Browse Decorating Techniques

3-Dimensional Rock Climber

Difficulty: Medium

Our 3-dimensional rock climbers can scale your cake in a variety of poses. Make them in advance with royal icing. After piping the outline harness, add a shoestring licorice rope.

Applying Sugar to Fondant

Difficulty: Medium

A dusting of sugar adds dazzle to your fondant accents, boosting the dimension and color.

Baby Blocks

Difficulty: Medium

Hollow blocks, constructed of 4 gum paste squares, are a fun way to camouflage pillars between tiers—the pillars bear the weight.

Baby Cake Topper

Difficulty: Medium

Bench

Difficulty: Medium

Bluebell

Difficulty: Medium

Bluebells are a smaller, slightly shallower version of the lily, made in the smaller 1 1/4 in. lily nail. Pipe them in white, pink yellow or the traditional blue.

Candy plaque using shaped pan

Difficulty: Medium

Use pans as molds when making solid decorative plaques. If your pan has detail, it may be painted in desired colors as you would for any candy mold.

Candy Shell

Difficulty: Medium

Candy Umbrella

Difficulty: Medium

Carriage, Wheels and Trim

Difficulty: Medium

This carriage stands on lollipop stick legs, which are attached to the bottom with balls of fondant. After rolling the fondant balls, be sure to press them lightly against the bottom of the egg mold so that they will conform to its shape without gaps.

Chicks Sitting

Difficulty: Medium

This fun fowl is easy to figure pipe directly on your cake using stiff buttercream. Or, you can make them in advance using stiff royal icing on a waxed paper-covered cake board. If made in advance, be sure to store them away from bright or fluorescent light to prevent colors from fading.

Chrysanthemum (Mum)

Difficulty: Medium

The Chrysanthemum is a fall classic that’s easier to pipe than you would think. The secret to success--the curved opening of specialty tip #81 used with a simple leaf-making motion.

Cow

Difficulty: Medium

Your piped animals can be as lifelike or cartoonish as you want them to be. Begin with a base and add familiar shapes such as dots, balls and strings that give your figure personality.

Drop Strings

Difficulty: Medium

Watch our online video. Precise measurements are vital to perfect stringwork. You will need to evenly divide your project with the cake dividing set and lightly mark the desired depth of each arc before you begin.

Elephant Trunk

Difficulty: Medium

For the elephant trunk, use two lengths of plastic dowel rods as your guide, inserted in your stand-up rubber ducky cake before it is decorated. Cover the pieces with stars when the cake is complete.

Elves

Difficulty: Medium

Working with fondant is much like shaping figures out of clay. These impish Elves, supported by lollipop sticks and wooden skewers hidden inside, bring seasonal flavor to your table.