What can I use to create different designs on cakes?

They are the masterpieces of most bakeries. They ornately grace the shelves of many supermarket bakeries. And they add to the wonder and excitement of simple celebrations—whether homemade or made from a boxed cake mix—that are prepared and served at home. Decorated cakes bring delight to the eye as well as the palate, when turned into works of art by masterful means of adornment. From children’s birthday cakes to elegant wedding cakes, these decorated, tasty confections require a few supplies and a bit of practice. They needn’t be procured from expensive bakeries or even grocery store display cases. It is possible to create sophisticated decorated cakes from within your very own kitchen. It’s important to start with a few basic cake decorating supplies. Jennifer Bartos is the owner and operator of a business called the All in One Bake Shop. An expert in baking supplies, she makes the following suggestions. “Butter cream icing is probably the most popular of all cake icings here in the United States,” she says. “It’s pretty much considered the standardized frosting to use when decorating cakes.” Although some grocery stores carry canned butter cream frosting, nothing quite compares to a simple, homemade version. Recipes for butter cream frosting are available in nearly every basic cookbook, practically every cake cook book, and at literally hundreds of sites on the Internet. Practice making the butter cream frosting until it reaches the perfect consistency for decorating. It needs to be fairly stiff, but still must create a smooth finish when spread on a cake. Bartos is a strong believer in pastry bags and decorating tips. “Put your butter cream frosting into the pastry bag, then select the tip you wish to use. It’s the tip that you squeeze the icing through that actually makes the different designs on cakes,” she says. “My store carries about 150 different kinds of cake decorating tips, but there are actually about 500 different tips you could buy for use with butter cream icing.” A beginner baker should start by investing in ten standard baking tips. Included in this collection of tips are a variety of different sized round tips, star shaped tips, ruffle tips, leaf tips and petal tips. Petal tips are used to make flowers. “I absolutely recommend a good assortment of petal tips,” Bartos says. “They really help set your cake apart and really make it look unique.” Bakers should start by making sure the cake they’ll be decorating has been completely cooled on a wire rack. Simply cooling the cake on a counter top or in the pans doesn’t allow the right kind of air circulation required to fully cool each layer. Ice the cake smoothly with a spatula. The spatula can be a rubber or plastic type—or the tried and true stainless steel versions. Start over-piping the icing with butter cream frosting, creating beautiful and ornate decorations. “Being able to add things like “Happy Birthday” or “Congratulations” to your cake in very nice handwriting makes any beginner cake decorator look even more advanced in baking skills,” Bartos says. As with any precise skill, practice makes perfect. Most bakers practice making flowers, designs and writing salutations on wax paper or cardboard several times, before actually putting their art where it belongs—atop a beautiful baked and frosted cake.