| Base ice a 5-in. round cake and emboss it with a decorator's comb. Pipe streamers, and add confetti for a simple, colorful smash cake. |
| Create a rainbow on a round cake by airbrushing stripes of blue, yellow and pink around the sides and on top of the cake. |
| Use leaf tip No. 67 and a sweeping motion to pipe swags on the sides of the cake. Over pipe the swags with pink icing and tip No. 4. |
| Cut a 5-in. round cake in half, and place it on top of a half sheet cake to create a mountain. Base ice the entire cake in white icing. |
| Use the basic colors of red, yellow, blue and green and tip No. 22 to create a colorful shell border. |
| Stripe a pastry bag with red icing, and use tip No. 17 to pipe a repeating 'el' side border. |
| 1. Stripe a pastry bag with pink, yellow and blue icing, and fill it with white icing. Use star tip No. 22 to pipe a series of tight loops for a torso. |
| 2. Place a plastic head at the end of the torso. Pipe two arms beside the clown's head. Position one arm, so it is bent with the hand on the head. |
| 3. Pipe sprawled legs, and finish the legs with a loop for the feet. |
| 4. Use a No. 3 tip and white icing to pipe ruffles around the clown's ankles and wrists. |
Children look forward to their birthdays and often remember which cake coincided with what birthday. This month, I am showcasing colorful children's birthday and school cakes to offer your customers for these special occasions.
For a child's first birthday party, a "smash" cake is perfect. A 4- to 6-in. single or double layer smash cake is typically accompanied by a larger, more elaborately decorated cake. It is decorated fairly simply in coordination with the larger cake. It allows the child to play in the cake without destroying a whole cake and leaving the party without a dessert. Have customers register their child's first birthday to receive a free cake, or advertise a free smash cake with the purchase of a decorated first birthday cake.
Smash cakes are usually simply decorated, such as the one showcased. Base ice a 5-in. round cake with white icing. Use a decorator's comb to emboss the sides and top of the cake. Add a top and bottom shell border with star tip No. 22. Pipe streamers of bright colored icing along the top border using open tip No. 2. Liberally sprinkle colorful sugar dots along the bottom border and the top of the cake. Add a colorful numeral one candle and some ribbon bursts to finish the design.
Clowns make a great decoration for children's cakes. To create clowns, pipe stick figures using striped icing, to give the clowns a 3-D effect. Base ice a round cake with white icing, and airbrush stripes of pink, yellow and blue on the sides and top of the cake. Fit a parchment bag with star tip No. 22, and add stripes of pink, yellow and blue icing inside the bag, leaving spaces between the colors. Fill the bag with white icing. Pipe the torso of the clown using a series of tightly placed loops. Next, add a plastic head, available from bakery suppliers. Pipe two arms beside the clown's head. Then, add sprawled legs and feet. To finish the clown, use a No. 3 tip and white icing to pipe ruffles around the ankles and wrists. Add several more clowns to the cake in various positions, such as sitting, lying and even crawling up the sides of the cake. Also, pipe several stars all over the cake using the same bag and tip as used for the clowns. Pipe white shell borders with star tip No. 22. Add appropriate plastic pics to finish the design.
Garden imp cake design
The garden imp and her whimsical flower garden is a pleasant design for little girls. Start by base icing a quarter sheet cake in white icing. Airbrush the top of the cake green. Place a plastic trellis and garden imp in one corner of the cake. Pipe green grass using tip No. 233. With tip No. 104, add yellow and white daisies on the top of the cake. Hold the tip with the larger end away from you when piping the petals in a quick squeeze-and-release motion, pulling down as you release to form a teardrop. Add the centers of the flowers using open tip No. 4. Squeeze, release pressure, and gently twist the tip before releasing to form a rounded top. Use brown icing for the yellow daisies and yellow icing for the white daisies. Add other plastic ornaments, such as butterflies and pails of flowers to the top of the cake. Using leaf tip No. 67 and a sweeping motion, pipe white swags on the sides of the cake. Add a contrasting color to the center of the swag with tip No. 4. Finally, pipe white top and bottom shell borders using tip No. 32.
Dinosaurs are extremely popular, especially with boys, and this design featuring the creatures will add excitement to any child's party. Place a piece of cake on top of a half sheet forming a mountain. I added half of a 5-in. cake layer to create the mountain. Base ice the entire cake with white icing. Using an airbrush, create green grass, a blue lake and a brown, sandy mountain. Place plastic dinosaurs and trees on the top of the cake. Add tufts of green grass using tip No. 233. Pipe a white top border with star tip No. 22, and use a triple 'e,' reverse triple 'e' pattern. Use the same tip to add a bottom, white shell border. Sprinkle chocolate crumbs on the cake for "dirt" and to accent the borders. Pipe an appropriate message using open tip No. 3.
Cakes for school
A nice treat to suggest to customers to take to a child's pre-school party is the 8-in. cake and one dozen cupcake platter. Base ice an 8-in. cake layer in white icing. Place a plastic school bus topper on the cake, and add some vivid colored sugar dots along the bottom edge and top of the cake. Pipe a top shell border using tip No. 22 and several bright colors of icing. Ice the cupcakes using an open coupler, and smooth with a palette knife. Add a rosette of white icing with tip No. 22. Then, top the cupcake with crayon pics.
Many young children enjoy going to school, and the ruler cake is an excellent treat for the whole class to enjoy. Base ice a quarter sheet cake in white icing. Pipe a yellow ruler using tip No. 2B. Add an apple with an open tip No. 12, and smooth it with a palette knife. Pipe facial features on the apple with writing tips, and add the apple leaf with tip No. 352 or a cut parchment bag. Pipe the top white border using tip No. 87, which has a star design on one end and a rose tip on the other. Use this tip to pipe the border in the same motion as you would a shell border. Hold the rose tip end away from you to create a ruffled effect. Add a white bottom border using star tip No. 17 in a repeating 'el' motion and a pastry bag striped with red icing.
Merchandise children's products at their eye level. Children help their parents and other adults choose cupcakes, decorated cookies and cakes from the bakery. It makes sense to place these products where youngsters can see them.