Decorating & carving really brings your cakes to life-this is how you WOW your family, kids & friends! You can turn your simple sheet cakes into cartoon characters, guitars, superheroes and even parrots!  You can transform your simple round layer cakes into towers of elegance with flowers and fondant (or make them into Popcorn buckets...you choose, go crazy!).  Here are some basic how-to's I've learned along the way...I hope they are helpful!,

Decorating FAQ's  -  Decorating with Buttercream  -   Decorating with Fondant   -  Decorating with Chocolate  -  Decorating with Mixed Media  -  Carving & Shaping FAQ’s.

Now that you’ve baked your cakes, you can start the part that really brings the cake to life...decorating!  Whether you are going to use a buttercream bonanza, a fancy fondant or a candy creation, your cake will look wonderful, simply because you had fun doing it.  Now, while I have no formal training, I have done many, many cakes and have some decorating tips I thought I’d share (learn from my mistakes people, learn from my mistakes).  The below information includes Decorating with Buttercream, Decorating with Fondant, and Decorating with Chocolate, and a discussion on Decorating with Mixed Media. I hope these are helpful, and as always Bake On!

I use Buttercream on 99% of my cakes as I love the texture and flavor. And while I always want my cakes to look great, I mostly want to eat it, and nothing says “Eat Me!” like thick yummy Buttercream frosting!  I try to use homemade frosting on my bakery style cakes or traditional tiered cakes; however, I do use store-bought tub frosting for almost all of my cakes that have bright colors, detailed piping or great shapes.  I always prefer Pillsbury Funfetti tub frosting as I think it is the yummiest, holds colors beautifully and spreads & pipes very well. Here are some General Buttercream Tips and Detailed Piping Tips:

General Buttercream Tips:

• Temperature:  Try to always use your frosting when at room temperature (unless of course you are heating it to make a glaze or to frost cupcakes, etc.).  If it is too cool or too warm, it will not spread or pipe well.
• Crumb-Coating:  Crumb-coating is the super thin coat of frosting you give your cakes to keep all the crumbs in the cake & not on your frosting.  I put a crumb-coat on most of my cakes, refrigerate them and then frost with the thick layer. I like using vanilla frosting for all my crumb coating as I think it spreads the easiest and sets-up the nicest in the refrigerator.  Even if I’m frosting a cake in chocolate, if I need to crumb-coat, I will put on a thin vanilla crumb-coating. (I rarely need to crumb-coat a cake that is frosted in chocolate though, so it doesn’t happen often). 
• Smoothing:  Getting buttercream smooth takes lots patience, so relax & enjoy.  You can try to use a warm knife, or slightly damp knife to smooth tub frosting (just do not drip water on the cake as any water drips will leave a dot on your frosting).  Using a frosting spatula in different sizes is another way to make frosting smooth (see tools). For my cakes that need to be super smooth, I always try my best and get them pretty good, but I never mind a spread mark or line here or there as I do want my cakes to look so delicious that you’ll head for it mouth first!  They might be show pieces but they are also supposed to make you drool!
• Coloring: Buttercream frostings take color so well, and I always use Wilton’s icing color gels.  I always start with a vanilla buttercream as my base (it’s nice & white) and go from there.  Regarding specific colors, Rose, Yellow, Orange, Blue, Green, Violet and the other basic colors all take a normal amount of coloring to get the desired affect. And as I’m sure you know, start with less color than you think you need as it is easier to add more color than take away.  Although, if you make a color that is too bold (Fuchsia v. Rose for instance), simply add more vanilla frosting and you will be ok.
• Coloring for Black & Red specifically: Black & Red icing colors are the most challenging colors.  You need to use tons of the coloring gel to make a rich full color.  Therefore, for Red, use the Wilton Red (No Taste) brand and your frosting will still taste pretty good (it does alter the taste just a bit). And for the Black color, if you can, use chocolate frosting as your base and then you will need only use a fraction of the coloring to get a nice rich black than if you had started with vanilla buttercream.
• Your Mouth: Please know that any strong color, such a Black, Blue, or any really dark or saturated color will color the eater’s tongue and mouth.  Kids love it, but if you don’t, just eat it carefully or smile like the Mona Lisa for the rest of the party!  And yes, I do warn my parent friends before I make them a cake if I think their child’s mouth will look ‘festive’ after they eat the cake.
• Quantities: One tub of frosting, or ~2 cups of from-scratch frosting, should cover a 9x13 cake or a two-layer 8inch or 9inch round cake.  However, I always need more frosting than I think I will (I think I must like a greater frosting to cake ratio than the Pillsbury or recipe testers).  Therefore, I recommend always having an extra tub or two around in case you need more frosting (you never know when you’ll use more to fill the cake, or want to even out a cake, etc.). Also, when you are making colored icing, always be generous in how much frosting you color as it is a major pain when you run out of frosting mid-decorating and then have to try to mix another batch just the right color to match the first batch.  Just make tons of frosting and then let your kids snitch any leftovers, or have fun as a family frosting your cake leftovers (we even use leftover frosting on waffles as a Saturday morning donut substitute, on graham crackers as a dessert, etc.).
• Glazing: If you are just looking to glaze your cake (like a Bundt cake, or some min-cupcakes/muffins), you can use a tub frosting.  Simply pour it out into a glass bowl, microwave it until it is runny (start at 30 seconds and go from there), and use a spoon or pour right on your cakes (it gets hot so be careful!).

Detailed Piping Tips:

The majority of my cakes have been decorated with store-bought tub frosting and I find it works just great once piped and refrigerated.  I know some sources think you can’t do detailed work with tub frosting, but as all of my cakes on this site were done with tub frosting, I think it works just fine for my purposes! One issue though: if you fill your frosting bag too full and have a lot of detailed piping (like pearl dots along a border), the tub frosting will get too warm (due to your hand’s warmth) and will not hold the shape you are trying to pipe.  I have been able to avoid this issue by simply not filling my frosting bag too full (annoying yes that you have to keep stopping & refilling your bag, but better than mushy dots, stars, etc.). Now all this being said, I have never tried some of the super detailed flower work (such as stiff flowers & roses like on a store-bought cake), and am pretty sure you would not be able to use tub frosting to make those.  But who needs flowers, when you’re doing something totally unique and fabulous anyway?! :)  See below for tips on Borders, Details, Lettering & Mistakes:

Easy Borders:  I love the simplest of borders, including pearl dots and basic overlaps (see pictures below).

To make a pearl border, simply use a round tip, or snip the corner off of your Ziploc bag (see Decorating Tools for more details), and gently squeeze the frosting out where the cake meets the pan or the next tier.  Once your ‘pearl’ or dot is the size you prefer, stop squeezing frosting and gently lift your bag away. See the below picture.

To make an overlap border, simply use your shell tip and make small overlapping wide U shapes along where your cakes meets the plate or tier meets tier. See the below picture.

And remember, just practice a few times on a paper plate and it is not too hard at all!   

Piping details: I try to keep my piping details simple.  Piping faces or trying to exactly replicate something (like the guitar) causes the most intricate piping work.  To pipe these types of designs, again, I practice, practice, practice. First I try drawing them out on paper, then if I’m really having trouble, I'll practice piping it out on a paper plate before I pipe on the cake, and then finally, I take a deep breath, & start piping! I usually use a round tip (either size 1,2,or 3) for the detailed work.  And if you have the time, try to match the sides of the cake to the frosting on the top as it will make your cake look like a real object v. a picture drawn on a sheet cake.  See below for some ideas, and note that nothing is perfect, but it is really fun to try!

Little Touches: I always try to put little details into my cake decorations...things that I’m not sure anyone would really notice outright, but that I think make the cake look that much more fabulous.  It might be some extra bit of piping (like  making a center on a flower), some extra use of sprinkles or edible material (like the flower lei on the Luau Girl cake), or even using just a touch of bright coloring (like the explosions on the Death Star cake).   

Lettering:  Again, I always try to keep things simple. My handwriting is not that good to being with, so there is no chance writing with frosting is going to improve it. Therefore, I tend to stick with print.  I usually follow this process:

• I usually use a small tip (round 1 or 2) and first practice what I am writing on a paper plate.
• I look at the cake carefully to try to plan out how I’m going to write my greeting so that I do not have spacing that looks bizarre or words that do not fit on the cake (it happens!)!
• Once you are ready to pipe, just remember to go nice & slow, give your bag squeezing an even pressure, and stop squeezing your bag and lift slightly when you go from letter to letter. If you are doing print, go so far as to do one line at a time, stopping & lifting your bag after each line (that will give you the cleanest lettering).

Mistakes:  I have made tons of mistakes in my decorating endeavors, but I’ve learned not to worry about them!  It is just frosting...you can always fix your mistakes. Yes, it is a pain in the tuckus to have to scrape off any mistakes and then re-frost your base coat, but it can be done.  For example, I have had to remove a chunk of frosting from the jersey shirts when I goofed up the name and then re-frost it with the shirt color & striping before I even tried piping the lettering again!  The best one was when I completely de-frosted a cake (I wish I had a picture of that) when my base frosting did not come out well (I tried to make a cake look like it was tie-dyed using piping & no spray tools, and needless to say, it looked so bad, I scraped all the frosting off and just re-frosted my cake!).  I will tell you though, my mistakes turned out to be great, because once I realized I can fix them, all pressure was off.  I can be totally brave and try new things now!  So, go for it!

And I would love to hear your ideas, thoughts or questions as well.  Please feel free to contact me at jennifer@jenny-cakes.com and I’ll post them on-line.  Before you know it we’ll get a whole chat room thing going...and slowly take over the world, one cake at a time!  :) 

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Decorating with Fondant

Although I use Buttercream on almost all of my cakes, I do us Fondant to accent the cakes or make fun decorations.  It is such a great decorating medium, can really make a cake look super sharp, and is not that hard to use! Admittedly, I avoided using fondant for the first ~6 months of my little cake adventure because I thought it would be too hard as I have no experience.  But then I tried using it, and little by little, I now consider it one of my go-to’s for cake decorating.  I still do not cover my cakes in them (I did it with one gold ball cake and just did not like how it tasted), but I do use it for accents and decorations.  So here are some tips & how-to’s including General Fondant Tips, Making Fondant Accents, and Making Fondant Flowers. 

General Fondant Tips:

• Brand: I always use the Wilton pre-made fondant you can find at hobby stores, and though I might be spending more money by not buying in large quantities, I usually only buy it in the 24 ounce size as I’m only using it for accents.  I have bought the 5lb size for when I know I’m going to use a ton (like for the flowers for my brother's wedding), but it doesn’t happen often. 
• Coloring: I almost always buy my fondant white, and then use Wilton’s icing coloring gel to make my preferred color.  Simply stick a toothpick into your coloring (or fork tongs) and then stick the coloring into your fondant.  Kneed and twist the fondant until the coloring is blended in.  Depending on the amount of fondant you are using, this process will take a couple of minutes and make your hands tired and all colored up...but that’s have the fun, yes? I always do wonder what my friends think when I show up at the park with purple palms, or green fingernail cuticles!  :) You could wear gloves I suppose to keep the coloring off of your hands, but I've never tried it (let me know if you have other suggestions!)
• Rolling our fondant:  For my accents and uses, I usually need my fondant rolled to ~1/8 inch thickness, which I just eye-ball with a ruler.  I sprinkle a light coat of powdered sugar on my counter & rolling pin, place a ball of fondant in the center and begin to roll it out like you would cookie dough.  I check it frequently to be sure I’m spreading it evenly, and that it is not sticking to the counter.  It’s not hard at all, just like cookie dough or Play-Doh. One tip I did read recently was to not use powdered sugar to stop the sticking, but cornstarch, but I haven’t tried it yet simply because I don’t have cornstarch in my pantry.  If anyone has tried it, please let me know what you think!
• Cutting fondant:  I’ve used whatever I have to cut fondant, including a pizza cutter, knife, cookie cutters, Wilton fondant cutters, frosting tips (for small round shapes). Just try to cut it fully through for a nice clean cut-out.
• Sticking pieces of fondant together: To stick two pieces of fondant together or glue seems of fondant together, use a tiny bit of water.  Either brush it on with a little paint brush, or just use the tip of your finger (I always just use the tip of my finger...nothing fancy here).  However, fondant gets really sticky & gooey if it comes in contact with water, so be careful not to use more than a hint of water, and if you drip any on your counter, clean it up before you spread-out more fondant.
• Putting fondant on cake: I usually am placing fondant accents on buttercream and of course there is no problem getting it to stick as buttercream is nice & gooey. Just be sure not to push your fondant accent into the frosting to much as you don’t want it to slide your frosting around...use a light touch.  If placing fondant accents to a fondant covered cake, simply use a touch of water and discussed above.
• Refrigerating fondant: Fondant and moisture do not mix, therefore you should try to keep it out of a refrigerator.  The only cake I ever covered with fondant, I put in the ‘fridge overnight and when I took it out, I ended up using a fan all afternoon to blow off the condensing moisture that was threatening to goof up my perfectly covered fondant cake. However, when I put fondant accents on a buttercream covered cake, I do always refrigerate (due to the buttercream) and have never yet had a problem with moisture.   Except with the fondant bows-they should not be put in the ‘fridge, just keep them out & place it on the cake before presenting.
• ‘Drying’ out fondant:  If you leave fondant out in the open air, it will dry & harden, just like Play-Doh.  However, there are a few things to consider when drying out your fondant pieces:
  
  • I use a glass plate, metal pan or paper to dry my items on, so they will not stick as drying.
  • I use paper tissue to fill my loops or other shapes as they are drying to help hold the shape (do not use tin foil).
  • Try not to play with, or pick up, your items until they are fully dry (if you’re like me, you’re a busy-body who keeps wanting to check on everything).  If you bend your items while they are partially dry, you might cause them to crack, which cannot be fixed if it is already partially dry.
  • The thicker your fondant piece is, the longer it will take to dry.  Simple ribbons take a few hours to overnight, thick big bows take overnight to 12+ hours, and larger pieces (like the golf club seen below) took almost 2 days to fully dry. So please, learn form my mistakes and plan ahead, plan ahead, plan ahead!!
  • Storing unused fondant: Unused fondant should be stored in an airtight container at room temperature.  I usually roll it into a ball, put it in a freezer bag & squeeze out the air before closing. Then I put the wrapped ball in a second freezer bag & again squeeze out the air before closing.  It works ok, with some of my fondant lasting wrapped up for a few weeks even. However, I never count on it staying like this for a long time. If you have any fool-proof ideas, please let me know!

Fondant Gerbera Daisies:
Color your fondant if desired, and prepare your working surface with either powdered sugar or cornstarch.  Roll out your fondant to ~1/8 inch thick, and use the Wilton daisy fondant cutter to make two large flower shapes, and one small flower shape. When cut, gently re-roll out your shapes so that they will loose the just cut look & their petals will look softer.  Next, take a toothpick and make an indent lengthwise down the middle of each petal of each flower cut-out.  Again, I’m a bit Type-A and thought I needed this extra detail, but you be the judge!  Next, use a touch of water to stack your cut-outs (large ones on bottom with small on top, all offset to show off their petals).  Now pinch a tiny bit of green fondant and roll into a ball, and place in center on the petal stack.  Use the tip of a toothpick to make little dots on the green center for more detail.  Now place the entire flower gently into a paper cupcake liner (flatten the liner as much as possible, so that when your flower dries it will only slightly curl at the end).  Again, this is a really easy flower to make and it really looks good!  I made ~120 of these fondant gerbera daisies for my brothers wedding, and actually took them on a road-trip form Chicago to New Jersey...and they were still a hit!  Here are some close-ups:

Making Fondant Accents:
Most of my fondant accents are ribbons, bows, and simple cut-out shapes, but I have now started experimenting with large fondant shapes.  Most are not too hard to make (with some trial & error of course), and use the most basic of tools.

• To make ribbons, just roll your fondant out to ~1/8 inch thick, measure the length & width desired, and use a pizza cutter to cut it out. I just lay the ruler on top of the fondant and use its straight edge as guide.
• To make bows, you simply follow the directions on the fondant box as follows: 1) cutting 2 strips (as above), making a loop with each strip (using water to stick the ends together), and stuffing the loop with tissue until it is dry, and 2) cutting a short strip that you will use to wrap around the end of your two loops (wrap it around while everything still soft).
• To make cut-out accents, simply cut-out your rolled fondant to the shape desired (circles, stripes, stars, moons, etc.).
• To make Tea Pot Spouts & handles, you are going to mold your fondant like you would clay or Play-Doh.  For the tea cup handles, I just rolled the fondant into a small log shape & put 1/2 a toothpick in each end (with ~1/2 the cut toothpick still sticking out sticking out) and curved into a handle shape.  I allowed it to dry and then stuck the toothpick ends into the cake tea cups.  For the tea pot handle, I followed the same process, just on a larger scale for the tea pot handle size.  For the tea pot spout, I molded the fondant into a spout shape and used 3 toothpicks and 1 bamboo skewer (with ~1/2 of each still sticking out) and allowed to dry.  Once dry, stick the toothpick & skewer ends into the tea pot cake.
• To make the golf club, I used fondant and a wooden dowel.  I cut a 1/8 inch wooden dowel to a 2 foot length and covered it with a 1/8 inch thick strip of fondant. I used water to seal the seem.  Then I took another 1/8 inch thick strip of fondant (~8-12 inches long) and put fork tong indentations all along it to mimic grip leather. I wrapped it around one end of your fondant covered dowel for the grip.  For the golf head, I simply molded a 1/2 inch thick square of fondant & traced out the shape of a wedge head. Then I used the back of a knife to make the lines found on a golf club head.  This golf club took almost 2 days to dry fully, so give yourself some lead time!

Here are some close-up pictures of the fondant accents I’ve used on my cakes: 

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Decorating with Chocolate

Did I mention I love chocolate?  I’m actually eating chocolate chips right now as I type this...yum!  Seriously though, while chocolate can be tricky to use for decorating, keep it simple and you cannot go wrong! Here are some easy ideas on how to use chocolate for decorating cakes: 

• Chopped chocolate: Sometimes the easiest way to decorate with chocolate is to finely chop up a chocolate chunk or bar and then press it up against the sides of your cake.  It gives your cake an indulgent look, an added texture element, and, if you use a darker chocolate than your frosting, an extra flavor punch as well.
• Molded Chocolate shapes:  Wilton candy melts are wonderful for making quick & pretty chocolate shapes for any cake.  You simply melt down the chocolate per the directions on the bag and carefully pour it into the mold (I have stars, hearts & baby items).  And when pouring, although I’m sure a little squirt bottle would give you better control, I have always just used a spoon & tried my best.  Then put the mold in the ‘fridge to harden and when ready, pop them out for a yummy decoration.  I even used plastic toy packaging to make a molded chocolate bowling pin shape..it was awesome!
• Free-form Chocolate shapes: Wilton candy melts also make for excellent free-form designs as well.  Again, you melt down the chocolate per the directions on the bag and carefully pour it into a Ziploc bag.  Snip a tiny bit of a corner from the bag and now you can pipe shapes onto a saran wrap covered cookie sheet or plastic tray.  I've made hearts, numbers, dots, antennas, gift cards, and a martini glass...too much fun! You can even sprinkle cake glitter on the chocolate once designed, and it will harden on there just fine...too cute! 
• Chocolate lollipops: You know I love these as I have a whole series of cakes named after them (see Chocolate Lollipop Cakes Photo Gallery)!  I use the Wilton candy melts and make both molded & free-form pops.  First, start by melting the candy melts per directions on the bag. For molded lollipops, carefully fill your mold (I pour it with a spoon) and then place your lollipop stick in the place-holder.  For the free-form circle lollipop, simply spoon your chocolate out onto a saran wrap covered cookie sheet or a plastic tray and gently spread it out into a circle (keeping it ~1/8-1/4 inch thick).  Then place your lollipop stick on top and dollop some extra chocolate on to the stick where it lands on the circle.  Then put the mold in the ‘fridge to harden.  Most of the time, I pipe a frosting decoration on the lollipop (a face or stripes) and ‘dress’ my face lollipops with little ‘costumes’ ...did I mention I’m a bit Type A?
• Chocolate Frosting:  And of course, let’s not forget that simply frosting your cake with a yummy chocolate frosting, or covering it in a decadent chocolate ganache is as good as anything! Sometimes simple is best!

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Decorating with 'Mixed Media'

Decorating with ‘mixed media’? Is this Art 101?  No, no, decorating with mixed media is simply my code for “I didn’t have the time or talent to pipe or sculpt a decoration, so I’m getting really creative!”.   And I will tell you, the more I use all sorts of things to decorate my cakes, the more possibilities come to mind.  So I intend to keep on exploring how far I can push this concept with edible & non-edible items alike! However...I promise to never use so much mixed media that I lose sight of the fact that cakes are to be eaten (ok, anyone who knows me is laughing right now as they know I will NEVER forget the importance of eating cake!)!  Here are some ideas on how I’ve used this ‘mixed media’ concept:

• Candy: Everyone loves candy, so use it to decorate your cake!  I’ve used candy as a purse handle, hat trim, train decorations and even a popcorn/marshmallow mixture!
• Toys:  Every child loves getting a toy to take home with their cake.  I’ve used full sized Barbie dolls in the Doll cakes, little cars in the Monster Truck cake, and Star Wars fighters in the Death Star cake.
• Flowers:  Everyone loves fresh flowers, especially when they adorn something yummy!  So go ahead and use real flower on your cake (just don’t eat them!).  You can match the party theme, the rooms centerpieces or the special person’s favorite blooms. If you do want to eat your flowers, you can use crystallized edible flowers.  My friend bought some for my decorate with and they looked just great!
• Bubble-Thought or Picket Sign Greetings:  I love using PowerPoint & photo paper to make bubble-thoughts or picket signs for my cakes. Whenever I make a character cake for a child, I see if I can add one in there as kids think they are a hoot. Simply go into PowerPoint and use the call-out bubble shape or a simple rectangle.  Size it as desired and type in your cake greeting.  Print it in glossy photo paper, cut it out, tape it to a lollipop stick and stick it in the cake in desired position.  My photo paper (HP inkjet) has never bled into the cake or warped when I stuck in the cake in the' fridge.  I’ve used bubble thoughts & signs on my super-hero and character cakes and frankly, I giggle every time I see them (I’m not hard to please).  And it all came about because I didn’t have room to pipe in a greeting!
• Character Pop-Outs: These Pop-Outs are a variation of the Bubble thoughts and are too cute!  Again, simply use your  PowerPoint and Photo paper. I simply cut & paste an image into PowerPoint (such as an image of a character from the web, or a photo from your own files), size it as desired and print it out on glossy photo paper.  Then I cut it out, tape it onto a lollipop stick and place in cake.  If you are really anal (&yes, I know I am), you can also print out a reverse image and glue it onto the other image, effectively making a 3D pop-out.  I’ve used this on a graduation cake (I printed out a picture of the gradate and stood him up on his own cake!), and on a Mickey Mouse cake (I made it look like Mickey was busting out of the cake!).  These are too fun and just think of al the possibilities...birthday boys & girls popping out of their own cakes, numbers popping out of anniversary cakes, Superman flying out of a Building cake... oh my gosh, don’t stop me now, I’m on a roll!

Here are some before & after mixed media pictures of cakes ...and see how much fun the little extra makes the cake!

Before	After

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Carving & Shaping FAQ's

Carving & shaping cakes is probably my favorite thing about making cakes, maybe even more than decorating!  Shaping your cakes is so fun and creates amazing one of kind cakes designed just by you.  And best of all, it is totally doable..you just get an idea, a plan & a knife and you’re good to go! So, to get started, here are some helpful tips…
 
Making your Plan:  First, you need to plan how you are going to carve your cake, and no better way to do that than by doing your homework! 

• Research your shapes: Go on-line and look at pictures of the character, toy, picture or shape you are trying to make.  Cut & paste the pictures from on-line into PowerPoint and print them out so that then you can practice drawing it on paper.  If you are trying to make a replica of a toy, shirt or figurine, just use the real object as your guide!
• Practice Drawing: Take some time to practice drawing the shape you want, including drawing it free-hand any size that works for you, and then within the borders of the cake shape you are planning to cut it from. For example, I first practice drawing my shape a few times. Then I draw an outline of the shape of cake I think I’ll use (i.e. a rectangle for a 9x13 pan shape) and draw my picture again inside the borders of this cake shape. By practicing drawing your shape within the outline of the cake pan shape, you can not only see how to carve the cake, but how you might be able to use any cut-out pieces.  Some cakes you can simply carve out of a 9x13 rectangle cake pan (see the Shaped Sheet Cake Photo Gallery, including SpongeBob, Patrick, Scooby-Doo, Pony, Uniqua, Pablo, Parrot, Poodle, Cross & Spyglass cakes), while with some you will start with round cakes (again see the Shaped Sheet Cake Photo Gallery for the Nemo, Turtles, Spiderman, flower and butterfly cakes) .  See the picture below for my quick practice drawings for the guitar cake.
• Do what you can: Be creative, and know that nothing needs to be an exact picture of your desired character, toy or idea.  The cake is your interpretation and it will look great no matter how you take liberties with its shape.

And remember, your family will love you for going this extra mile and carving them a shaped cake (& for giving them the extra cake scraps too!).  So, moral of the story here, simply plan & practice your carving and it will look great!

 
Cutting your cake:   This is where the real fun comes in...the cutting of the cake!

• Tools for carving & cutting:  I use the simplest of supplies for carving cakes, including my practice drawings or copied images, a serrated or sharp knife (sometimes a big bread knife, sometimes steak knife size), some paper-towels and a Sharpie marker. 
Process for carving cakes:
• First, slightly over-bake and/or chill your cake in the ‘fridge. These steps won’t change the taste (everything will still be delicious!) but it will make your cake more firm and hold up better during the cutting.  For cakes with lots of carving, I try to use only the yellow cake as other flavors (especially Chocolate and White cake) are just too moist & crumbly for good carving.  Also, f you are making a 2-layer cake, definitely fill, stack & chill the cake first, and then cut.
• Once your cake is ready, make a template for your cutting and you will not go wrong! Simply take a paper towel and cut to the size of cake you’ve made (i.e. the 9x13 cake...but measure your towel to the baked cake not the pan as cakes shrink upon baking & cooling).  Then draw the shape you want in a Sharpie marker on the paper towel and cut your shape out. Now you have your template!
• Take your template, pin it to the cake with toothpicks and cut around the paper-towel for your perfectly shaped cake!  See the picture below of my template for the guitar cake.
• Once your cake is cut, double check for any details that might make your cake that much more special, including rounding off the edges to make them softer or using extra cake cut-outs for add-ons to your cake (i.e. make your Pony’s hair really fly off the head, or make your star points larger, etc.). Once your carving is complete, crumb-coat your cake and refrigerate until it is set-up. Then you’re ready to decorate! 

So my friends, have fun, go for it & as always Bake On!  

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