DessertsCake Decorating Equipment: Finding the Right Supplies is Icing on the Cake
If you want to practice your cake decorating skills, you need to make sure you get the right equipment. To start out with, you need to get paddles or icing smoothers. They will take care of all those annoying air bubbles whenever you want to work with fondant. You can order them online or get them at your local cake shop.
You may also find a rolling pin to be useful. However, plastic ones usually arenò€™t strong or heavy enough to get the job done, so you may want to go with a marble rolling pin. Itò€™s hard and heavy, and is a much superior choice to both plastic and wood. It is also cold, which is a great asset when fondant is concerned.
Even though you shouldnò€™t use a cheap rolling pin, you can get away with using a plain mat, just as long as itò€™s flexible. Mats can come in handy for rolling out icing. Some of them come are made to grip table surfaces in order to prevent slippage. You may want to consider getting this type of mat if you donò€™t feel like chasing it all over the table!
One type of cake decorating equipment you really need to get is a good turntable. Since cakes can be heavy (i.e. wedding cakes), you will find a turntable to be very helpful. If you can afford to do so, invest in a good, study model, as some cheap turntables are known to tilt too much.
One obvious supply you need to get (if you havenò€™t already) is a good palette knife or spatula. Make sure you get a long, metal one so that you can smooth the icing down easily. Youò€™ll also need to transfer delicate, intricate decorations to the cake.
A good piping set is both useful and necessary as far as cake decorating equipment goes. Youò€™ll need a large bag with a large basket-weave nozzle to apply the buttercream to the sides of the cake. A piping set is better for this type of application than a palette knife, and the results are obviously neater.
For your paint brushing needs, you can use both fine-tipped and broad ones. The fine paint brushes can be used for brushing sugar and crumbs out of the way and for applying thin lines or decorations. The broad brushes can be used for clearing away debris off the board.
Some more cake decorating equipment you could use include: a coupler, decorator tips, and a flower nail. You can get all these online from web-based cake decoration stores. In fact, the internet is the best place to look for cake supplies and equipment because you can usually find special discounts and sales offers that are available exclusively online!
You CANNOT learn to decorate cakes using cheap equipment from the local retail store. You must have a few essential pieces of cake decorating equipment to do things right. Did you know there are some high end starter sets that are really inexpensive? I was shocked! I am talking 50+ pieces!