Ideas for Decorating Cakes

Its one thing to make a cake and decorate it, but its another thing to actually come up with the inspiration on what NEW cake to make for that special occasion.

I know I have always struggled to find ideas for new cakes, or I have found pictures but never the instructions to make it. Once you have the basic skills under hand its easy to make professional looking cakes without any hassle.

Here are a few top tips for baking and decorating cakes:

1. Do not use butter to grease your tin, butter has water in it and when it melts it will make your beautiful cake soggy. If you use a touch of flour instead that will keep it from sticking to the cake tin.

2. Before you start icing make sure the cake is 100% cooled. Otherwise the icing will start to melt in front of your eyes, and you don’t want to rush your cake decorating.

3. Always put a top and bottom border on your cake to make it look complete. Otherwise, your cake will look a little unfinished.

4. Make sure to stand in front of your cake when you are decorating it. Even better get someone else to glance at it to make sure everything is where it should be. Even take a break every now and then.

5. Make sure that you have the perfect consistency in your icing, too thick or too thin will ruin your cake before you have even started. To thin will not stay on and too thick will pull chunks of your cake off.

It is hard to find inspiration and instructions to actually have your cakes come together like the professionals cakes.

And if you find baking and decorating cakes yourself a bit difficult then you can simply order mouth watering cakes online.

Author: Andrew @ Articlet

Recipe for a Delightful Chocolate Cake

The most famous name in chocolate cakes is the German Chocolate Cake, but the interesting fact is that it was not `German’ at all. It merely used chocolate brand which was called `German’s’ because it had been developed by an Englishman named Sam German in 1852! He was working for Baker’s Chocolate Company.

The recipe for this chocolate cake was first made popular by a Dallas housewife in 1957, and probably due to the fact that German baking is one of the best in the world, the name not only stuck, but also lent the cake its squarely German touch. The result was an instantly popular cake which carried up the sales of the chocolate too. Actually the popularity of the cake can be attributed to the fact that in The Southern US, buttermilk chocolate cakes have been a hit for decades, and the fact that German’s chocolate is sweater than regular baking chocolate, also helped. Coconuts and pecans which are available in the area too, only added to the taste.

In classical terms, the most famous chocolate cake of all times, worldwide, is the Sachertorte, the Viennese chocolate cake with its three layers of luscious chocolate sponge, interspersed with layers of apricot jam. The whole cake is then thickly iced with velvety chocolate. The result was probably why chocolate is synonymous with sinful! It took its name from its creator, Chef Franz Sacher, who created it in 1832 for the Prince Clemens Lothar Wensel Metternich of Austria. Sacher was then an apprentice cook, all of 16 years old, and the Prince’s demand was met with a cake that used only the available ingredients, nothing more. The recipe made him so prosperous that he went on to open several Café’s and restaurants.

Whatever the origins, the chocolate cake has always been one of the most irresistible temptations…after all how many other desserts you know have been named `Death by Chocolate??’

Chocolate Cake Recipe

2 cups flour

125 grams chocolate (squares)

3 eggs

1 cup softened butter

1 cup sugar

2 tbsp cocoa powder

¼ cup milk

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Grease two cake tins of 7 inch diameter.

Melt the chocolate in a bowl set over a deep pan of boiling water.

Cream together butter and sugar and add the eggs one at a time, beating well. Add the melted chocolate and beat till well combined.

Sift the flour and cocoa powder together and fold into the chocolate-egg-sugar-butter mix. Don’t beat too much. After the mixture is blended well, pour into the baking tin . Bake for about 45 minutes, or till well risen.

For the sandwich icing :

100 grams unsalted butter

1 and a ½ cup icing sugar

1 tbsp cocoa powder

½ tsp vanilla essence

Beat together all these ingredients to form a light chocolate cream. Use to sandwich the two cakes together.

The top layer can be either dusted with castor sugar or cocoa powder, or both, Stencils may be used for decorating further.

For a different look, and in a bid to be creative as Chef Sacher, try using apricot or raspberry jam to sandwich layers, alternating with chocolate cream, white cream or plain chocolate layers, before closing with the second cake layer. Icing can also be made to have a royal touch if chocolate cream is poured over this whole cake sandwich.

And if you think you can’t take the pain of making a chocolate cake yourself, you can simply order a chocolate cake online.

Author: Andrew @ Articlet