Now is the perfect time to set yourself some caking goals to achieve during the year ahead. We’ve scoured Instagram and Pinterest to find our top ten new cake decorating techniques that we think are going to dominate 2020!
1. PRESSED FLOWERS
The pressed flower trend is so simple yet so striking. Simply decorate a plain white buttercream cake with either fresh or pressed edible flowers for a look that is perfect for a garden wedding!
This delicate style of piping thin, towering flowers up the sides of cakes has been gaining traction thanks to the likes of Alice and Rosa. This minimalist approach to buttercream flowers will transform a blank white cake into a beautiful English garden.
Similar to the spring style piped flowers, palette knife flowers are also made with buttercream but on a bigger scale. They are a great way to add texture to your cake, either in the flatter, oil painting style, or the 3D sculptural style Monica Cavallaro prefers which almost look like they were formed out of clay.
Continuing on with the palette knife painting style, the spatula or palette knife style of cake decorating uses coloured buttercream like big blobs of paint. The best thing about this technique is that you can put your own spin on it. Go for a minimal effect with just a section of small strokes or cover your entire cake like an oil painting!
After he made the fault line cake world famous, By.Aletoso has moved onto faux velvet cakes, but with one twist - his aren’t made with sprayed cocoa. To be honest, we’re not exactly sure how he creates his faux velvet effect but we’re looking forward to his class in August to find out!
Our favourite thing about stencil cakes is that they can be used to create a striking pattern when contrasting colours are used, or a subtle texture effect when used with the same colour icing for the perfect minimalist cake. Try out some of our new Caking It Up stencils for a quick and easy way to elevate your cakes to that next level.
Sheet cakes used to be hidden in the back of the kitchen, sliced up and served after the pretty cake had been cut, but no more! These sheet cakes are too pretty to be hidden away and they are perfect for relaxed parties where you don’t want to fuss around slicing up a multi-tiered creation.
Sprinkles have been reinvented in the last few years with brands like Sprinkle Pop and Sprinks coming out with gorgeous sprinkle mixes. Challenge yourself this year by getting creative with your sprinkles - whether you use them in a fault line cake or painstakingly place them perfectly around your cake in a sprinkle ombre effect.
Once a term reserved for the fancy stationery effect or rough and uncut paper edges the ‘Deckle’ effect has been making its way into the caking world for some time now. We think this year is the perfect year to give it a go. Think of it as the fault line’s more elegant cousin - it uses a similar technique when done with buttercream and also looks stunning with the edges painted lightly with metallic paint. You can also achieve this look with wafer paper or roughly cut fondant.
Whether it’s just a splash of colour around the bottom of an all white fondant cake, or an ombre watercolour effect made from the buttercream itself, the hand-painted strokes of airy colours will make your cake look like a masterpiece too pretty to cut!