Customers are looking for something new and exciting, and these sculpted cakes give your decorating department an opportunity to distinguish itself from the competition. A variety of different designs can be made from the same shape. Once a decorator learns to construct a certain shape, it only takes a little creativity to turn it into several different designs. For example, an 8-in. round cake and a cupcake can be a variety of animals, such as a lion, tiger, dog, mouse or rabbit (click here for an example decorated as a lion.) Three round cakes easily turn into a frog. You can use any size round, depending on the number of servings needed. Another shape from rounds is a shaggy dog, which requires two cake rounds. To make it easier to switch the designs, use white icing and airbrush the cake the required color. The examples shown here should help get your creative juices flowing.
| 1. To create a frog, sandwich three round layers together with icing. Bevel away one-third of the top layer, cutting the cake at a slant to create the back of the frog’s head.
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| | 2. Base ice the layers smoothly. Pipe the legs and feet using a large open tip or an open coupler. | 
| | 3. Airbrush the entire frog green. Add features, such as white eyes, black mouth and nails and a red tongue using open tips. The back of the head may be used for piping an inscription. |
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| 1. With two 8-in. round layers, you can create a shaggy dog. Trim the bottoms off the rounds so the layers will stand upright. Sandwich the two layers with icing. Cut triangular wedges out of each layer, placing them on the cake board below the cut out section to create the dog’s front paws.
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| 2. Trim the tops of the layers by slicing the cake about half way down the triangular wedge. Place the trimmings behind the front paws at the side of the cake. They will become the dog’s back legs.
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| 3. Base ice the entire cake in white icing, sculpting it into a dog shape.
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| 4. Use grass tip No. 233 or No. 234 to pipe fur all over the dog’s body, except for the front of each of the paws and the face. Leave these areas smooth.
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| 5. Add the dog’s features using open tips, such as a No. 4 or 10. Pipe a tail standing straight up using an open coupler or a large tip.
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