Cupcake decorating tool kits

Cut a piece of parchment paper not wax paper to fit in the bottom of your cake pan before pouring in the batter, and the baked cake will slip out much more easily. Before getting into the tools you need to decorate a cake, it helps to know the differences between icing, frosting, and fondant. All have their uses when decorating baked goods.

Icing is a fairly thin mixture of a liquid — egg whites, milk, and water are all possible ingredients — and confectioners sugar, along with food coloring to tint the mixture as desired. Once dry, it remains glossy. Frosting is thick and fluffy, so it easily forms into peaks or swirls on a cake. The base is mixed with confectioners sugar, along with any desired food coloring and flavor. The most basic way to decorate a cake is to cover the surface with frosting.

There are many different tools to accomplish the task. Cake board or drum : Most often made of heavy cardboard, and sometimes covered with foil, every cake sits on a cake board. It gives the dessert a firm support so you can pick up and transport the cake without it falling apart.

A cake drum is a sturdier cake board used to support heavy or multi-tiered cakes. Off-set spatula : A long, thin spatula with an angled shape, this tool is a must for smoothing frosting over the top and sides of your cake. Fondant rollers : Available in large and small sizes, bakers use these to roll the fondant out into a thin sheet prior to laying it over the cake or cutting out shapes.

Piping bags : Disposable bags are plastic; reusable bags are generally cloth. Either way, icing fills the bag, which has a small opening at the pointed end covered by an icing tip. Icing tips : Available in a huge range of shapes and sizes, these metal cones attach to the end of the icing bag.

As the baker slowly squeezes the icing through the tip, it shapes the icing or frosting into the desired shape to decorate the cake. Some of the most popular icing tips include the following:. Most cake decorating kits include a variety of piping tips and icing bags. Kits geared toward beginners can include many other essentials, too, including a cake turntable and various icing smoothers and spatulas. If you plan to create elaborate designs, or you really enjoy baking cakes, choose an advanced kit with a wider range of icing tips.

Most cake decorating kits include a storage box to neatly organize your supplies. Let the cake cool before decorating. Let your cake cool for 15 minutes before releasing it from the pan, and then let it continue to cool to room temperature. Practice your design. Two-thirds full is ideal for the best control. Use a toothpick to trace out words. Once your cake is frosted, use a toothpick to write any desired words on the top. Then pipe icing over the lines with a round icing tip.

Try cookie cutters. You can also gently press cookie cutters into the frosting to lay out a design before squeezing on the icing. Try stencils for more elaborate designs. A plastic cake stencil makes decorating a breeze. Instead of paint, you fill in the design with icing. Try a spoon. Create swirls and scallops in the frosting with the back of a spoon. For most beginners, a kit is the easiest and most economical way to gather up the basic cake decorating supplies.

Lightly cover the entire cake with buttercream frosting. This gives the fondant a surface to grip. Refrigerate the cake for 30 minutes to stiffen the buttercream. While the cake cools, spread powdered sugar over your work area, and use a fondant roller to press out a fondant circle sized to fit over the top and sides of your cake. Powder the fondant roller, and very gently fold the edges of the fondant over the roller to lift it up without breaking it.

Smooth the fondant around the cake with your fingers. Start at the top of the cake and work down the sides, smoothing away any creases, air bubbles, or folds as you work.

Use a sharp knife to cut away any excess fondant. The best icing tips are made of stainless steel or nickel-plated brass. Keep them in good condition by washing them right away after every use in warm, soapy water. Use a small brush to remove any stuck bits of icing, and let the tips air-dry. Store your icing tips upright to protect them from dents or scratches.

BestReviews spends thousands of hours researching, analyzing, and testing products to recommend the best picks for most consumers. We only make money if you purchase a product through our links, and all opinions about the products are our own. Read more. The larger and more elaborate your cakes get, the more substantial your cake-making equipment will get. Ateco is a trusted name in bakeries and professional pastry kitchens everywhere.

The inch aluminum turntable provides the same smooth ball-bearing rotation that the higher-end cast iron model offers, at a fraction of the weight and price.

This cake stand includes a non-slip silicone base and easily wipes clean after frosting. Includes: 1 inch Aluminum Cake Turntable. Many years ago, cake scrapers were only available in small triangular or fluted patterns—and were generally considered to be an amateur method of finishing the side of a cake quickly without worrying about a perfectly smooth buttercream finish.

Not anymore. Cake scrapers, sometimes referred to as cake combs, have been reimagined to create large and beautiful sculptural effects on cakes that reach for the sky. This set of six acrylic cake scrapers will have you creating viral social media cakes in no time flat. Five of the scrapers are double-sided, with ten different comb options. The sixth scraper is flat on both sides to help you perfect those beautiful smooth cakes that are next to impossible to create with an offset spatula alone.

Each scraper is nearly 9. While the acrylic is thick and durable enough to be cleaned in the dishwasher, the cake scrapers are easily washed with warm soapy water by hand. Includes: 6 cake scrapers — 5 with patterns on each side for 10 total patterns, and 1 straight scraper.

I like the different tooth thickness options for making a strip cake, and appreciate the extra height for tall cakes. The scraper needs to be rinsed off while using to maintain a smooth frosting finish. A little more advanced or have a little more money to spend? By Jenny Kellerhals. Most people start with piping tips, which are used with piping bags. Piping skills are at the core of professional decorating projects, and when mastered, will be useful far beyond cakes and cupcakes.

From star-tipped cake borders to hand-piped roses, a set of pastry tips with different styles and sizes allows you to experiment with countless designs. Couplers are two-piece plastic attachments to piping bags that allow you to easily switch the tip on a bag of frosting without emptying the bag.

For cake designs that involve several different tips for decorating, couplers are incredibly convenient. A cake comb sometimes called a scraper is also an essential tool for a smoothly rounded cake.

Some struggle to smooth the sides of a cake with a metal spatula, but a cake comb makes very quick work of it. Several cake combs have textured edges as well as a smooth edge for a variety of buttercream patterns. Metal spatulas are narrow and long and come in several different sizes and two different basic styles. Larger metal spatulas are used for smoothing the frosting on the top of the cake, cleaning up edges, and lifting the cake off the board or stand.

Smaller spatulas are used for detail work, smoothing out smaller portions of frosting, and picking up or placing decorative features on the cake.

Metal spatulas come both flat and offset. Try out both and see which style is more comfortable to hold while you work. Making an even buttercream frosting is the first skill to master when beginning cake decorating as a foundation for building the rest of the cake design.

Instead of buttercream decorations, you may choose to wrap your cake in fondant for sculptural, pristinely smooth, or hand-painted finishes. It then gets smoothed out with a smoothing tool that helps get rid of air bubbles and fits the fondant over every curve and into every crease of the cake. Hand tools that help shape, slice, and texturize both fondant and gum paste are used to make figurines and floral decorations for your cakes. Cutters are available to easily create multiple petal shapes in large quantities.

For those who plan to use fondant often, there are plastic mats and rolling pins to make sheeting fondant easier. Many of the tools included in your cake decorating tool kit will last you for years to come, including the piping tips, spatulas, and couplers. Things like piping bags, cupcake liners, and any edible decorations are generally one-time use tools.

Replacements can often be found at grocery stores, as well as craft stores and, of course, cake and baking supply stores and online. There are options for those interested in a more sustainable toolkit for multi-use versions of these tools.

Disposable piping bags are convenient and make multi-frosting colors in a single project easy to handle, but polyester and silicone piping bags can be washed and reused many times with less waste. These reusable bags come in a variety of sizes and can also be used with couplers. Disposable paper baking cups can also be replaced with silicone cupcake liners for multiple uses. The silicone liners are brightly colored and help make your cupcakes look picture-perfect, but may not all come back to you if taken to a party or accidentally tossed in the trash after use.

Many tools come in both plastic and metal choices, with the plastic tools typically being the less expensive option. Both metal and plastic piping tips will last you years if washed and stored properly, but each have their different advantages.

Metal tips provide a sharper and cleaner piping pattern and usually come in a larger range of sizes and styles. If stored improperly, the tips or round body may be bent, making them slightly more difficult to use. Plastic tips will not bend easily, but often do not provide a crisp professional-looking piping pattern. Their sizes and styles are limited. Spatulas and fondant hand tools also come in both metal and plastic choices. Metal or wood hand tools will last much longer than their plastic counterparts, but can be slightly heavier to use compared to the nearly weightless feeling of plastic hand tools.

Some plastic fondant and gum paste tools also come in a wider variety of shapes to help you mold and texturize your projects. While not absolutely necessary, there are a few more tools that will make your cake decorating projects easier and more enjoyable.

A cake leveler is useful for those just starting out building cakes or for bakers who want a precision slice every time. While professional bakers use long serrated knives to slice their cakes into even layers, it takes practice to remove a cake top in one even motion by eye alone. You simply pull the wire through your cake for a smooth, clean cut, which helps you to build your cake without the hassle of uneven layers. A cake turntable will save you the stress of working around the sides of your cake, as the platter rotates on top of the stand bringing every side of the cake to you.

Used in conjunction with a cake comb, you can have perfectly frosted cakes in minutes. Your hands and arms will thank you for saving them the extra stretching.

While some people build their cakes directly on a turntable, most people build their cakes on a cake board placed on the turntable.

A cake board is a circular piece of cardboard or foam, sometimes coated or covered with a colorful foil, that makes it easy to pick up and transport your cake with a little more support. A piping bag stand, like the Wilton Cake Decorating Bag Holder, will keep your work area tidy and your different frostings all in one place to streamline your project. A kit that comes with a piping and frosting guide can also be helpful. Most common cake decorating tools are inexpensive individually but can add up quickly when buying dozens of items at a time.

Larger kits like the Wilton Ultimate Cake Decorating Tools Set save you shopping time and money since all of those tools sold individually would likely cost more than the bundled price. If your interest in cake decorating is expansive, a larger kit is absolutely worth the price. A beginner set of cake decorating tools is a great place to start for those getting their hands dirty for the first time, or for younger bakers who want to explore baking as a hobby.

Typically lower-priced, these kits are made with plastic tools, a small selection of metal or plastic piping tips, and a few disposable piping bags. Some may include a few additional tools like spatulas or cake combs to help you achieve satisfying results. A step up in quality, most baking and decorating tools fall into this category. Reasonably priced, professionals and home bakers alike stock up on multiple sets of piping tips and hand tools for both buttercream and fondant work.

Stencils and leaf or petal cutter sets are still economically priced, but silicone molds and customized edible decorations can become more expensive. Silicone spatulas and whisks come in a variety of colors to match the color palette of your kitchen without sacrificing sturdiness. Professional tools tend to be heavier-duty, occasionally larger, and more expensive. At this level, most hand tools are metal with wooden or heavy-duty, heat-safe plastic handles.

Brands like Ateco and Wilton provide a wider range of larger and more custom tools for decorating. In this category are also sturdier cake pans, ranging in size from 3 to 16 inches or larger. Wilton cake tools have been a staple of creative home bakers for decades, providing character cake pans, tips, tools, chocolate molds, ingredients, food colors, and even cake decorating classes at craft supply stores before television shows made extreme cake decorating popular.

As an authority in the baking industry, the very large line of Wilton tools are widely available and tailored to be easily used by home bakers and professionals alike. Each kit comes with actual kitchen tools, built for real cooking and baking projects. Nordic Ware is known for its molded cake pans in beautiful designs, made with high-quality and long-lasting materials.

Inventors of the original Bundt pan, decorative cakes have been the brand's signature for over 70 years. With a wide line of products that now includes attractive and sturdy baking and cooking tools, as well as kitchenware and professional baking equipment, Nordic Ware products are incredibly reliable at accessible prices.

Most of the Nordic Ware products are also designed and manufactured in the U. Ateco is a brand of professional baking and pastry supplies, although most of their commonly used products are readily available at kitchen and baking supply stores, and conveniently priced for anyone.

Home bakers will find Ateco decorating sets, as well as round and shaped cutter sets, and the sturdy hand tools selection to be a huge convenience in the kitchen. Some larger pieces included in kits may be machine-washable, but most of the smaller pieces should be washed by hand to avoid damage or getting lost in the dishwasher.

Warm soapy water gets the job done, but if tools are especially oily or buttery, rinse and soak tips and tools in very hot water for 10 minutes to loosen the oils. Pastry tips will keep safe from damage in a small toolbox or case provided by the manufacturer. Make sure they are completely washed and dried before storing to avoid rusting.

Reusable piping bags should be thoroughly washed inside out and left to air dry completely before storing to avoid molding. Experimentation is part of the fun, so choose sturdier versions of the tools you have and tools you may not have for different decorating techniques. To really develop your decorating skills, you may graduate to luster dusts and metallic accents, or even invest in an airbrush for creative fondant cakes.

Cake decorating supplies are more popular and accessible due to the rising trend of creative cakes. Colored fondants, custom silicone molds, and professional cake pans are all within your grasp. Karen Resta is a writer specializing in food culture and history, cooking, pastries, and restaurants. She's also a former pastry chef and has traveled to Budapest, Kyiv, and Paris during their Fashion Weeks as a photographer and writer, always finding the best authentic pastries along the way.

She now spends a lot of her free time baking at home and recommends quality within your given budget. Having the right tools available and knowing how to use them well it can take practice, like anything else makes all the difference, and she curated this list with that in mind.