cake ideas

Cake Ideas and where to Browse on Wilton

I recently confirmed my subscription to the Wilton newsletter online. When it did that, there was a page that popped up that had links in it not only to take you to a page for cake ideas, but also cupcakes, cookies, candy, fondant, and Wilton classes. I thought I would share those links with you here just for a quicker way for you to find what you are looking for:

http://www.wilton.com/ideas/browse.cfm?cat=Cakes

http://www.wilton.com/ideas/browse.cfm?cat=Cupcakes

http://www.wilton.com/ideas/browse.cfm?cat=Cookies

http://www.wilton.com/ideas/browse.cfm?cat=Candies

http://www.wilton.com/decorating/fondant/

http://www.wilton.com/classes/local_classes.cfm

I hope these links will assist you in finding cake decorating ideas that you might be searching for – or any of the other topics included.

Be sure to sign up for our FREE eBook “Cake Decorating: How To Go From Beginner To Expert” by subscribing to our FREE Monthly Bulletin at the top of the right side about decorating cakes, and to receive contest notifications, recipes, and cake ideas.

Cake Ideas – Preparing for the Graduation Cake Rush

Cake ideas start coming around in May for 8th grade promotions and high school and college graduations. This is one time of year when everyone seems to want their cakes on the same day or couple of days. This definitely takes some planning and preparation. The last few years, I have had orders for 25 or more cakes to be done in about 3 days. The first time I had that many orders, I baked and decorated a certain number of cakes per day – till exhaustion, with only 4 or 5 hours of sleep between. The next year, I did it with a whole new routine. The week before all the cakes were needing to be decorated, all the cakes were baked and stuck in the freezer, and many batches of decorators icing were mixed up and put in the refrigerator. Then the week prior to the graduations, the number of cakes to be decorated each day (usually 6 or 7) were taken out of the freezer the night before. That way it was just a matter of decorating cakes for the day and no baking was involved. That made things go so much smoother! It's much easier to concentrate on one thing at a time, like either baking OR decorating – not both 😉 So how do you prepare the cake for freezing? In one of my earlier posts, I explained how I line my cake pans with waxed paper before baking. Once baked and cooled, I dump the cake out on the waxed cardboard and leave that waxed paper on them to seal them for freezing. I also have 1/4" boards I put under those cardboards to help support the cake to keep it from splitting. I then insert the whole thing – cake, cardboard, and 1/4" board into a white unscented 13 gallon tall kitchen trash bag and seal it up. This helps protect the cake in the freezer. Pull the cake out of the freezer the night before and let it thaw in the bag overnight. This is also the time to set the frosting out of the refrigerator so it will be softer for spreading the next day. The next morning, take the cake out of the bag and remove the waxed paper from the cake. This whole process has kept the moisture sealed in the cake. Doing cakes for graduation if you have several orders can be a little stressful, but if you can establish a routine that works for you, it will go much smoother. If you have any other cake decorating ideas for the graduation rush, please feel free to post them here as a comment to share with others.

Cake Ideas – Easter Cakes

Cake ideas start "hopping" when it's Easter. What are some cake decorating ideas for that special holiday? Easter is known for its soft pastel and spring colors. So what about the cake itself? Good choices are white, pink (strawberry or cherry chip), yellow, rainbow chip, or a white mix with food coloring added to make a noteworthy appeal – like baby blue or mint green. There are several pans out there: bunny, egg, cross, or lamb. These all make very nice looking cakes, but can require some time to get them done for sure, as you can see from the pictures below.

We had an order for an Easter cake and since it was our 27th wedding anniversary on the day I needed to make it, I didn't have too much time to put in to it. This is where the edible image cake came in very handy! Bake the cake, put some frosting on, smooth it, apply the edible cake image, put trim around the top and bottom edge, and presto – an Easter cake that will thrill any little kid!

Easter bunny cake

Of course the cake can always be trimmed out with Easter candy or decorations of some sort to just put on that little finishing touch. Just let those cake ideas hop!

Cake Ideas – St. Patrick’s Day Cakes

Cake Ideas for St. Patrick's Day are generally geared towards something green. The cake itself can be made green by adding green food coloring to a white cake mix. When applying the icing, it can be frosted in green or frosted in white and then trimmed with green. Of course there are a few cake pans out there that can be used for the holiday theme. There is a Care Bear pan, a shamrock pan and a horseshoe pan, of which the latter can be turned the one way to look like a good luck Irish horseshoe and turned the other to make a rainbow where you can find the pot of gold. To accent the cake, gold, foil-wrapped coin candy can be scattered around the base of the cake to make it look like someone got into the pot of gold.

There are also gold sprinkles or shamrock confetti that can be added for a little glitter or glamour when decorating cakes.

Sometimes little trinkets for St. Patrick's Day can be found to add to the cake or placed on top of cupcakes that are baked in gold foil cupcake papers.

Maybe you are of primary Irish descent or at least can trace your lineage back to include some of it in your ancestry. Keep the Irish event as a tribute to your family history by celebrating this sometimes almost overlooked holiday. Have fun with it and even put up St. Patrick's Day party decorations. But most of all, remember to wear green so you don't get pinched!

Cake Ideas – Using Coconut Flour vs. Wheat Flour

We know there are a lot of people out there who are allergic to wheat flour and the products made from it. Since one of the main ingredients in cake is flour, it stands to reason that many people are not able to enjoy eating cake because of these allergies. After hearing a lady comment that the cake looked so good, but she just could not eat it, we knew there had to be something out there. She asked me if I knew anything about coconut flour. I had to admit I had not even heard about it. So I did some research on the product. Many people who are allergic to wheat have no problem with the coconut flour at all. Granted, it is more expensive, but isn't it worth being able to have a piece of cake now and then instead of not at all? 😉 In our research, we found a company that offers the coconut flour at the most reasonable price when we compared them. This company has many health food related products that we would like to encourage you to check out while you are there that may also assist you in any other areas of your life. There are two ways you can actually find the coconut flour. 1.) Simply click on the coconut flour picture below to go in to the store. There is a blue bar across the top, and in the middle it says to select a product category. Click on the down arrow and select baking products. It will ask you to refine your search further. Click on Gluten Free. At the very top of the list of products you will see item #274-0001. Click on the word Coconut Flour beside it. 2. Or when you are at the blue bar, use the 'search' function at the right and type in the product code of 274-0001and it will be the first product brought up. Just click on the words 'Coconut Flour.' Either way, this will take you to the page where you can read all about the flour and it also gives the nutritional information if you scroll down the page a ways.

Now what good is that coconut flour if you don't have a recipe book to go along with it so you can know how to use it to the best advantage? Well, we have solved that for you too. We did some more research and found you a cookbook!

We hope you will be able to use these products for you or those you love so that those with wheat allergies will be able to "Have their cake and eat it too!"