How to decorate a cake at home. How to decorate a cake with your own hands at home

Classic confectionery decorations for cakes (cream, fruit, meringue, chocolate, jelly) are already familiar and tested by many housewives who are fond of confectionery baking. However, sometimes you need to prepare a special cake with a spectacular decoration - for an anniversary, wedding, New Year or other holiday. In this case, the advice of experienced confectioners who know how to make a cake decoration and who can turn ordinary sour cream into a culinary masterpiece will be useful.

Mastic - sweet confectionery plasticine

Mastic is an elastic confectionery material made from powdered sugar, reminiscent of plasticine; various figures, flowers, reliefs, three-dimensional inscriptions, plot compositions are sculpted from it, or the cake is completely covered with it. To prepare mastic, you can use special tools - rolling machines, scrapers, stencils, molds and curly knives. If there is no pastry equipment, use a regular board, rolling pin, knife, cling film and cookie cutters. Mastic is tinted with natural or artificial food colors, but this is done at the initial stage of preparation - when mixing the ingredients. To reduce the sugariness (after all, a lot of powdered sugar is used), lemon juice is sometimes added to the mixture.

Types of mastic and the subtleties of its preparation

The viscosity of the material is given by starch, gelatin, condensed milk, chocolate, marzipan, honey, marshmallows and marshmallows. In accordance with this, there are different types of mastic - gelatin (pastillage), marshmallow, milk, sugar and honey. Pastilage hardens quickly, but remains elastic, so it makes spectacular flowers. Honey mastic is very soft and pleasant to sculpt, just like milk mastic - it has a very beautiful snow-white color and pleasant texture. Some confectioners add a little oil to the mastic to make it more plastic.

Preparing mastic is not very difficult - all the ingredients are thoroughly mixed, and sometimes heated in a water bath, if this is specified in the recipe. If necessary, add a little more powdered sugar, which acts as flour when kneading the dough. The board and rolling pin are usually sprinkled with starch so that the mastic does not stick, and the finished confectionery “plasticine” is stored in cling film. And an important point - decorating cakes with mastic usually begins when the top layer of cream has hardened.

Making your own mastic

Gelatin mastic is made from 2 tbsp. l. gelatin powder, which is mixed with cold water, and after swelling, the container with gelatin is placed in a water bath for several minutes until it is completely dissolved. Add 450 g of powdered sugar to the gelatin, “knead” the mastic, roll it into a ball, and then wrap it in cling film.

Chocolate mastic is a very tasty and beautiful decoration for, to prepare it you will need 100 g of dark chocolate, melted in a water bath, and 90 g of marshmallows, which are added to the melted chocolate. First, it is recommended to keep the marshmallows in the microwave - literally for a few seconds so that they soften. In this case, it is necessary to carefully stir the mass all the time so that it does not burn. When the marshmallows are half melted, add 40 ml of cream with 30% fat content, 1 tbsp. l. butter, 1-2 tbsp. l. cognac, mix well and add 90-120 g of powdered sugar. First, knead the mastic with a spoon, and when it becomes thicker, do it with your hands.

Milk mastic is easy to prepare - mix 200 g of condensed milk, 2 tsp. lemon juice and 250 g of powdered sugar. All ingredients are ground to a uniform texture, and then the mastic is rolled out on a board and beautiful figures are cut out of it.

To completely cover the cake, roll out a large round pancake and place it on the cake, making sure that the top and sides are completely covered. The mastic is smoothed out with your hands and the excess is removed, which can be stored in the refrigerator for up to two months. When the mastic hardens, confectioners recommend warming it slightly in the microwave or in a water bath.

Almond marzipan from children's fairy tales

Marzipan, often mentioned in Andersen's fairy tales, is another confectionery "plasticine" that is made from powdered almonds and sweet syrup (or powdered sugar), with sugar making up more than one-third of the mass. Marzipan is a very elastic material from which you can sculpt complex shapes and fairy castles without adhesive additives. Real marzipan is made from almonds; if you add other nuts, the mass will lack plasticity. There is another secret to preparing this product - for 20-50 sweet almond kernels, take 1 bitter nut, which can be bought in specialized confectionery stores. This slight bitterness helps marzipan fully reveal its taste and aroma and gives it a special piquancy. If you can't find bitter almonds, you can replace them with a few drops of almond extract, bitter almond oil or almond liqueur. However, adding these ingredients to decorate the cake is not at all necessary. The absence of bitter notes will not reduce the plasticity of marzipan, it will simply not have that characteristic taste.

Decorating cakes with marzipan

German confectioners know about 200 ways to prepare marzipan. All these methods can be divided into two - hot and cold. With the hot cooking technology, sugar syrup is boiled, which is mixed with almond crumbs, but the plasticity of this mass decreases as it cools, so to cover the cake with marzipan, you need to sculpt decorations as quickly as possible. The cold method is the easiest, since the almond flour is combined with powdered sugar and kneaded well. If the almonds are of poor quality, you won’t get a homogeneous mass, so confectioners in such cases recommend adding an egg to hold the ingredients together. Of course, the egg must be very fresh, and such products cannot be stored for a long time. Various flavorings are added to marzipan - liqueurs, cocoa, orange zest, spices and rose water.

First you need to cook it - preferably cold, as it is much easier. To do this, pour 350 g of almonds with hot water for a few minutes to make the skin come off easier. The peeled nuts are lightly dried in the oven, preventing them from changing color, and then ground into flour. Beat 2 eggs, add 175 g of powdered sugar and cook the mixture in a water bath until it reaches the consistency of cream. Remove from heat, add almonds to eggs, add 1 tsp. lemon juice, then thoroughly beat the marzipan. Sprinkle the board with powdered sugar, place the nut mixture on it and knead the almond “dough” until it thickens completely. You can add dyes to marzipan, and then sculpt whatever you want - objects, flowers, animals and architectural structures.

Fondant for cake decoration

Fondant is boiled sugar syrup that is whipped with a mixer and cools, turning into a thick, sticky glaze or brittle and hard fondant. It all depends on the composition of the syrup and the method of its preparation. The syrup can be cooked without additives, in this case we are talking about fudge. If you add milk or cream to it, you get milk or cream fudge. Fudge can be chocolate, fruit and berry, nut, protein, creme brulee - depending on what ingredients are added to it.

For fudge, mix 100 g of very heavy cream, 1 cup of sugar, 40 g of butter and bring the mixture to a boil over low heat, stirring constantly. Boil the fudge until it becomes creamy, and to check its readiness, add a drop of milk mixture into the water. The finished fondant easily rolls into a plastic ball.

Protein fudge is very tasty, for which 2 chilled egg whites are beaten with a pinch of salt until fluffy foam, and then 300 g of powdered sugar and 2 tbsp are gradually added to them. l. lemon juice.

It is better to store the finished fondant in the refrigerator, covering the bowl with cling film to prevent drying out; apply it to the surface of the cake using a pastry brush or a pastry bag.

You can decorate the cake with grilled cake, marshmallows, marmalade, or use a simple stencil and powdered sugar. Involve children in decorating confectionery products - they will certainly enjoy making masterpieces from mastic or marzipan. Decorating cakes together brings you closer together, and sharing tea with delicious desserts turns life into a series of endless pleasures!

Although they say that a woman loves with her ears, and the way to a man’s heart leads through the stomach, guests of both sexes appreciate dishes not only for their taste, but also for their appearance. Children are especially partial to food decor. This is used by confectionery manufacturers. But often, behind the lush creamy roses and marshmallow towers, there are absolutely unleavened cakes, and even of dubious freshness. It's better to bake the cake yourself. This way we can be sure that the product contains no preservatives and that the freshest ingredients were used in its production. But how to decorate a cake at home? We will talk about this in the article.

Simple and fast

Agree, making cakes is a long and labor-intensive task. Therefore, there is no longer any strength or special desire left to decorate it. If you have leftover cream from greasing the cakes, simply apply it to the top and sides of your culinary masterpiece. And then go to the store and buy ready-made edible decor. It can be either ordinary coconut shavings of various colors or more sophisticated decorations: chocolate figures, marzipan beads, bright mastic sprinkles. All these things look stylish and are durable. Other familiar sweets will also help you decorate your cake with your own hands. But if earlier we ate marshmallows or bizet “solo”, now we are not afraid to use them as a decorative element. M&M jelly beans look original in a cake (especially for a children's party). And it’s convenient to decorate the sides of the cake with Lady’s Finger biscuits.

Decorating Cautions

It’s not hard to guess where the housewife turns for advice on how to decorate a homemade cake in a more original way. Photos from culinary sites are full of real masterpieces. But it is worth remembering that you will not only look at the cake, but also eat it. Therefore, all decor should be exclusively edible or, at least, not pose a threat to health. If the cake is being baked for an anniversary, special candles should be placed on its surface that do not melt. There are only a few exceptions to the use of non-edible cake decorations. First: fresh flowers. On March 8th, you can decorate the top of the product with petals of mimosa, roses, lilies, calendula and lavender. These flowers are harmless to the body. You can eat mint leaves and physalis without fear. The second exception is the Barbie cake - for a girl old enough to understand that putting a doll in her mouth is not a good idea. The cake is made like a fluffy hem of a skirt. And a doll is inserted into the middle. Care should be taken to ensure that her hair does not touch the cream.

Simple and economical

Every cook has scraps of cake layers left over during the baking process, and after layering them, the cream remains. Don't throw away these products! Using a mortar, roll out the illicit parts of the baked dough into crumbs. Mix them with crushed nuts. Apply the remaining cream to the sides and top of the product. Sprinkle with a mixture of cookies and nuts. How to beautifully decorate a cake with this simple decor? Let's use a stencil! We cut out various shapes from paper. Apply to the top of the cake and sprinkle. And to decorate the sides you can use regular oatmeal. Suitable toppings include cocoa, powdered sugar, grated chocolate, and confectionery confetti. It is important to combine the colors correctly. The chocolate frosting should be decorated with powdered sugar and the white buttercream with cocoa powder. The gummies will look good on the jelly coating.

Shape as decoration

Let's give room to our imagination and bake something original instead of boring round cakes. After all, instead of thinking about how to decorate a cake at home, you can already create it. Let’s think through the concept: what shape will we give to our culinary masterpiece? And there is no need at all to build something out of cakes that resembles the Burj Dubai skyscraper. It could be a violin-shaped cake. Then we powder the sides of the product with cocoa, and draw the strings with melted chocolate. Figured cakes are especially relevant for children's parties. We already mentioned Barbie Pie. But for a boy you can bake a cake in the shape of a car or a boat. In this case, we will only retouch our sculptural image with cream. And with what pleasure the little ones will eat the stern and the bow of the ship, taking with them the sailors from the mastic as souvenirs.

This is a classic in cooking, and, as you know, it is always in fashion. Butter cream is an unusually plastic product. You can use it to create roses, leaves, flowers, ruffles and flounces. The oil keeps its shape quite well, does not settle or flow. Protein meringue cream is also good for decoration. However, eggs are a perishable product. But custard is not structural, you cannot create flowers from it. The same can be said for whipped cream. Figures created from them turn into blots after a while. So use cream with condensed milk, sour cream and egg whites only for layering the cakes. But how to decorate a cake at home with buttercream? If you don’t have a pastry syringe with special attachments, don’t get upset. You can do something similar yourself. Take a sheet of thick paper and roll it into a little bag. Let's fill it with cream. We will cut off the edge of the bag. You can carry out the truncation simply - along a straight or oblique line, or you can use your imagination. Let's roll up the hollow little bag several times lengthwise. Cut the narrow tip into a triangle shape with the sharp end down. Now let's unfold the envelope and fill it with cream. Squeeze it slowly onto the surface of the cake. The edges of the cream appear to be corrugated. By moving your hand back and forth, you can create lush ruffles - the design of the sides. Instead of paper for a pastry bag, you can use a regular cellophane bag.

If you love baking cakes, then this article is especially for you! In this article we will look at a wide variety of ways to decorate cakes with your own hands at home. You can transform an ordinary cake with mastic, marzipan, icing, waffles, chocolate, glaze, cream, cream, meringue, fruit, jelly, sweets, marmalade and sprinkles. We will look at each ingredient of the decoration separately, get acquainted with the recipe for making it, and, of course, be inspired by a huge number of ideas.

For some cake decorating options, you will need special materials such as: a pastry syringe with nozzles, parchment paper, a sharp thin knife, spatulas of different thicknesses.

Mastic- This is a special dough for decorating a cake. You can roll it out and cover the top of the cake, you can also create various animal figures, letters, numbers, flowers, leaves, openwork patterns and whatever your imagination desires.

The basic rule for working with mastic is that you have to work with it very quickly, since it hardens instantly. But there is a way out! When you form the decoration, pinch off the desired piece and wrap the rest of the mastic in film. Large figures may crack when drying.

Mastic recipe No. 1

Ingredients: condensed milk, powdered milk or cream, powdered sugar, food coloring (optional). The amount of ingredients directly depends on the size of the cake.

Cooking process: Take a deep bowl and mix dry milk or cream with powdered sugar. Gradually add condensed milk and mix well. You should get an elastic dough that does not stick to your hands. Add food coloring drop by drop and mix into the dough. After cooking, immediately wrap the mastic in film.

Mastic recipe No. 2

Ingredients: water, lemon juice or citric acid, butter, powdered sugar, starch, marshmallows (white chewy marshmallows), food coloring (optional).

Cooking process: Melt the steamed marshmallows and add drops of food coloring if desired. Then add water and just a little lemon juice or citric acid. Mix the mixture well and then add 50 grams of butter. Separately mix powdered sugar and starch in a ratio of 1:3. Gradually add the powdered starch mixture to the marshmallow mixture and knead the dough well for about 10 minutes. After cooking, immediately wrap the mastic in film.

Marzipan is a nut mass that consists of almond flour and sugar paste. Its advantages are that it holds its shape perfectly, is quite elastic and has an amazing delicate taste. It is convenient to create all decoration elements from it - small figures, cake covering and voluminous decorations.

Marzipan recipe

Ingredients: 200 grams of sugar, a quarter glass of water, 1 glass of lightly roasted almonds, butter.

Cooking process: Peel the almonds and finely chop them in a blender or on a grater. Make syrup from sugar and water. The consistency of the syrup should be thick. Pour the ground almonds into the syrup, stir and cook for 3 minutes. Take a bowl and grease it well with butter. Pour the marzipan into a bowl. Cool the marzipan and pass through a meat grinder. Marzipan is ready! If it turns out liquid, add powdered sugar. If the marzipan is very thick, add a little boiled water.

I recommend a photo gallery of marzipan cakes!

Icing- This is an ice pattern that looks like a winter pattern on a window and tastes like crispy ice. The advantages of icing are that it is quite durable, does not spread, and adheres well to the surface of the confectionery product. It can be applied on top of hard chocolate glaze, mastic, fondant. It is worth noting that the surface on which icing can be applied should not spread or be sticky. The icing is applied with a pastry syringe, then the finished product is placed in the refrigerator for further hardening. Lace, inscriptions and patterns turn out very beautiful.

Icing recipe

Ingredients: 3 eggs, 500-600 grams of powdered sugar, 15 grams of lemon juice, 1 teaspoon of glycerin.

Manufacturing process: Cool all ingredients, degrease the dishes and wipe them dry. Take the eggs, separate the whites from the yolks. Beat the egg whites, add glycerin, lemon juice and powdered sugar. Beat the mixture well with a whisk until it turns white. Cover the mixture with film and place in the refrigerator for 1 hour to burst the air bubbles. The icing is ready, you can safely decorate the cake!

Waffles– these are materials for decorating flowers, various figures, numbers. They are made from crispy waffle dough. Ready-made edible pictures based on waffle crust are also popular. You can purchase this decoration in confectionery stores, supermarkets or on the Internet. You won’t be able to make waffles with an image on your own, as you will need edible ink and special equipment. The advantages of waffles are that they do not crack, keep their shape perfectly and do not melt. However, they can only be used on a light-colored surface of the cake, since when soaked, the picture may become saturated with dark cream.

Waffle design rules

Decorating with chocolate is considered a classic decoration for cakes. This ingredient goes well with biscuits, souffles, mousse, puff pastry and various creams. The advantages of chocolate are that, once melted, it can be given any possible shape, and when the chocolate hardens, it will not crack or spread. To decorate cakes, you can use any chocolate - black, white, milk, porous.

Methods for decorating cakes with chocolate

To decorate a cake with chocolate chips, simply grate a chocolate bar and sprinkle it over the cake.
To decorate the cake with curls, lightly warm the chocolate bar, then take a thin knife, or better yet, a vegetable cutter and cut thin strips, they will immediately begin to curl. You can create gorgeous patterns from them.
Here is another way to decorate a cake with openwork patterns, inscriptions and drawings. Melt the chocolate bar in a steam bath. Place the chocolate into a pastry syringe. Take parchment paper and draw patterns. Use a pastry syringe to draw patterns onto the parchment paper. Place the parchment in the refrigerator to allow the chocolate to set. Carefully remove the chocolate from the parchment and decorate the cake. If you are not good at drawing, find a beautiful pattern on the Internet, print it out, attach transparent parchment paper to the drawing and simply copy it.
To decorate the cake with chocolate leaves, you will need real tree leaves or houseplants. Wash and dry the leaves. Melt the chocolate in a steam bath and place it on the inside of the sheet with a silicone brush. Place in the refrigerator, and when it hardens, carefully remove the chocolate from the leaf and decorate the cake.
Another creative way to decorate a cake is to use cherries and chocolate. Discard the pits, place each cherry in the melted chocolate and decorate the cake.

At the moment there are chocolate, mirror, marmalade, caramel, multi-colored, soft, milk and creamy glazes.

Chocolate frosting recipe

Ingredients: 1.5 tablespoons of milk, 2 teaspoons of cocoa powder, 1.5 tablespoons of sugar, 40 grams of butter.

Cooking process: take a bowl, put cocoa, sugar, pieces of butter, and pour milk. Place on fire, melt and boil for 5-7 minutes. Cover the cake with chocolate glaze using a wide knife and place in the refrigerator to further harden.

Caramel frosting recipe

Ingredients: 150 grams warm water, 180 grams fine-grained sugar, 2 teaspoons cornstarch, 150 grams heavy cream, 5 grams leaf gelatin.

Cooking process: Soak gelatin in water, mix cream with starch, melt sugar in a frying pan until light brown. Add cream with starch and sugar to warm water. Boil until the caramel dissolves. Don't forget to stir the mixture constantly. Then pour it into the cream, stir, cool and add the swollen gelatin. Cover the cake with caramel icing using a wide knife and place in the refrigerator to further harden.

Marmalade glaze recipe

Ingredients: 200 grams of marmalade of the same color, 50 grams of butter, 2 tablespoons of fat sour cream, 120 grams of sugar.

Cooking process: melt the marmalade in a steam bath or in the microwave, add sour cream, butter and sugar. Mix the mixture well and put on fire. Cook the glaze for 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Cool the glaze slightly. Cover the cake with marmalade icing using a wide knife and refrigerate for 3-4 hours to further harden.

Cream– universal decoration for cakes. It is very convenient for them to write congratulations, make openwork frames, lush roses. Food coloring is often added to cream.

Buttercream recipe

Ingredients: 100 grams of butter, 5 tablespoons of condensed milk, food coloring.

Cooking process: Melt the butter in a steam bath or in the microwave. Whip it until it becomes white and fluffy. Add condensed milk, mix well and divide the cream into portions. Add dye of the desired color to each portion of cream. Place the cream in a pastry syringe and create beauty, then send the cake into the cold so that the cream hardens.

Whipped cream– this is an original airy, voluminous and delicate decoration. Their preparation does not require special products. To beautifully decorate the cake with whipped cream, you will need a pastry syringe. You need to work with cream fairly quickly. Make sure all ingredients and tools are prepared. The surface of the cake should be smooth and not too sticky.

Whipped Cream Recipe

Ingredients: half a liter of high fat cream from 33%, a bag of vanilla, 100-200 grams of powdered sugar, 1 bag of instant gelatin, food coloring (optional).

Cooking process: Place the cream in the refrigerator for 12 hours. Pour chilled cream into a deep container. Take another deep container and pour ice water into it. Place the container of cream in a container of ice water. Dissolve gelatin in the manner indicated on the package. Beat the cream with a mixer (do not use a blender, as it will not create foam). Beat them until the foam becomes strong enough. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla, then whisk to combine. Add dissolved gelatin in a thin stream. Place the cream in a syringe and decorate the cake.

I recommend a photo gallery of cakes decorated with whipped cream!

Meringue- This is a snow-white, crispy and very tasty decoration. It is laid out on a layer of chocolate, jam, or cream.

Meringue recipe

Ingredients: a glass of powdered sugar, 5 chilled eggs, a bag of vanilla (optional).

Cooking process: Separate the whites from the yolks, pour the whites into a dry, fat-free deep container. Beat the whites until fluffy (10-15 minutes). Gradually add powder (1-2 teaspoons) and immediately dissolve it. Add vanilla and dissolve it well. Preheat the oven to 100 degrees, cover a baking sheet with parchment paper and transfer the protein foam into a pastry syringe. Pipe the egg white mixture onto the baking sheet, creating beautiful balls or other shapes. The meringue is dried, not baked; the time the future meringue stays in the oven depends on the size of the pieces. Approximate drying time is 1.5-2 hours.

Fruits are very tasty, healthy and contain a huge amount of vitamins. They brightly decorate the cake with flavor combinations and rich colors. The easiest way to decorate with fruit is to fan out sliced strawberries, kiwi, orange, mango and other various fruits. You can create a whole fruit cloth that combines perfectly with natural jelly.

Recipe

Ingredients: fresh fruits and berries, for fruit jelly - light juice, for example apple 600 ml, a glass of powdered sugar, 1 package of powdered gelatin.

Cooking process: Pour the gelatin over a glass of juice and set aside to swell. Prepare the fruits, peel them and cut them into small beautiful slices. Kiwis and bananas are cut into circles, apples and oranges - into half rings, strawberries - in half, raspberries, blackberries, cherries - left whole. Melt the gelatin in a water bath, add the remaining juice and powdered sugar. Strain the mixture, arrange the fruit beautifully in the jelly and refrigerate. When the jelly has hardened slightly, transfer it to the cake, turning the container over. If desired, cover the edges with buttercream or whipped cream. Place the cake in the refrigerator.

The jelly looks very beautiful and has a beneficial effect on people’s joints. Jelly filling goes well with various fruits. However, you can decorate the cake in its pure form, or you can decorate the top with jelly filling, sprinkled with coconut flakes or nuts, be original and think over the decoration concept!

Jelly filling recipe

Ingredients: 600 ml of juice (you can take juice of different colors), 1 package of quickly dissolving gelatin, a glass of powdered sugar.

Cooking process: Soak the gelatin in 1/3 of the juice and leave to swell. Then melt the gelatin with steamed juice. Mix powdered sugar and remaining juice, pour into molds and refrigerate. Pour 100 ml of jelly and put it in the refrigerator for a while so that it has time to set. Place the cake in a mold that is 3 cm higher than it. Place the jelly filling on the cake and decorate the top with jelly from the molds. Steam will help you easily remove the jelly from the molds. It is enough to hold the mold with jelly over the steam, and then turn it over for dessert. Place the cake in the refrigerator for 10-12 hours and remember to remove the mold before serving. If you want to make jelly filling with fruit, then prepare the jelly as described above. Place it in the refrigerator for a while to give it time to set. Transfer the jelly onto the beautifully arranged fruit, smooth it out with a spatula and refrigerate overnight. To prevent the jelly from breaking during serving, cut it with a heated knife.

Candies- This is a favorite treat for children. Kids pay attention to the design of the cake itself, and not to the products from which the cake was made. Try to decorate the cake for a children's party as brightly and creatively as possible. You can use all types of candies except lollipops. The surface of the cake should be thick and viscous, for example - whipped cream, buttercream, icing.

Ways to decorate cakes with candies

The sides of the cake can be decorated with chocolate bars or wafers, and the top can be filled with dragees.
Small toffees are perfect for creating a pattern or lettering on a cream surface or white glaze.
Cut the gummies into squares and randomly decorate the surface of the cake with white fondant or whipped cream.
It is good to decorate the sides with round candies, and put 3 candies in the central part of the cake.

Decorating the cake yourself using available materials is not difficult at all. The main thing is to have enough time and use your imagination. To bring your own ideas to life, it is not at all necessary to have the special knowledge and skills of a professional.

Before you start decorating a dessert, you need to understand the basics of working with this plastic edible material. The consistency of mastic is very similar to plasticine, so you can create different figures from it. In addition, it is stored for a long time - wrapped in film, it can lie in the refrigerator for 10 - 12 weeks. You can buy mastic ready-made or make it yourself.

Mastic has become a popular cake decorating element in recent years.

Ingredients for cooking:

powdered milk;
condensed milk;
powdered sugar.

All components are taken in the same ratio and kneaded. After this, divide the resulting dough into parts and add the necessary dyes.

Mastic is also made from marshmallows.

Ingredients:

marshmallows - a handful;
“lemon” diluted with water – 1 tsp;
butter – 25 g;
sweet powder and starch in a ratio of 1 to 3.

The mastic is prepared following this algorithm:

The marshmallows are dissolved in a water bath, a little dye is added and, if necessary, water and oil for elasticity.
Add powder and starch into the liquid and sticky mass in small portions, stirring thoroughly.
When the mastic ceases to be sticky, it is transferred to a table generously sprinkled with powdered sugar. Knead the mass, periodically adding powder, until the base becomes plastic.
Do you feel that the mass has stopped sticking to your palms? This means that it is completely ready for use.

It’s difficult to sculpt perfect figures without professional equipment and skills, but why not try. Just prepare at least a minimum of tools - a sharp small knife, toothpicks, a brush, a rolling pin, a roller.

When working with mastic, adhere to the following rules:

Do not leave the mass in the air (it dries quickly and becomes hard), but constantly wrap the remainder in film.
Rolling is done only on film sprinkled with powdered sugar.
Preference is given to small elements, since voluminous figures can crack.

You can decorate the cake in different ways, since mastic gives wide scope for imagination. As a rule, first the material is rolled out thinly to completely cover the cake, and then the finished surface is decorated with figures.

Decoration with cream

You can decorate a cake with cream in different ways. Roses, leaves, various curls and borders are made from the creamy mass - it looks very elegant and festive. But in order for these delicate products to keep their shape, you need to choose a suitable cream, and it is better to give preference to oil.

Decorating cakes with cream is quite a fascinating process.

To prepare butter cream you will need a minimum of ingredients:

melted butter - 1 pack
condensed milk – 10 tbsp. l.

The butter must first be removed from the refrigerator so that it melts, and then beat with a mixer until soft and fluffy. After this, add condensed milk in small portions and beat the mixture until smooth.

If desired, the mass is divided into several portions and different dyes are added to them.

You can buy them ready-made or make them yourself:

yellow color comes from saffron;
orange – orange or juicy young carrots;
scarlet – cherries, beets, cranberries;
light green – spinach;
brown – cocoa.

To make the cream decor neat and beautiful, you need to use special syringes with different attachments. If there are no such devices, you can make an imitation of a syringe from a thick sheet by rolling it into a cone and cutting off the sharp corner. You can do the same with a regular thick bag. Then the resulting blank is filled with cream and squeezed out through a small hole. This way you can draw straight or wavy stripes, leaves, flowers, ruffles, and inscriptions.

Ideas using fruits

Decorating a cake with fruit is very easy. This is one of the fastest and most inexpensive ways. By creating spectacular compositions from slices of different fruits, you can show your imagination and give free rein to your imagination.

Both decorations made from one type of berry and bright, multi-colored fruit and berry mixes look beautiful.

To prevent the fruit from losing its original color and the structure from falling apart, the entire composition is covered with colorless jelly. The liquid mass is carefully distributed over the decor with a brush and placed in the refrigerator. After half an hour, the “gelatin” treatment is repeated.

If you have time and desire, you can make roses from apples.

First, prepare the syrup (take a spoonful of sugar per 200 ml of water), adding dye at this stage, if necessary.
The apples are cut into thin strips and boiled in syrup until they become plastic.
Roses are formed from fruit preparations. The inner “petal” is rolled into a spiral, and the rest are added in a circle, forming a lush flower. The ends are slightly twisted outward so that the “rose” bud blooms.

How to decorate a cake with cream

Whipped cream is an airy and delicate decoration, but you need to work with it quickly.

Whipped cream is a great way to decorate a sweet treat.

Ingredients:

heavy cream – 500 g;
vanillin - sachet;
powdered sugar – 150 g;
gelatin – 1 sachet.

Preparation:

Pour the cooled cream into a deep bowl and place it in a saucepan with ice water.
Dissolve gelatin.
Beat the cream with a mixer until a strong foam appears.
Add powder, vanillin and mix gently.
Add gelatin in a thin stream.

Whipped cream is placed in a pastry syringe and decorated with cake.

Chocolate

Decorating a cake is a delicate matter, since the finished appearance and aesthetics of the entire product depend on it. Chocolate is one of the favorite products for confectioners to decorate desserts.

People with a sweet tooth love chocolate for its melting taste and delicate texture.

The easiest way is to chop up a chocolate bar and sprinkle the resulting shavings on the cake. You can try a more complex method: to do this, leave the chocolate in a warm place for a short time so that it becomes softer. Then thin long shavings are cut from the tile with a sharp knife. They immediately begin to curl, and in order to fix the shape, they are placed in a cold place to harden.

Openwork curls look very elegant:

The tiles are melted in a small container over low heat.
Templates of curls and patterns in the required quantity are drawn in advance on parchment paper.
Then hot liquid chocolate is placed in a syringe and all the sketches are carefully traced along the contour. This must be done quickly and efficiently, as the mass hardens quickly. It is advisable to make several spare patterns, since the finished curls turn out to be quite brittle and can simply fall apart into pieces if handled carelessly.
The parchment with the painted curls is placed in a cold place until it hardens completely.
Then the openwork products are carefully separated from the paper and laid out on the cake.

It's very easy to make chocolate leaves. To do this, take foliage from any tree, wash it thoroughly, and then cover it with melted chocolate and place it in a cold place. The most important task is to carefully separate the real leaves from the edible ones.

With sweets and candies

You can decorate even the simplest cake in an original way with sweets. The main thing is that the surface of the product is thick and viscous.

There are many design options:

Cover the sides with long thin waffles, tubes or bars and tie them with a bright satin ribbon. Fill the top of the cake with multi-colored dragees.
Use small toffees to make a beautiful inscription or pattern on the snow-white or beige surface of the cake.
Cut the marmalade into small pieces and arrange in a chaotic manner.
Place a handful of multi-colored dragees inside. When cutting, guests will find that the cake has a surprise.
Many people also use confectionery sprinkles. It comes in different colors and shapes. It is advisable to decorate the cake with sprinkles while its surface is not yet completely frozen.
Decorations made from crushed nuts, chocolate and coconut chips, and cookie crumbs are widely used.
Jelly with sprinkles looks very impressive on the surface of the cake, as it resembles an aquarium. To do this, half of the prepared liquid colored jelly is poured onto the cake and placed in a cold place to harden. Then the frozen mass is sprinkled with coarse sprinkles and again filled with the remaining liquid.
To decorate the cake with sprinkles in an unusual way, use stencils. You can make them yourself by cutting out a pattern, letters, design or numbers from a piece of paper. The template is easily pressed to the surface of the cake, and the top is thickly sprinkled with the selected powder. Then the stencil is carefully removed, leaving a beautiful number or pattern on the cake.

Using berries

Decorating a cake with berries is a stylish and fashionable solution.

Berries are one of the healthiest foods for decoration. They contain a lot of vitamins, they are juicy, tasty and bright. The easiest way is to evenly spread berries of one type (or several, if desired) over the surface of the cake and coat them with colorless jelly.

How to decorate a children's cake

For children, the appearance of a dessert means much more than its taste. Therefore, mothers have to come up with various unusual decorations from sweets, mastic, fruits, jelly and other products.

Every mother dreams of being able to create an unforgettable cake for her baby.

Cake decoration options:

sprinkle it with colorful Easter powder;
pour glaze over;
arrange the fruits in a mysterious pattern;
decorate with your own molded figures;
whip cream and sprinkle with shavings;
arrange a palisade around the edges from oblong cookies;
pour in jelly.

When decorating a cake for a child, you need to consider who it is intended for. Boys like culinary masterpieces in the form of cars, balls or superheroes, girls - in the form of dolls or flowers. But all children, as a rule, adore cartoon-themed cakes.

It is also necessary to remember that many modern children are allergic to various foods. Therefore, during the manufacturing process you should not use components that could potentially cause allergic reactions.

Cake decoration for March 8, February 23

Confectionery products for these dates can be decorated in different ways. As a rule, the decor almost always includes numbers - 8 or 23. They are made from chocolate, mastic and other materials.

Cakes decorated with chocolate, caramel or butter icing look very stylish and elegant.

Ingredients for caramel frosting:

warm water - ¾ cup;
granulated sugar – 180 g;
corn starch - 2 tsp;
cream with a high percentage of fat content - ¾ tbsp.;
gelatin in sheets – 5 g.

Preparation:

Soak gelatin in water.
Mix cream with starch.
Melt the sugar until it has a caramel color.
Pour cream with starch and viscous sugar into warm water. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly.
All that remains is to cool the mass and add ready-made gelatin to it.

Decorating meringues with your own hands

Cakes are also decorated with meringue.

Meringue is great for decorating cakes!

For such a snow-white crispy decor you will need:

proteins – 5 pcs.;
sugar or powder – 250 g.

The algorithm of actions is already known to everyone:

Beat the whites into a stable foam, then add powder in small portions.
Beat at medium speed for 10 minutes until the mixture acquires a fluffy and dense consistency.
After this, preheat the oven to 110ºC and line a baking sheet with paper.
Place a tablespoon of the prepared mixture in the form of small cakes onto greased baking paper and place in the oven.

Waffle decoration

Waffles are an inexpensive and easy-to-work material. On sale you can find ready-made colorful images on waffle cakes. Their assortment is very large: they include beautiful princesses, supermen, favorite cartoon characters, and animals. It’s almost impossible to make such decor yourself, so it’s easier to buy it ready-made.

The advantage of this decor is that it does not crack, does not melt like cream, and retains its given shape well.

The process of decorating with a waffle picture goes like this:

Form a perfectly smooth surface of the cake.
Turn the cake with the image upside down and brush with liquid honey using a silicone brush. Instead of honey, syrup or any light-colored jam is sometimes used so as not to spoil the picture when the cake is soaked.
Attach the picture to the surface.
Gently press down with your hands and smooth with a napkin.
Whip the cream and decorate the edges.

Sometimes the cake is decorated not with a whole picture, but with individual waffle figures. They are laid in the same way as the waffle cake.

Knowing how to decorate a cake at home, you can create real masterpieces, delighting yourself and your loved ones. Use your imagination and your dessert will outshine even the products of elite confectionery shops!

If you can bake delicious cakes, then you should know how to properly decorate a homemade cake so that it can sparkle with bright colors. Cakes are served not only on birthdays today! It turns out that such sweet products can become the main dish of any feast. Therefore, in this article we decorate the cake with our own hands. At the same time, we will use the most original ideas.

What to use to decorate the cake

Before offering you interesting ideas, it is worth mentioning that today it is customary to decorate cakes with a variety of decorations. However, making such jewelry may require patience and skill on your part. You may also need certain available tools. It could be:

pastry syringe with various attachments,
parchment paper,
various blades,
thin and sharp knife,
device for working with mastic.

But if you work hard, you will get a result of excellent quality. As a result, you may end up with a delicious and very beautifully decorated dish that will allow your guests to admire and enjoy its wonderful taste. In this article, we will tell you how to make various ingredients for decorating a cake.

How to make mastic?

Mastic is used quite often to decorate cakes. You can prepare mastic using any of the modern methods. But we will describe the simplest method of preparing mastic. So, you should prepare milk mastic. It will require:

powdered milk or cream,
condensed milk,
powder,
dyes as desired.

From marshmallows you should prepare:

chewing marshmallows,
food coloring,
water and citric acid (lemon juice),
butter,
starch and powdered sugar.

How to cook?

Milk mastic should be prepared as follows:

In a deep bowl, mix all the ingredients. First, the dry ones are mixed, after which condensed milk is poured into them.

The result will be a thick and elastic dough that will not stick to your hands.

If dyes are added to the mastic, then only food dyes should be used. They should be added one drop at a time.

Marshmallow mastic should be made as follows:

After that, pour in a little water and add a pinch of citric acid or lemon juice. You can also add milk.

Now add food coloring to the liquid mixture.

White marshmallows should be melted in a microwave oven or steamed.

At the end, add 50 grams of butter to the mixture.

Make a sugar mixture: mix starch with powder 3:1.

Add this mixture in parts to the marshmallow mass. The resulting dough should be elastic and elastic.

Now knead the dough for about 10 minutes on a flat surface, which should be sprinkled with powder.

On a note! The mastic should be used as follows. The mastic should be thinly rolled into a circle. It covers the top of the sweet product. Various products can also be cut from it. Such as flowers, leaves and openwork patterns. Remember, mastic tends to dry instantly. It's worth working with it very quickly. To create a decoration, pinch off a piece from the total mass, and wrap the main part in cellophane.

Other options for decorating a cake at home

In addition to all the methods described above, there are other methods that are used in decorating cakes. And if you're interested in knowing how to decorate a DIY birthday cake? Then take a look at some more interesting ideas.

So, you can use cream to decorate the cake. It's very easy to prepare. And it should be applied to the cake using a pastry chef’s syringe.

Cream is also a good option for decorating a cake. Meringue is also often used to decorate cakes.

How to decorate a cake with fruits?

Regular or exotic fruits and berries are often used in cake decoration. Their popularity is obvious. They have unique flavors and vibrant colors. To make fruit jelly you will need:

apple juice - 600 milliliters,
packaging of gelatin powder,
powdered sugar - 1 cup,
fresh berries and fruits.

How to cook?

The gelatin package is filled with a glass of juice. The mass is left until it swells.

Clean fruits are cut into slices or circles.

The gelatin, which has already swollen, is melted in a water bath. Then pour in the remaining juice and add powdered sugar.

The finished mass is filtered. After that, berries and fruits are placed in jelly and placed in the cold.

Once the jelly has cooled slightly, transfer it to the cake. Cover the edges with whipped cream.