How to decorate a cake at home with your own hands - simple and original photo decorating ideas for beginners

When the holidays come, we want to treat ourselves beloved, and at the same time and close family or friends. The most appropriate option would probably be to buy a cake for a large or not so large company.

But if your heart desires something that is not on the supermarket shelves, and you want to fool around with a miracle treat made of natural products by yourself, then you should ask for tips. And surely everything will turn out delicious and beautiful.

The most trendy decorations

The most popular in the outgoing year 2021 were pastries in which the main decorations were made of mastic, marzipan or icing.

From icing - the royal icing

Translated from English, "icing" has several meanings. The first means icing, the second means icing. In fact, this delicacy looks like an ice pattern and tastes very similar to the sweet crispy snow. This is how cakes for the monarchs were decorated in England.

Icing has good strength and adheres well to the surface of a solid, non-sticky base. It can be chocolate frosting or mastic. Icing is applied with a pastry syringe. Decorated dessert is placed in a cold place. Lace, ornaments, inscriptions and patterns look spectacular.

You will need products:

• powdered sugar - 0.5 kg;
• lemon juice - 1 tbsp;
• chicken egg - 3 pcs;
• glycerin - 1 tsp.

To prepare the icing you need to cool the ingredients. Separate the whites and whip, add glycerin, lemon juice and powder. Beat the mixture with a whisk until it increases in size and turns white. Cover the product with clingfilm and put in the fridge. After an hour, the royal icing is ready to use.

Made of mastic.

This is a kind of dough, which serves to decorate the dessert. It is used to make delicious figures of animals, cartoon characters, flowers, numbers, leaves and many different decorations. Unrolled colored layer can be completely covered with a layered billet, obtaining a beautiful flat surface.

Work with mastic should be vigorously, as it hardens quickly. When creating figures, you need to cut off the necessary part, and the remains should be removed into a plastic bag or film.

To prepare the mastic you will need:

• condensed milk - 200 g;
• powdered sugar - 150 g;
• cream or milk in powdered form - 150 g;
• food coloring.

Technology of preparation. In a convenient bowl, pour the cream and powder, mix, little by little adding milk and dye. Knead the dough; it should be pliable, but not sticking to your hands. If the mass crumbles, you need to add lemon juice and wrap the mastic in clingfilm. Store in a cold place.

Tip. Use water and a brush to fix the decorations. The details of the figures are better connected with egg white.

Marzipan

This flavor is a favorite, but still very interesting. Marzipan is a mixture of sugar syrup and ground almonds. To prepare the confectionery product is very simple. To do this, the nuts are slightly dried in the oven, peeled of the skin and ground into flour. You can use a blender, or better with a coffee grinder.

Next, you need to boil a thick syrup of granulated sugar and water in a ratio of 4:1. Pour the nut flour into it, mix and transfer it to a bowl pre-greased with butter.

The mass is cooled and put through a meat grinder to give a homogeneous consistency. If the mass is too thin, add powdered sugar. The mysterious marzipan is ready and you can make all sorts of shapes, just like with mastic.

Classic desserts

Nothing is more popular and timeless than the classics. It comes and stays, for a long time captivating consumers with its exquisite taste and harmony of simple natural products in a confectionery product.

With fruits and berries

At any time of the year, fruit decorating the cake looks beautiful and attractive. In addition, natural products are healthy, light and contain a lot of vitamins.

You can decorate the dessert with fruit in different ways, the most successful is a fan arrangement. Any fruit, sliced: mandarins, mangoes, strawberries will do. You can create a wonderful berry composition using both fresh and frozen foods.

Tip. When decorating a children's cake, arrange the decorations all over the surface, so that each cut piece has berries on it.

To make the fruit or berries stick firmly to the surface, you need to cover it with whipped cream, buttercream or make a jelly filling, for which you will need:

• light juice - 0.6 l;
• powdered sugar - 150-200 grams;
• Gelatin powder - 1 bag.

Pour the powder in 0.2 liters of juice. Prepare the existing fruits and berries. Apples and oranges cut into slices or half rings, kiwi and bananas - in circles, strawberries - in two parts.

Leave the small berries whole. Put the swollen gelatin on hot water. When all the granules dissolve completely, add the rest of the juice and powder, mix the mixture.

Tip. Do not bring gelatin to a boil - otherwise it will lose its properties.

Strain and pour the solution into a mold corresponding to the cake, put the prepared fruit, berries and put in the refrigerator. When the jelly sets, invert it onto the base and put it back in the cold place. The edges can be decorated with whipped cream or butter cream.

With whipped cream

Preparing such a cream does not require refined products, but the decoration turns out volumetric airy, smooth. To create ornaments and floral compositions, you need a confectioner's syringe. The composition of the cream:

• cream of high fat content (33% or more) - 0.5 liters;
• vanilla to taste;
• powdered sugar - 150-200 grams;
• gelatin - 1 packet;
• colorant.

The cream should be placed in the refrigerator for 8-9 hours. Dissolve the gelatin according to the instructions on the package. Pour the cream into a deep saucepan, which should be placed in a bowl with very cold water.

With a mixer, whip the milk product until it becomes thick. In small batches, add the powder and vanilla, stirring gently with a whisk. Slowly pour in the gelatin, slowly beating the mixture. The cream is ready for decoration.

With buttercream

This is a simple and very tasty decoration for dessert. There are many recipes for buttercream decoration. It is versatile in execution. From the cream, you can make any floral composition, perform an ornament or a strict geometric pattern, write a greeting. For this you will need a pastry bag and various nozzles.

For cooking we will need:

• butter - 0.1 kg;
• condensed milk - 5 tbsp;
• food coloring (preferably natural).

Beat the soft butter with a mixer until it turns white, add the milk and repeat the beating process. Divide into portions and add the coloring agent.

Tip. The higher the fat content of butter, the more voluminous and high-quality texture of the cream.

With chocolate

This component goes wonderfully with many confectionery products - biscuits, shortbread and puff pastry, a variety of creams. Melted chocolate takes any shape, and when it hardens, it forms original lasting compositions. Any chocolate is suitable for decorating the cake.

Ways to decorate:

1. Strings. You will need a four-sided grater, which will allow you to get differently shaped decorations. They are sprinkled on the confectionery.
2. Curls. It is necessary to warm a little chocolate bar. With a vegetable peeler or thin knife, cut thin strips, which themselves begin to curl. This will make a great decoration.
3. Chocolate-covered cherries. Take out the pit and dip the cherry in liquid chocolate, then decorate the cake.
4. Leaves. Cut, wash and dry the leaves of small houseplants. Brush them with melted chocolate and let set. Carefully remove from the leaf and decorate the cake.
5. Feathers. Pour the melted chocolate in a 3-5 cm strip on parchment. With a clean comb with fine teeth, draw from the middle of the long axis in both directions. Bend the paper slightly. It makes a light feather that is appropriate on any dessert.

With frosting

There are no fewer than eight recipes for frosting. The classic caramel with the composition:

• water warm - 160 g;
• starch - 2-3 tsp;
• sugar - 200 grams;
• High-fat cream - 150 grams;
• gelatin - sachet.

Soak the gelatin, stir the cream and starch, melt the sugar in a saucepan until amber in color. In warm water, pour the cream and sugar. Boil lightly, stirring constantly, until the caramel has dissolved. Cool the mixture, and add the gelatin. Using a wide knife, cover the base with the glaze and put it in a cold place to cool.

Decorating with confectionery

Candy, marmalade, cookies are the favorite treats of kids. Their eyes are drawn to the design of the dessert, and not the natural products that form the basis of the confectionery. Creative ways of decorating will delight children and create the atmosphere of a long-awaited holiday. Cakes can be decorated in several ways.

Candy.

You can use all kinds of confectionery except for candy. The surface on which the candy is spread should hold it in place. It can be whipped cream, sticky icing.

Ways to decorate:

• The sides of the dessert can be lined with chocolate bars or wafers. Kids will be happy with Kinder or KitKat bars. Fill the top of the cake with jelly beans, and M&M`S would be especially fun to look at;
• Small toffees are perfect for creating an ornament or lettering on a glazed surface. Treats like Raffaello, Ferrero Rocher, Oreo will attract attention and interest;
• Slices of any possible marmalade placed in a chaotic order on a white surface of whipped cream look simply amazing.

With sprinkles

To make a cake beautiful, you do not need to create complex decorations at all. It is quite enough to buy confectionery sprinkles at the store. Its shape is very diverse - from banal balls to flowers and butterflies in different shades.

Ways to decorate:

1. To decorate the side of the cake with sprinkles, you need to put it on a large napkin. Apply the goodies and gently press the crumbled remains together with the cloth. Take away the napkin.
2. Create a pattern on the surface: cover the cake with a prepared template (number, ornament, inscription), without leaning heavily. Sprinkle with sprinkles and remove the pattern.
3. Sprinkles should be used on a sticky surface. Decorate the dessert before the icing, cream or custard hardens.

A beautiful cake is not only a table decoration, but also a festive mood, the joy of childhood experiences, a charge of vivacity and vitality. For the sake of this, it is worth spending time and prepare a confectionery yourself.

Photo ideas for decorating cakes at home