 Use an icing bag striped with white, gray and tan icing and plain, round tip No. 8 to pipe pussy willow buds along brown stems. |
 Create kites using rolled buttercream. Dry the buttercream on supports to form a curved kite shape. |
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 Add a basket appearance by using star tip No. 16 to outline the top border with a strip of icing. Overpipe the strip with a series of 'c's. |
 Create a baseball field by airbrushing the base lines tan and the remaining area green for grass. Add white bases. |
 This book cake is ideal for any graduate. Cut a quarter sheet cake in half, and stack it so it looks like a closed book. |
 Use a flowered edible design to create the collar, placket and cuffs of this Mother's Day blouse cake. |
Spring, with its fresh, light air, is a perfect time to take a look at your bakery and your decorated cake displays. Freshen up your displays with new pastel and floral designs that are ideal for the season. I also change the color of green icing for decorated cakes by adding yellow to the blue-green of winter.
A favorite design is the spring flower cake, which showcases a variety-of spring flowers. To begin, base ice a quarter sheet cake, and airbrush it blue. Use a cut paper tube and brown icing to pipe several brown stems for the basis of a pussy willow. Make the willow buds using plain round tip No. 8 and an icing bag striped with white, gray and tan icing. To create the buds, pipe tear drops of icing along the brown willow stems. Then, use the cut paper tube and brown icing to pipe a husk at the base of each bud.
With tip No. 2, pipe several green fronds and flower stems. To add daffodils, use any size rose tip to pipe the petals for the daffodil floweret base. Create the petals by piping a backward 's' that ends in a point. Then, pipe a second stroke using a forward 's' motion. Airbrush sugar bells yellow to use as the cone of the flower. Pipe a ruffle border around the edge of the bell using rose tip No. 102. Place the bells on the piped floweret base.
Under the daffodils, add a row of tulips. I used moulded sugar tulips, but you can easily make tulips using rose tip No. 103 or 104. In the bottom center of the cake, under the tulips, pipe a group of apple blossoms. Use a tube striped with pink and filled with white icing and rose tip No. 103. Pipe five thumbnail shaped petals around a center point. Each petal should slightly overlap the one beside it. Using a cut paper tube, pipe yellow centers, and add three green dots of icing.
Along the bottom border of the cake, pipe a row of violets. With purple icing and rose tip No. 101, pipe two top loop petals. Then, pipe a larger loop petal for the tongue of the blossom in the bottom center of the flower. Pipe gold centers with a cut paper tube, and add several leaves around the flowers with rose tip No. 103. Add a flat bottom border using rose tip No. 103, and use star tip No. 16 to add a reverse shell top border.
Set sales flying high
A fun spring activity is kite flying, which makes an ideal cake design. Base ice a quarter sheet cake with white icing, and airbrush the top and sides blue, leaving some areas white for clouds. Make kites using rolled buttercream cut into kite shapes. Prop the kites on supports while drying to achieve a curved shape. Place the kites on the cake using dollops of icing. In the corner of the cake, add an appropriate edible design. I chose a pastel happy birthday design that gave the cake an airy feeling. Use a fine-cut paper tube and black icing to pipe the kite strings and outlines of the kites. Add top and bottom white borders using star tip No. 18.
Easter is a popular decorated cake holiday in the spring. One of my favorite designs is the pink bunny cake. To begin, base ice a quarter sheet cake with white icing. Airbrush the top two-thirds of the cake blue for a sky and the bottom third brown and gold, creating a fence. Use a cut paper tube and brown icing to outline the boards of the fence and add the wood's details.
Place a plastic bunny face and paws along the top of the fence so it looks like a bunny is peering over the fence. Place sugar flowers along the bottom of the fence and beside the bunny. Use a cut paper tube and green icing to pipe stems and leaves. Add a few other details, such as sugar butterflies and ladybugs. Use star tip No. 18 to outline the bunny face and pipe top and bottom borders. Overpipe the bottom border with tip No. 4 and green icing.
Another great Easter design is the basket cake. Base ice a round cake with white icing. Airbrush half of the cake top green for grass and the other half blue for the sky. Use gold color to airbrush the sides of the cake. Then, use an icing comb to add texture to the sides of the cake. Pipe tufts of grass on top of the cake using tip No. 233. For the top and bottom borders, use star tip No. 16, and stripe an icing bag with brown, tan and gold icing. Outline the top border of the cake with a strip of icing. Then, overpipe the strip of icing by piping small 'c' strokes to look like a basket rim. Use a rolled stroke for the bottom border.
To make the basket on top of the cake, use the same tube and tip as you used for the borders. Pipe a crescent shape for the top edge of the basket. Pipe two curved sides that narrow as you get closer to the base. Add a line of icing connecting the two sides, forming the base of the basket. Place a thin, wedge-shaped piece of cake in the center of the basket outline to make the basket curved. Fill in the basket with loose, basket weave strokes.
Add a basket handle that begins at the back center of the basket, loops up and over slightly to end at the front center of the basket. Use rose tip No. 103 and pink icing to add a bow to the basket handle. To create the bow, pipe a sideways figure-8, add streamers, and pipe a circular knot. Finish the design by filling the basket with sugar eggs, and place a few plastic figures on top of the cake.
Baseball is always a hit
Sports, especially baseball, is a favorite springtime activity, and this baseball diamond cake will be a hit with customers. Base ice a round cake with white icing. On the top of the cake, airbrush tan base lines. Airbrush the rest of the cake top green. Outline the base lines with white icing using a cut paper tube. With white icing, pipe square bases, and smooth them with a damp spatula. Use black icing and a cut paper tube to outline the bases.
Create a baseball cap by trimming a cupcake and placing it on the cake. Ice the cupcake with white icing, and pipe the seams using black icing and a cut paper tube. Pipe a red brim for the cap, and smooth it with a damp spatula. Place a sugar mitt and baseball on the top of the cake. Pipe tufts of grass around the baseball field using tip No. 233. Add a brown bat to the top of the cake and white, crossed bats along the sides of the cake using tip No. 6. Pipe top and bottom borders using white icing and tip No. 8.
Spring also is graduation time, which is a prime cake decorating occasion. This book design works well for any graduate. Cut a quarter sheet cake in half and stack it, so it looks like a closed book. A half sheet cake also works if your customers need more servings. Ice one long side and the two short sides of the cake with white icing. Use an icing comb on these sides to make it look like the pages of a book. Airbrush the combed icing gold. Ice the remaining side and top of the cake in the requested color. I chose to use red.
Use tip No. 8 and red icing to pipe the edges of the top cover and bottom border of the cake. Use the same tip and red icing to pipe details on the book's cover. Place a sugar diploma and cap on the center of the cake. Use a cut paper tube to pipe an appropriate message and overpipe the details on the book. To add more servings to the cake or another flavor, surround it with cupcakes decorated with the graduation year and plastic picks.
Another good decorated cake holiday in the spring is Mother's Day. Try adding this blouse cake design to your display case. Taper the top two corners of a quarter sheet cake to create the shoulders of the blouse. Base ice the cake with white icing and airbrush it pink, or use pink icing to base ice the cake.
Create the collar of the shirt using cardboard, rolled fondant or gumpaste. Cover the collar with a flowered edible design. Place it at the top center of the cake. Use the same edible design pattern to create the placket and cuffs of the blouse. Use a cut paper tube to decorate the edges of the collar and placket with white icing. Place small white candies down the center of the placket to create the buttons of the blouse. Outline the sleeves and add a bottom border using white icing and star tip No. 16.
Spring is a wonderful time to try new cake designs and to freshen up display cases. Incorporate a few of these designs into your regular spring line up.
