders and flat flowers should be made from a medium consistency. A stiff consistency works great for upright decorations like a flower with raised petals.
CAKE BOARD - Comes in various sizes and provides a base for cakes. Available in single or double thicknesses of corrugated cardboard.
DECORATING BAG - Also called icing bags, pastry bags, or frosting bags. They are triangular in shape and come in various sizes and materials like plastic, parchment paper, polyester, canvas, and polyethylene, to name a few. A decorative tip is placed on the end and the bag is filled with icing. They are used to pipe out decorative flowers, edges, fillings, borders, scroll work, etc.
DECORATING TIPS - Used to create decorations from icing. The size and shape of the opening on the tip will determine the decoration produced when icing is placed in a decorating bag and piped out through the tip. Common decorations are flowers, edges, borders, scroll work, as well as being used to fill things like deviled eggs.
FLOWER NAIL - It is shaped like a carpenter's nail. It has a round, flat surface on a stem. You hold it between your fingers and rotate it while piping buttercream or royal icing out into flower shapes. After they dry, you transfer them to a cake.
FONDANT - Is extremely versatile and also known as sugar paste. It is an icing that can be rolled out and draped over cake, which creates a smooth, porcelain-like professional finish. It can also be used to hand-mold decorative items like flowers, animals, and borders. It can also be twisted, imprinted, and used to cover a cake board.
GANACHE - A sweet, rich chocolate frosting that is velvety smooth. It is made by melting chocolate and beating hot, heavy cream into the mixture.
GUM PASTE - Is an edible, sugar paste dough with a clay-like feel. It is most often used to hand-mold flowers. Can also be rolled thin to make ribbons and lattice work. Properly stored, gum paste decorations will last for years.
ICING - Used to cover a cake and create decorative designs.
MARZIPAN - Is an almond paste that is used to mold edible cake decorations. It can also be rolled out to cover a cake in a sheet-like fashion.
PIPING - A decorating technique used to create flowers, leaves, borders, basket weave, ribbons, and lattice work. Decorating bags or tubes are filled with icing and outfitted with various decorating tips to create the designs. Gently squeeze the bag and the icing is piped out of the tip to create the design.
ROYAL ICING - This is a sweet icing that dries very hard. It works well as a "cement" to fasten various decorations together. Can be piped out of decorating bag to create flowers, bows, latticework, and beading.
Anyone can master this art. Continue to build upon your basic cake decorating terms knowledge and practice decorating cakes. Take advantage of every opportunity to create a masterpiece, and soon you'll experience the joy of making others happy with your lovely creations!
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