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These Versatile Designs are ideal for a variety of celebrations. The cakes give customers the showpieces they desire but still remain cost-effective.

Tiered cakes are becoming popular for almost any celebration requiring dessert. Customers love the gravitas these stacked cakes offer. However, this does not necessarily equate to hours of labor for decorators. By keeping the designs simple and versatile, you can offer customers the statement cakes they want while keeping your costs low. To help speed production, base ice all the tiers white, stack them and then airbrush with the requested colors.

1. When airbrushing bright colors or adding a darker color to the top tier, cover the bottom tier with plastic wrap. This keeps the airbrush color from affecting the color of the bottom tier.

2. For the neon birthday cake, airbrush the top 6-in. tier hot pink. Then, remove the plastic wrap, and airbrush the bottom 8-in. tier neon green. With the smooth side of tip No. 48 out, pipe black band borders around the bottom of both tiers. Then, overpipe the borders with tip No. 2 and black icing.

3. Use tip No. 2 to pipe an appropriate message. Alternate the colors of icing to add character to the cake.

4. Using the same colors of icing used to pipe the message, add polka dots on the top tier with tip No. 2. Flatten the dots of icing with a damp finger.

5. With tip No. 2, pipe stars and squiggles in various colors of icing on the bottom tier. Allow some of the decorations to overlap the bottom borders. To finish the cake, overpipe the letters with silver using tip No. 2. To create the silver color, add silver iridescent powder to white gel. Outline some of the stars with silver as well.

1. For this pink/brown cake, stack a 6-in. round on an 8-in. round. Airbrush the bottom tier chocolate brown. You can overspray the brown tier with black/gray to make the color darker. Then, airbrush the top tier light pink.

2. Pipe rows of polka dots using tip No. 3. Alternate the rows with dots of dark pink and white and light pink and white. Flatten the dots with a damp finger.

3. With tip No. 48, smooth side out, pipe brown band borders at the base of each tier. Use tip No. 2 to outline the bottom of the borders with pink icing. Add pink polka dots to the band borders with tip No. 2.

4. Pipe a brown band border around the top of the 6-in. tier. Then, cover the top of the cake with brown icing to make it look like a hatbox. Use a tip to pipe the icing on top, and smooth it with a damp spatula.

5. Pipe a white circle on the front of the 6-in. tier. Smooth with a damp spatula. With tip No. 00, pipe a message in dark pink icing. This design is ideal for a baby shower, a birthday, christening or almost any type of celebration.

6. Add silver iridescent powder to white gel, and use tip No. 3 to outline the plaque with silver. Pipe a brown bow on top of the plaque with tip No. 102. With tip No. 2, add light pink dots to the bow and the top of the cake. Flatten with a damp finger.

7. Finish the design by adding a ribbon topper. Wrap different colors of ribbon around a wire and curl them with scissors. Insert the wire into the top of the cake.

SHANNON SYLVESTER is a decorator at Rick's Bakery, Fayetteville, Ark., and is the 2005 winner of RBA's (The Retail Baker's of America) Creative Decorating Competition. Sylvester has almost 20 years of decorating experience and decorates an average of 30 cakes a day. Since winning the competition, she has become a regular demonstrator at regional bakery shows and seminars.