A Lesson in Cakery

Anyone who has attempted to make a cake will tell you that it is harder than it looks. Your Mom and Grandma made it look so easy didn't they? Well, now it's your turn. You could go down to the local Wal-Mart and pick up one of their mass produced, plastic covered hallmark card cakes, or make one yourself!

A cake decorator must be an artist and an engineer. One without the other gets you featured on Cake Wrecks. 

The most important rule about the art of Cakery is support. SUPPORT! SUPPORT! SUPPORT! Even a small single layer cake can collapse on itself if it's not torted properly. I know because I have had this happen to me. I was shocked too...  

Mmm...yummy. 

One thing you will find out very quickly about decorating cakes is that there are LOTS of ways to do one thing. People are always experimenting with technique. There's a wrong way and many right ways. For instance there's at least five ways that I know of just to ICE a cake in buttercream icing. However, it must be said that it is vital to learn the BASICS before jumping out into the abyss. 

Don't be like that girl in my first cake decorating class who decided she was going to be a speshul snowflake and not follow our instructors advice and follow the lesson plan, and instead make whatever cake she wanted and NOT what we were doing. AKA learning how to use the tips to achieve effects and how to control pipping with a bag...Needless to say her final cake was no where up to par with what the rest of us made. 

It is also important to know the weather of your area and learn to accomodate your cakes to it. Higher altitudes, humidity, they will all effect everything from how your cake bakes to how thick or thin your buttercream should be and even if that fondant will STAY on that cake. 

Humidity kills cakes. Remember that. 

The artistry of cakes holds its route in the royal courts of European noblemen and kings.  

I have a color fetish with gold/yellow and blue. It's freaking SEXY!

Many of the old school pipping and scroll work are throw backs to baroque architecture and the crown moldings common in the gilded palaces of Europe. It is very common to see architecture themed cakes, even if it is not obvious. Because remember what I said: Cakery is half engineering.

Victorian era decorations are very common as well.

You can buy molds or patterns for cakes such as these. But for the most part, I would experiment. Practice pipping scroll work on a sheet of wax paper. Play with fondant molds and gum paste. 

The most important thing we sometimes forget (especially for those of us who make a living off of cakes) is that we do this not because of some obligation, but because we enjoy it. 

So don't forget to make it fun or else what's the point?