These top 10 cake hacks will make
baking and decorating cakes easier, they'll save you time, and you'll learn some
techniques to create stunning cake designs! To be super efficient, bake cakes and batches even
if you're not going to decorate or serve some of these cakes for the next month. By following this
hack and baking in bulk you're maximizing the time you spend taking out ingredients, preparing
cake batters and pans, and washing everything afterwards. Let the cakes cool completely
and then for any layers you aren't going to need straight away, wrap them in two layers of
cling film or saran wrap and freeze them until you're ready to use them. The plastic wrap will
prevent them from drying out and they'll be just as moist and delicious when you defrost them up to
a month later! To make mini cakes or shaped cakes, if you don't have the right size or shape cake
pan bake a sheet cake or use whatever pan you have. After the cake cools use a cookie cutter
to cut out your cake layers. You can do this with round cookie cutters or any shape you like, like
these little heart cake layers. It's easiest to cut the shapes out when the cake is cold because
then it's less crumbly so I chill my cakes in the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour before doing
this. Assemble your mini cake by alternating these layers with the filling of your choice and
you'll probably find it easier to pipe on your filling using a piping bag instead of spreading it
on since the cakes are so small and lightweight. Attach your cake to a cake board using a dollop of
frosting to secure it and then frost and decorate! I'm using my 4 Minute Buttercream for all of
the cakes in this video and you can find the recipe by clicking on the link at the top
of the screen or in the video description. This hack for super smooth frosting is to
control the temperature of your cake. Chill your cake layers in the fridge before assembling
your cake so that they firm up and don't crumble. Pipe or spread a dot of buttercream onto the
cake board to attach your first layer of cake and after assembling your cake put it back in the
fridge to chill the cake again for 30 minutes and to chill that dot of buttercream which will set
and secure the cake in place. Cover your cake in a crumb coat and having a cold cake will make the
layers much sturdier so it won't wobble around. This thin layer of frosting catches any crumbs
that come off the cake as you frost it. Chill the cake for another 30 minutes in the fridge to
set the crumb coat so that any crumbs get trapped in that layer of frosting and your final coat of
frosting won't have any crumbs in it. Frosting your cake when it's cold means you can spread on
your frosting easily and apply as much pressure as you need to with your frosting smoother
without worrying about knocking the cake over. For very easy but stunning stencil designs,
draw a shape onto parchment paper or trace over a picture or around a cookie cutter. Cut
out the shape keeping the outline intact and that will be your stencil. This is one of the
50 techniques I teach in my online course on 50 Easy Cake Decorating Techniques for any
skill level and you can find out more and sign up by clicking the link in the top of
the screen or it's in the video description. Wrap the stencil around a cake that's been chilled
in the fridge for an hour so that the frosting is cold and firm and then spread more frosting over
the stencil. Smooth it and then you can either peel off the parchment paper or press sprinkles
into the fresh frosting within the stencil and when you peel the parchment off you'll leave a
gorgeous sprinkled design behind on the cake! To create intricately detailed designs you
can't freehand, especially onto the upright sides of a cake, draw or print an image and
tape parchment paper on top. Put buttercream in piping bags fitted with small round tips like
a #2 or #3 or just cut a small bit off the end of a new piping bag to make a small hole. Pipe
the details onto your design one colour at a, time chilling the design in the fridge for 15
minutes before moving on to the next colour. You can tape the parchment and printed
image onto a tray to make lifting it up easier. Use your final colour of frosting to
fill in the background colour of the design like this yellow body of this giraffe and spread
it over the rest of the design to make it flat and also sticky, since the previously piped
details will be hard from chilling them. Lift the parchment up immediately and press it against
the side of a frosted cake. The frosting on the cake needs to have set before doing this. Put the
cake with the parchment still pressed against it back into the fridge and after an hour, when
everything is cold and firm, take the cake out and peel the parchment off to reveal your detailed
design, which will be perfectly flat and smooth. Take this a step further by covering an
entire cake in an intricate design like wrapping paper or a gift bag. Cut a piece of
acetate or parchment paper so it's as tall as the cake and a few inches longer so you can
wrap it around the cake with some room to spare. Tape the acetate over your wrapping paper
or whatever design you want to use and if the acetate curves because it's from a roll,
place it so that the ends are curving upwards, which is important for later. Trace your design
using piping bags just like in the previous hack, chilling the details before spreading your
final colour of frosting all over the acetate, right up to the edges. If you're enjoying
this tutorial please click the thumbs up button to like it and subscribe to my channel
for a new cake decorating tutorial every week! Lift the parchment up and wrap it around a
cake with a crumb coat. Piping the design on the inner part of the curve means the acetate or
parchment will wrap itself easily around the cake. The frosting on the acetate will stick to the
frosting on the cake. Press it with your hand or a fondant smoother so that it lies flat against the
cake and put the cake in the fridge for an hour before peeling the acetate off and then use a
sharp knife to cut off the top of the frosting and you can tidy up the frosting with a frosting
smoother and add any details you like, like piped borders or some shading with more frosting or
sprinkles! Avoid fondant and stencils by adding simple colourful shapes to the sides of your cake
with buttercream that looks just like fondant! Tape parchment onto a tray or a cutting
board and spread buttercream thinly onto it, getting it as smooth as you can. Place the board
in the freezer for 10 minutes and then use cookie cutters to cut out shapes. Lift the frozen
buttercream shapes up with an offset spatula and press them onto the frosting on your cake.
If the frosting has set you can spread or pipe a bit of buttercream onto the cake wherever you want
to attach a shape. To curve the shapes around the cake, wrap parchment paper around them and leave
them for a few minutes to thaw before pressing them gently. The parchment paper will prevent
any stickiness and texture from your fingers. Put the cake in the fridge or freezer for a few
minutes to set the buttercream shapes and then peel the parchment paper off. This achieves the
effect of fondant with the taste of buttercream! Square cakes can be really time consuming and
tricky to frost but with this simple hack you can frost square cakes quickly and neatly with super
sharp edges and corners with no special tools! All you need is a cardboard box. Measure your
cake layers and cut out three squares from your cardboard box: one that's the same size as your
cake layers and two that are two centimeters or three quarters of an inch bigger than your
cake layers. Wrap the cardboard and parchment paper so it's clean and pull it tightly before
you tape it down so the edges are very smooth. Assemble your cake on the smaller square
and then cover the cake with a crumb coat, placing it on a larger cake board
to catch any smudges of frosting. Now place a non-slip mat or tape on a cake board,
put one of your large squares on top and then tape your cake on the small square onto it. Spread
frosting thickly on top of the cake and place the other large square on top, lining it up
with the large square at the bottom and push down firmly to flatten the frosting on top of the
cake. Spread frosting around the sides of the cake and as you scrape with your frosting smoother
the cardboard will keep the sides straight! Spread from one edge towards the middle and then
from the other edge back towards the middle in the opposite direction to keep the corners
sharp. Chill the cake for an hour to set the frosting and then use a sharp knife to cut off
the square on top of the cake. For quick cake toppers of any shape, draw your shape or number
and place a piece of parchment paper on top of it. Spoon melted chocolate into a ziplock bag and
cut a piece off one corner and then squeeze the chocolate out to trace the shape, filling it in
with the chocolate too. You can use a toothpick to smooth the chocolate. Press the toothpick into
the shape going halfway up or flatten the top part of a paper straw and push that in. Pipe more
chocolate over the top to cover it and to make the shape thicker and stronger. Then pour sprinkles
on top, pressing them gently into the chocolate. When the chocolate sets lift the
shape up and push it into your cake. To write on cakes with beautiful letters even if
you have shaky hands and ugly handwriting like I do, outline capital letters in the frosting on
your cake with a toothpick and then use a piping bag fitted with a small round tip like a #2 or
#3 tip to pipe tiny dots along the letters you outlined to form neat, easy letters! Take my
free online course on 10 Frosting Techniques by going to www.britishgirlbakes.com and for
more cake ideas and inspiration join my Club for access to all of the classes on my online
cake school, both current and future classes, as well as exclusive members only
live demonstrations and Q&A sessions! The link for my online cake school
is in the top of the screen and in the video description or you can go to
www.britishgirlbakes.com Thanks for watching!
