Simple Cake Decorating » easy cake decorating ideas

McCormick Easter Cupcakes

lindaf — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 13:57:11 +0000

Bunny Cupcakes

There’s directions to make this cake from McCormick’s here.

Also, you can find more Easter decorating ideas on their holidays site.

Shamrock Cake

lindaf — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 21:46:04 +0000

A quick and easy Shamrock Cake made from cupcakes, this is a perfect St. Patrick’s Day treat. One cake is made from four cupcakes, so one box of cake mix can make six of these cakes. Alternatively, you could make one shamrock as a centerpiece and arrange individual cupcakes around it.
You will need the following ingredients and supplies to make this cake:

1 Box of cake mix (and the ingredients needed to prepare it)
3 Cans of white frosting
Green food coloring
Green sugar crystals
Wooden skewer or toothpick
Aluminum foil or a marble*
Baking cups*

*If you have a heart-shaped cupcake pan you won’t need these.

Prepare your cake batter according to instructions on the box. If you don’t have a heart-shaped cupcake pan, while your oven is pre-heating tear 3 inch strips of aluminum foil and roll them into balls.If you have marbles, skip that step. Fill your cupcakes halfway with the batter. I like to use an ice cream scoop to measure and fill them. Then place your aluminum foil ball or marble between the baking cup and pan. You can get detailed instructions for this from Instructables – Make Heart Shaped Cupcakes Without a Special Pan but I’ll warn you here that the marbles will get very hot so be sure to let them cool before handling.

While your cupcakes are cooling, dye your frosting green and then refrigerate it until ready to use.

When your cupcakes are completely cooled, take them out of the baking cups. Frost the sides of the cupcake first, this way you can hold it between your thumb and forefinger and make less of a mess. once the sides are frosted, arrange three them on your serving board or plate to form the leaves of the shamrock. Cut one cupcake in half to use as the stem and use the remaining half to fill in the hole that will be left in the middle. You will probably need to shape and cut away a lot of the 4th cupcake to make the stem look right and to fit it in the middle.

Frost the entire cake and use the skewer to define space between the leaves and score lines in the leaves. Then sprinkle green sugar crystals over the entire cake. I was very heavy handed when it came to the sugar, but you can use less. Then touch up any spots you need using your toothpick.

That’s it, a simple, fast and fun St. Paddy’s dessert.

St. Patrick Day Cake Ideas

lindaf — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 19:24:21 +0000

Here’s a quick round up of St. Patrick Day cake ideas for anyone that has a party coming up this weekend or on Tuesday.

Pot o’ Gold at the End of the Rainbow Cake

Irish Treasure Cake Recipe

Pot O’Gold Cake

Leprechaun Hat Cake

Star Wars Cake from The Happy Housewife

lindaf — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 08:49:45 +0000

For the Star Wars lovers in your family, The Happy Housewife posted pictures an easy cake decorating idea from the e-book Pretty Cool Cakes. The cake took under an hour to make and she used canned frosting. Now that’s a simple cake!

Baked by The Happy Housewife

Thanks to her post and pictures I was eager to see the other cakes in this book, so I downloaded my copy. At just $4 it’s a steal. The e-book is well-written and the cakes follow my Simple Cakes Philosophy. Even better, the ideas are all inspired by children.

Check out the original Happy Housewife Star Wars Cake post for more pictures, decorating tips and information.

Pokemon Cake from Mom’s Fridge

lindaf — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 08:16:36 +0000

My son is a Pokemon freak so I was delighted when I found this easy but great Pokemon cake and cupcakes from the Mom’s Fridge blog.

Pokemon Cake

You’ll need the following ingredients:

3 cans frosting (one chocolate, 2 white)
2 cake mixes, prepared as directed
red and white M&Ms.
icing bag and frosting tip ( #3 tip )
1/2 bottle red food coloring

For detailed instructions on how to make this cake visit Mom’s Fridge – Pokemon Cake

If you have an easy cake decorating idea you would like to share, email simplecakes at gmail dot com.

Superbowl Cake Ideas

lindaf — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 20:57:13 +0000

Sunday is fast approaching and I think I’m going to make a cake for the big game.

Here are some links I’ve visited for inspiration:

Sweet Endings – Football Cake

Superbowl Cake from all recipes

That Little Something Special football cake

and finally a great post from Eat the Football with not just cake ideas, but suggestions for all your snackage!

I hope to make the cake a day ahead of time and post pictures before the game.

Easy and Inexpensive Ways to Decorate a Cake

lindaf — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 14:27:56 +0000

I found a great article called Easy Decorating Tips for the Decorating Impaired by Eisla Sebastian.

Her four tips are:

Use Premixed Frostings
Use Edible Flowers
Use Toys
Use Pre-Made Frosting Inserts

You can read the whole article here.

7 Great Websites for Cake Decorating Ideas

lindaf — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 08:00:46 +0000

There is a cake for every occasion. Here’s a list of seven websites that can help inspire you to design your own Simple Cake version!

Bake Decorate Celebrate

Woman’s Day Silly Cakes

Parents.com

The 5 Simple Cake Decorating Rules

lindaf — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 02:37:13 +0000

If you baked it, they’ll love it. Rather than ordering a cake out of a book from your local bakery, you took the time to create something unique and special for them. They will appreciate the effort
You don’t have to spend hours to make a beautiful cake. Leonardo da Vinci said, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”
Everything you need to make a great cake, you can find at your grocery store. Now we’re obviously not talking about six tier wedding cakes here, this is about SIMPLE cakes. There’s no need for a trip to the cake supply store. Have you been to the baking aisle of the supermarket lately? There’s a wide variety of cake mixes, icings, decorations and even pans for you to choose.
Your decorations don’t have to be edible as long as the decorations you use are easily removable before you cut it. The point is to eat the cake, but you don’t have to eat the decorations. In fact, most “edible” cake decorations are not appetizing at all.
As long as it tastes wonderful, nobody will care what it looks like. You will have cakes that don’t turn out like you want them to, maybe it’s a little lopsided. Perhaps it looks a little sloppy. However, once it’s cut, what matters is if it’s yummy!