Simple Cake Decorating

Flashback many years. My daughter’s first birthday was around the corner, and I wanted a Sesame Street cake for her party.  A friend of mine suggested I decorate the cake myself. She had been decorating cakes for years, and I immediately thought she was really overestimating me.

I had never decorated a cake in my life, and I had no idea where to start. It was a mystery to me, much like knitting or sewing a straight line. Way out of my league. She laughed and said,  “No, really, you can do this. You just make stars all over it with the star tip.” 

So I did.

         This is a scan from the original film photo. Not the greatest scan, mind you.

I rented a Bert and Ernie cake pan at the cake store (which is, handily, about 5 minutes from my house), bought a star tip, some bags, some icing and a few colors, and off I went. Yes, it took me just about the entire day (it was my first time, after all) , and yes, my kitchen was destroyed, but  I was pretty happy with the result.

I couldn’t believe it was really that easy.  Stars, just stars.

After that, with my confidence boosted, and without ever taking a class, I went on to decorate more cakes. One of my favorites was the famous Barbie cake. (I rented a pan for the skirt, but learned later that you can use any oven safe bowl.)   That is a whole Barbie in there, but they sell the tops of dolls at the cake store, if you’d rather not stick a doll in a cake!  I just iced the skirt, and swirled it a bit.  And, the bodice is – you guessed it – stars.

My daughter felt very special.

The next year, I made a ballerina stage cake (with my daughter’s help!)

SO easy. I just made 2 layers of cake, and cut one of them in half. Then I  stacked the halves to make the back of the stage. I added an icing curtain.  My daughter had so much fun choosing the ballerina figures and sugar roses and putting them on the cake. It was definitely less than perfect, but she loved it.

And finally, Tigger.  (Stars again.)

I really wish I would have had this set back then.  I think I would have been motivated to decorate even more cakes. (Amazon affiliate link, which means if you purchase through it, I will earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you.)

Some of you may be asking,  “Why didn’t her poor little boy ever get a fancy decorated cake?”  Well, I didn’t get the courage to try this before he was several years old, and from then on, he decided he did not like cake. (I know, this is CRAZY, considering  that cake is my favorite food.)  So he usually had a cookie cake from the bakery.  I did decorate a couple of those. Not as elaborately, mind you, but he enjoyed them.

So, if you’re  thinking, as I did, that cake decorating is a complicated mystery, believe me, it’s really not.  No class required to learn to make stars.  Give it a try–it’s actually very simple. (Yet messy!)  Have fun making sweet memories.