Listen parents, there are other way to make your children’s birthday cake special. You can bake your own cake and decorate it as to what hearts desires. The celebrant will feel so important that you spend your time and effort for your children’s cake. And importantly it is the most practical way to save money.

If you are a beginner in cake baking and decorating you must have these following tools in your kitchen.

* Piping bags – this are use to put the icing you will use in decorating. You will find it easily in stores. It comes in three sizes; 8,12, and 18 inches. You may use also zip-lock bags and disposable plastic bags.

* Couplers – this are put at the tips of the piping bags and held in place by coupling nozzles. This will give you to choose different tips you needed in decorating your cake.

* Rubber spatulas – This is used to scrape cake and frosting bowls. It is flexible to totally utilize its used.

* Metal Spatulas – You should have the large and small angled one. These metal spatulas are used to spread the frosting to your cake. For thin layer of frosting the small angled metal spatula would be needed. Now you can spread on a normal layer of frosting because crumbling of the cake is prevented.

* Food coloring – It should be a paste, gel, or powder that is much concentrated than the liquid food coloring and it won’t cause to thin the icing.

Put your ingredients at room temperature for easy mixing. It’s better you had an electric bitter, to remove all possible lumps. Don’t start decorating if your cake is still warm. You may cool your cakes by inverting it into a wire rack. Don’t forget this otherwise the outcome decoration is not that what you want.

Remember that the bottom of the cake is much smoother and best to use as the top of the cake, decorate it with icing. Since you want to save money it is better to use large piece of stiff cardboard. To prevent it from smearing, you may put cut up strips of waxes paper under the cake. You can use colored foils to make it more impressive cake board. After you’ve done decorating pull gently the cut up strips.

The heart of a lovely cake starts with the icing. The secret lies in having that smooth base by covering the cooled cake with a light coat of frosting. The crumb layer, as we call the light frosting coat, helps spreading the icing easier. If you plan to spread another layer of icing, it is best to put the cake first into the refrigerator before putting the second layer.

The best cake decorating technique in applying butter icing or frosting is to have a large scoop of the icing in the center. Using a spatula spread the icing towards the edge. Metal spatula has smoother results than plastic spatula. After covering the top, next is to put icing on the sides. This may look slightly difficult and the cake decorating technique to get this job done is to have the spatula stand straight up against the side and spin the cake to spread the dollop of icing. It is easier to have it that way than to move the spatula around the cake.

Your goal is to have a smooth icing – the smoother, the better. Another cake decorating technique to ensure a smooth icing is to use a metal spatula, dip it in hot water, dry it then smooth it over the cake one more time. This only applies to metal spatula. This gives you a professionally decorated cake.

After having the cake iced, it’s time to add more decorations to personalize the cake. Some prefer to have ready-made decorations because they feel that making their own decorations is tiring and difficult. Well, here are cake decorating techniques that are easy to follow which allows you to create your own decorations.

Flowers are the usual decorations used on cakes and roses are the most common and favorite among them. Here are two different ways of creating these beautiful roses on your cake.

One is to use a rectangular colored fondant icing. Roll the icing into a tube then pinch one end making the other end open up. The first method however doesn’t give you the traditional roses that you might be expecting.

The second technique requires more procedure but gives you a realistic rose. Roll a little colored fondant into a perfect ball then flatten it using your thumb and index finger. This becomes your petal. Continue doing this and wrap your petals, having the thicker end of the petals go to the bottom while the thinner ones at the top. You can have three roses grouped and placed on the cake’s corners for a lovely effect.

Making your own roses gives you the control on how big or small you want them to be depending on the size that you need.

Making cakes look beautiful is easy with these cake decorating techniques. However, it can only go as far as your imagination and skills can get you. If you happen to have other creative cake designs but do not know how to make them, you can enroll in cake decorating classes or in training resources available online. Who knows, you might impress all your guests in your next celebration or be the next cake decorating master and start a business from it.

Cake toppers are attractive and delicious way of decorating your cakes. And since most cakes are use for birthday celebrations, there are a variety of birthday cake toppers that you can come up with.

If you have decided to get your cake decorating hobby up one notch and do business out of it, you have to get updated with the latest style, freshest look and newest craze when it comes to birthday cake toppers by checking out magazines. There is a wide variety of designs that you can choose from to use or inspire you to make your own. Most of these birthday cake toppers can also be classified base on the gender of the celebrant, the age and even interests of the celebrant. So it is important that you update yourself with the different trends and designs available out there.

The internet is a good place to do your research. Various ideas and designs are available online. You can search and visit websites that feature cakes, pastries and baking. And while in the process of researching about birthday cake toppers, you can also start gathering ideas about different candle designs and messages that can be used to personalize the cake you are designing.

The days of square or rounded plain birthday cakes with only the candles are gone. People are always searching for ways to liven up the common things. Imagine the magic of an appropriate and properly designed birthday cake topper on a plain shaped birthday cake. It adds life and makes the cake unique and personal. It is advisable to have a wide range of birthday cake toppers to suit the preference of your buyers or the birthday celebrant. Brighten up the celebration with birthday cake toppers!

The most common and sure proof design is to consider the celebrant’s interest.

Kids love cartoons characters like Disney’s Winnie the Pooh, Mickey Mouse or super heroes like Superman, Spiderman and even fantasy movies like Shrek or characters from Monsters, Inc. You can have the children's birthday cakes shaped and colored as the character and it will surely be adored at first glance. Characters are not limited to just cartoon or movie characters. They can also be pets or animals that the child loves.

Another option is to have the birthday cake designs in the type of sports or activity that the kid enjoys. It can be made in a round shape and painted exactly like a basketball or a soccer ball. If the child enjoys playing tennis, it can be a cake made into a tennis racket and a tennis ball, which can then be 2 different cake flavors. Interests in singing, dancing, cars or musical instruments can also be used as birthday cake designs. Cakes can be designed into a BMW, a violin or a ballerina.

To stretch the imagination and creativity more, cakes can also be designed into a grand themed one. If the kid loves fairytales or fantasy movies, the cakes can be formed into the fantasy the child likes. For example, having a cake shaped like the house in Hansel & Gretel or the pirate ship in Peter Pan with Peter Pan, Wendy, Tinker Bell and Captain Hook positioned differently in the ship. It can also be themed base on the kid’s interest like a zoo, mountain or beach theme. You can have the cake in 3D which is more expensive or have the theme drawn on the cake and the characters in 2D candies positioned on the cake.

With the improvement in technology, even photos can be made into cakes. This is one of the birthday cake designs that is the most unique, but is also expensive. Any photos, a family portrait, picture of the child with her favorite grandma, or a photo of the child with his favorite pet, can be made as the cake’s design.

Be sure to have the cake made in the flavor or flavors that the child will enjoy.

Birthdays happen only once a year, make it special for the child by surprising him/her with a wonderful and personalized birthday cake design that will surely bring joy to the celebrant! Anyway, it’s his/her special day!