Several years ago I took a cake decorating class. It was a wonderful experience where I learned many tricks---tips that I now use on creating your toppers!---but one of the most important things I was taught was how to frost a cake...
My instructor placed the cake on a turntable and showed us two methods for frosting a cake: 1 using a
bent spatula, and the other using a special cake icing tip...
I have to confess, I like to take the easy route and when I saw that you could fill a bag with frosting and essentially squeeze out the frosting in three easy steps
I knew this was the method for me! I had watched my instructor get her cakes beautifully frosted in a matter of minutes and it looked easy enough. I was confident I could do the same. So I went out and bought tip #789, baked my cake, let it cool, leveled it, placed it on a cake board, and put it on my turntable for a "quick" frosting -- HA! Instead of smooth, straight lines of frosting that covered the sides of the cake evenly, my lines spiked and dipped like a electrocardiograph monitor in an emergency room.
What I forgot is that the instructor has YEARS of experience and what took her just a couple of minutes to do BEAUTIFULLY, took me too many minutes to confess here.
A similar experience has happened to many of you, as well---you have a beautiful idea in mind, you assemble the right tools, but before you know it you have a full-scale disaster on your hands!
Here is a quick and easy guide to turn your humdrum cake into a spectacular safari---no disaster necessary!
To create the cake (as pictured at the top of the post), you will need several items:
A delicious cake
A
palm tree (or two, depending on the size of your cake)*
A set of
rocks*
Some
leaves*
Once you have frosted your cake (usually with green or brown frosting), place the animals and accessories on top of the cake (as pictured below).
When complete, you will have a safari cake that nobody can resist!
Happy styling!
