by Shirley Ryan Rose with Katherine Martin

Use tip No. 103 to outline the bikini with bands of black icing.

Finish the design with a white bottom border piped using tip No. 8.

Airbrush blue around the edges of cloud stencils. Create a multi-layer look by shifting the stencils on the cake.

Add texture to the sand by sprinkling colored sugar crystals on top of the cake.

Airbrush the top and bottom borders of a 10-in. round cake green.

Place a baseball edible design towards the bottom of the cake top, leaving room at the top for the baseball cap.

Pipe tufts of grass with star tip No. 18. With a cut paper tube, write appropriate baseball messages on the side of the cake.

Summertime will soon be knocking, and now is the time to start planning your warm weather cake displays. A popular theme for this time of year is the patriotic cake, since summer is unofficially bracketed by Memorial Day and Labor Day with the Fourth of July in the middle. Or, you can plan a "fun in the sun" theme, featuring common activities associated with summer, such as sunbathing, beach going and baseball.

A bikini cake is sure to grab your customers' eyes. Make a pattern out of paper of a bikini top and bottom. Base ice a quarter sheet cake with white icing. Place the bikini pattern on the cake. Align the bottom of the bikini with the bottom of the cake. Place the bikini top near the top of the cake, but allow room at the top of the cake to pipe straps on later. Airbrush the entire cake a flesh tone.

Remove the bikini pattern. If you want a colored bikini, you can pipe or airbrush the remaining white space a color, but I chose to leave the bikini white. Use tip No. 103 and black icing to pipe bands outlining the bikini shape. Then, use a cut paper tube to add black polka dots on the bikini. Also with the cut paper tube, add two black sideways 'v's in the bikini top to indicate the gathering of fabric in the center. Then, add a black belly button by piping two half circles that are slightly off center from each other and a small swirl in the center of the half circles. Add two black bikini straps with tip No. 103. To finish the cake, use tip No. 8 to add a smooth, white bottom border.

Hit the beach
 Beaches are a natural correlation with sunbathing and bikinis, so this beach scene will work well with your summer-themed cake display. Base ice a quarter sheet cake with white icing. Using cloud patterns cut from paper, airbrush the outlines of the clouds blue. Move the patterns to create several layers of clouds. Hold an edible design of a beach scene above the cake where you will be placing it to ensure the break between the airbrushed clouds and beach is correct. Also airbrush blue along the bottom border of the cake. Then, create a sandy beach by airbrushing the bottom of the cake top yellow. Airbrush a bit of red along the top of the yellow sand.

Place the beach edible design in the center of the cake, aligning the horizon in the design with the airbrushed sand and sky. Use plain tip No. 4 to outline the

clouds with white icing. This helps add shape and dimension to the clouds. Outline the sky portion of the edible design using a looping motion with tip No. 4 and white icing. Add yellow accents in the sand using a cut paper tube. To add dimension to the sand, sprinkle some

Let's play ball
Baseball is a beloved aspect of summer, and this cake is ideal for baseball lovers of all ages. Base ice a 10-in. round in white icing. Airbrush green borders around the top and bottom of the cake. Create a baseball cap by inverting a cupcake onto cardboard shaped as the cap's bill. You may need to shape the cupcake by trimming it with a knife. Ice the cupcake and cardboard with white icing, and airbrush the cap red.

Use an edible design of crossed bats on a baseball field as the main design element. Cut away the excess around the image so the design placed on the cake is smaller. Position the image at the bottom of the cake top, leaving room at the top to place the baseball hat.

With tip No. 18, pipe a brown shell border around the yellow sugar crystals on top of the cake.

For added accents, place a straw hat in one corner of the design and sugar decorations, such as a watermelon or other picnic items, in another corner. Use a cut paper tube to pipe the words "Summer Time" in yellow.

For the borders of this cake, I used No. 18 tip, which is my favorite border tip. Stripe a pastry bag with dark yellow, then light yellow on top of that and fill the bag with white icing. Holding the bag so the dark yellow will be on the outside of the border, pipe half circles of icing on each of the four top corners. Then, connect the half circles by piping a top border using a looping motion. For the bottom border, pipe a simple straight line, ending at each corner with a star and outlining the corner with a strip of icing. bottom of the cake. Use the same tip to pipe a half 'c' top border. Use a cut paper tube to pipe the seams on the baseball cap and a button on top. On the top of the cake, pipe tufts of grass around the edible design using star tip No. 18.

For added accent, place clusters of three baseballrelated sugar decorations at the top and bottom of the edible design. Then, along the sides of the cake, add some more sugar decorations, using icing to adhere them. With a cut paper tube and red icing, pipe appropriate baseball messages, such as "strike" or "foul" around the sides of the cake.

Have some fun with your summer cake designs. Take advantage of the laid back attitude that often goes along with the warm weather to offer your customers whimsical and sun-loving cakes.