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Cake decorating is the art of decorating a cake for special occasions such as , , , national or religious holidays or as a promotional item.
It is a form of sugar sculpture that uses materials such as icing, fondant, frosting and other edible decorations. An artisan may use simple or elaborate three-dimensional shapes as a part of the decoration, or on the entire cake. Chocolate is regularly used to decorate cakes as it can be melted and mixed with cream to make a ganache. Cocoa solids and powered sugar are often used in the process and can be lightly dusted as a finishing touch.
Cake decoration has been featured on TV channels such as TLC, Food Network, and Discovery Family as a form of entertainment. Cake Boss is a well known TLC program dedicated to the art behind cake decorating.
During the 1840s, the advent of temperature-controlled ovens and the production of baking powder made baking cakes an easier process. The Food Museum Online Exhibit, Accessed May 20, 2007 (archived link, February 3, 2010) As temperature control technology improved, an increased emphasis on presentation and ornamentation developed. Cakes began to take on decorative shapes and were adorned with additional icing formed into patterns, including floral patterns, and food coloring was used to accent frosting or layers of the cake.
Although baking from scratch decreased during the later part of the 20th century in the United States, due to the increase in availability of ready-made cakes and , decorated cakes have remained an important part of celebrations, such as weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, showers and other special occasions. The 21st century has made space for those who consider cake decorating their profession; as many are making up to $30,000 or more annually according to ZipRecruiter.
Fondant must be rolled out with cornstarch to avoid it sticking to any surfaces. Once smoothed out and thin enough, fondant can be molded into many different shapes, such as flowers or leaves, and may be cut into shapes and applied to a cake to build up decoration. Though primarily used to cover cakes, it is also used to create individual decorations to accompany cakes, consisting only of fondant with no cake inside.
As a relatively heavy form of decoration in comparison to traditional knife-spread frosting, extensive fondant application may weigh a cake down considerably, requiring a suitably sturdy cake base for support, often in the form of rods, especially on tiered fondant cakes. Fondant remains soft once sculpted, unlike other forms of icing, which may harden when exposed to air.
Some marzipan variations include egg whites to bind the mixture, and others use corn syrup. How marzipan is made varies by country. It is commonly used to make fruit shapes and flowers to decorate cakes.
It is made from sugar, egg whites and a hardening agent like tylose powder or gum tragacanth.
Icing decorations can be made by either Pastry bag icing flowers and decorative borders or by molding sugar paste, fondant or marzipan flowers and figures. An embossing mat is a tool for cake decoration that creates embossed effects on the top of cakes, cupcakes or similar items. The user presses the mat down into cake dough or icing and the pattern embossed in the mat is transferred to the item. Embossing mats are often made of silicone rubber or similar flexible polymers.
Many icing designs can be made by piping tips; these come in many shapes and sizes. Tutorials are often made to model the different designs created by different piping tips. For example, a tip learned through years of cake decorating, was to put the icing in the freezer just enough to stiffen it up to create roses. Decorating, creating flowers, balloons, writing 'happy birthday' or any special message, comes with practice and creativity. "Naked cakes" became a popular trend, most notably during 2020. In this decorating style, fillings are used between the cake layers but the outside is left unfrosted or sparsely frosted, with much of the cake itself still visible between and through the frosted areas. Naked cakes are often decorated with icing sugar or fresh flowers on top. They are often garnished with fresh fruit, sometimes in the layers. They were especially popular as new types of wedding and engagement cakes.
It may be necessary to secure cake layers in place to prevent sliding or falling, especially for large cakes with several layers. Various forms of wooden skewers or dowels and plastic straws are commonly used for this purpose. Large and complex structures can be made by cutting shapes out of cake and piecing them together (often secured together with many non-edible reinforcements). Pre-formed baking pans make it easy to create cakes in non-traditional shapes. Though useful for producing multiple cakes of the same general shape, they do not have the endless customizability of hand-cut building blocks. Fondant and marzipan structures can also be used to modify the overall shape of a cake.
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