With Valentines Day quickly approaching, I wanted to share with you three super easy, super fun, and totally do-able techniques.

Seriously, even my hubby can do these.

And you can too!  These are very basic, very simple designs that have a wow factor.  It looks like you have spent lots and lots of time but in reality, it takes less than 15 minutes!

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Want to learn how?

All you need is a few tools.  These are readily available at your local craft store.

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I used a disposable pastry bag with a #5 tip and a nine-inch offset spatula.  You can certainly improvise and use a plastic baggy and knife if you want too!

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We will start with our cake.  This is a white cake with the BEST BUTTERCREAM FROSTING EVER tinted a fun sweetheart lovey-dovey shade of pink.  (will post the recipe at the end)

I did a crumb coat (or dirty iced it) then did another coat of frosting and smoothed it out.  You don’t have to worry about perfection here… if there are wholes or bumps, we can cover them with our design!

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When making a dot cake you can make very precise uniform dots that have a very specific pattern.  Or, if you are anything like me, you want to hurry up and decorate this thing so you can catch the end of your favorite TV show.

Hence, random dots.  Just place them any-old-where.

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I got a little crazy with my dots.  If you want perfectly uniform dots you can do that too… just takes a few seconds more of your time and concentration.

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I also added some smaller dots to fill in the space.  Then a little border around the bottom.

You could re-create this cake in many ways if you wanted to personalize your Valentines Day treat.  How about white with red dots?  Or chocolate with white and red dots?

I might have to make one like that next year!

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Next up is the very technical and absolute term of “squiggly lines”.

For this, we will also be using the disposable pastry bag and #5 tip.

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Start out with any random ole pattern.  Then just build around it!  I made one solid shape here, then sorta just squiggled my frosting all around it.

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Can you see the original shape?  Fun huh?  Now just keep going around the whole cake!

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And now for our last design!

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Start out with a cake that has been crumb coated.  You can see that this is a rough stage and shows lots of crumbs and cake through the frosting.  That’s ok!

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Create a generous layer of frosting around the cake.

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Once you get a nice thick layer on, gently smooth the frosting so you have a flat surface.  You will be removing the excess frosting, but not too much!

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Place your spatula flat against the cake, then gently move up, applying even pressure.

For the next row, place the spatula on the line you have created making sure to overlap.

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Do this all the way around the cake.

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Until you have this.  Pretty cool huh?

Three Easy Cake Decorating Ideas

And remember that super amazing buttercream frosting recipe?  Be warned… this is the sweet stuff.  Like, ridiculously sweet.  I just happen to be a fan of that.

THE BEST BUTTERCREAM

2 cups shortening
8 cups confectioner’s sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon clear imitation vanilla extract
6 fluid ounces heavy cream
In a large bowl, cream shortening with mixer until fluffy.  Add confectioners sugar (2 cups at a time) until well blended.  If the frosting gets to thick at any time you can add some of your heavy cream.
Add salt, vanilla, and heavy cream and blend until combined, then blend on high until frosting is light and fluffy.  If you need to add additional cream you can. (up to 2 tablespoons)
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You should end up with this amazingly luscious delectable stuff.  Well.  If you added pink food coloring that is.
Also, this was enough frosting to cover all my cakes, so I would recommend halving it.
Now go forth and bake!  And then, go forth and decorate!

Share with your friends!

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Meet Amanda Rettke

Amanda Rettke is the creator of I Am Baker, and the bestselling author of Surprise Inside Cakes: Amazing Cakes for Every Occasion – With a Little Something Extra Inside.Over the course of her 15+ year blogging adventure, she has been featured in and collaborated with the Food Network, New York Times, LA Times, Country Living Magazine, People Magazine, Epicurious, Brides, Romantic Homes, life:beautiful, Publishers Weekly, The Daily Mail, Star Tribune, The Globe and Mail, DailyCandy, YumSugar, The Knot, The Kitchn, and Parade, to name a few.

Reader Comments

  1. I’ve done these designs myself, but woman, you make it look so easy! wonderful tutorial…I imagine there will be lots of great looking Valentine’s Day cakes thanks to you!

  2. I was Internet-less for days and days and missed your giveaway! I had the perfect name! Maximillian. Well I love love the cakes (as always in-love with everything I see on here). Thanks for awesome ideas. NO THANKS though for the extra 4 lbs since stumbling on your site! Lol

  3. Gorgeous pink cakes! I love the vertical spatula technique for the icing on the 3rd cake!

  4. So, I’ve been watching “The Story of Us” from the History Channel. It’s basically a general overview of US History. Anyway, I couldn’t help but see your polka dot cake as an example of the small pox disease. 🙂 Ha! Please don’t take offense. I love it, and I’ll probably do it sometime. 🙂 Thanks for sharing these easy ones!!!!

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