As parties become more extravagant, customers are wanting larger cakes for birthdays and other celebrations. Tiered cakes give customers both the showpiece they desire and the servings they require for large parties. The actual cake design can be very elaborate or fairly simple, depending on what customers are willing to pay. Here are two examples of simple designs that deliver fun, unique cakes to your customers without creating a backup in your decorating department. Both designs work well for any occasion; the lady bug cake is geared toward a younger demographic, and the pink swirl cake is ideal for any age group.
| 1. For a girl’s all-occasion cake, ice an 8-in. round and a 6-in. round with chocolate icing, and stack them. Use tip No. 2 to pipe pink swirls on the bottom tier. |
| 2. On the top tier, pipe pink dots with tip No. 2 |
| 3. For bottom borders of each tier, use tip No. 6 to pipe pink dot borders. Add an appropriate message on the top tier with tip No. 00, and place a ribbon bow on top of the cake. |
| 1. For a lady bug cake, stack an iced 6-in. square on top of an iced 10-in. round. Use tip No. 1 and pink icing to pipe an appropriate message on the bottom tier. With tip No. 1, add green dots to the letters to accent them. | 2. With tip No. 5, pipe large green polka dots on the bottom tier, and flatten the icing into larger circles. Use tip No. 6 to pipe pink polka dots, and flatten them as well. Pipe a bubble bottom border on both tiers with tip No. 5 and green icing. |
| 3. On the sides of the square tier, pipe large pink dots with tip No. 6 for the bodies of several lady bugs. Do not flatten. Then, add several green polka dots with tip No. 5, and flatten. | 4. Using an open coupler, pipe a large bulb of icing on top of the cake for a large lady bug’s body. With tip No. 5, add lighter pink heads to both the large lady bug and the smaller ones on the sides of the cake. Add yellow dots to all of the lady bugs’ bodies with tip No. 1, and flatten the yellow dots. |
| 5. With tip No. 2, pipe two dark pink antennae on top of each lady bug’s head. Add white eyes with tip No. 1, and then pipe black pupils with tip No. 00. | 6. Finish the design by piping a heart shaped mouth on the large lady bug with a small tip, and sprinkle glitter on top of the square tier. |