Professional Cake Decorating

A comprehensive guide to the art of cake decorating

Drawing on her years of experience as an award–winning mastercake designer, Toba Garrett presents an indispensable guide toclassic cake artistry. Packed with inspiring cake designs,step–by–step instructions, and beautiful color photography, thiscomprehensive resource includes everything you need to createabsolutely stunning special–occasion cakes.

"Before I met Toba Garrett, I had only seen cakes as intricateand beautiful as the ones she creates in books. Her talent lies notonly in her ability to design and execute exquisite cakes, but alsoin her skill in identifying and explaining the techniques necessaryto get the same results she does her thousands of studentsall over the world would heartily agree. This new edition ofProfessional Cake Decorating holds all the methods you need tocreate outstanding decorated cakes."
Nick Malgieri, author of BAKE! and The ModernBaker

"A fantastic resource for anyone interested in the art andbusiness of cake decorating. Toba generously shares years ofhard–won knowledge and experience in a way that welcomes novicesand inspires more advanced practitioners. If there could be anofficial textbook for decorators, this would be it."
Susan Schultz, Editorial Director, American CakeDecorating

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS v

INTRODUCTION viii

HISTORY OF CAKE DECORATING x

LESSON 1 getting started 1

EQUIPMENT
COVERING A CAKE BOARD
WORKING WITH COLOR
THE ART OF ICING A CAKE
ASSEMBLING A LAYERED CAKE
CRUMB–COATING AND ICING A CAKE
SPACKLING A CAKE
ICING A ROUND
CAKE WITH ROLLED FONDANT
ICING A SQUARE CAKE WITH ROLLED FONDANT
COVERING A CAKE WITH GANACHE
ROYAL ICING A MARZIPAN CAKE
STACKING CAKE TIERS
TIERS WITH COLUMNS OR PILLARS

LESSON 2 basic piping skills 35

PAPER CONES (CORNETS)
ICING PREPARATION
WARM–UP EXERCISES
PRACTICING BORDER SKILLS
STAR FLOWER
SMALL CLASSIC SHELLS
LARGE SHELLS
BALLOONING
ROSETTES
ZIGZAG
REVERSE SHELLS
FLEUR–DE–LIS
GARLANDS
ROPE
LEAVES

LESSON 3 floral piping skills 53

SKILLS CHECK
ICING
ROSEBUD
HALF–ROSE
FULL–BLOWN ROSES (TRADITIONAL TECHNIQUE)
FULL–BLOWN ROSES (NONTRADITIONAL TECHNIQUE)

LESSON 4 intermediate piping skills 63

ICING COMPONENTS
GRAPE CLUSTERS
SWEET PEA CLUSTERS
E SHELLS
CURVED SHELLS WITH SHELL ACCENTS
SHELLS WITH FLUTES
RUFFLES
SWAGS
BOWS
BASKET WEAVE

LESSON 5 advanced piping skills 77

PART I: ADVANCED OVERPIPED TOP AND BOTTOM BORDERDESIGNS
TOP BORDER OVERPIPED SCALLOPS
BOTTOM BORDER OVERPIPED GARLANDS (CRESCENTS) WITHSCALLOPS
TOP BORDER SHORT OVERPIPED SCALLOPS
BOTTOM BORDER RUFFLES WITH OVERPIPED SCALLOPS
TOP BORDER SINGLE SWAGS WITH OVERPIPED SCALLOPS
BOTTOM BORDER DOUBLE SWAGS WITH OVERPIPED SCALLOPS
TOP BORDER REVERSE OVERPIPED SCALLOPS
BOTTOM BORDER OVERPIPED GARLAND (CRESCENT) WITH RUFFLES ANDREVERSE SCALLOPS

PART II: ADVANCED TOP AND BOTTOM BORDER DESIGNS
TOP BORDER REVERSE SHELLS WITH SCALLOPED STRINGS
BOTTOM BORDER ZIGZAGS WITH LARGE SHELLS AND SCALLOPS
TOP BORDER LARGE SHELLS WITH OVERPIPED S SCROLLS
BOTTOM BORDER SHELLS WITH SCALLOPS
TOP BORDER GARLANDS WITH DOUBLE STRINGS AND DROPSTRINGS
TOP BORDER FLEUR–DE–LIS WITH OVERPIPING AND DROPSTRINGS
BOTTOM BORDER ROSETTES WITH DROP STRINGS

LESSON 6 the art of writing and painting 107

ALPHABET PRACTICE
WRITING ON AN ICED CAKE
WRITING ON A SUGAR PLAQUE
ALPHABET WRITING WORKSHOP
WRITING STYLES SIMPLE BLOCK LETTERING
WRITING STYLES ELEGANT LETTERING
HAND PAINTING
FOOD COLOR PAINTING

LESSON 7 royal icing piped fl owers 121

ORANGE, APPLE, CHERRY, AND PEACH BLOSSOMS, ANDFORGET–ME–NOTS
PRIMROSES
VIOLETS
PANSIES
SWEET PEAS
DAISIES
PUSSY WILLOWS

LESSON 8 royal icing design skills 133

DESIGN TRANSFERS
DESIGN TRANSFER THE PINPRICK METHOD
DESIGN TRANSFER THE CARBON COPY METHOD
EMBROIDERY TECHNIQUES
BRUSH EMBROIDERY
FREEHAND EMBROIDERY
CORNELLI LACE AND SOTAS
SATIN–STITCH EMBROIDERY
SWISS DOTS
EYELET EMBROIDERY

LESSON 9 hand modeling skills 147

ORANGE
LEMON
BOSC PEAR
GRANNY SMITH APPLE
PEACH
APRICOT
STRAWBERRY
RASPBERRIES
PUMPKIN
MANGO
JALAPENO PEPPER
CARROT
BANANA
HEIRLOOM TOMATO

LESSON 10 marzipan and chocolate modeling 167

MARZIPAN MODELING
THE BRIDAL COUPLE
BABY MOUSE
FATHER PENGUIN
BEAR CHEF
KIDDY BEAR
CHOCOLATE MODELING
MODELING CHOCOLATE ROSE
CHOCOLATE BOW AND STREAMERS

LESSON 11 advanced royal icing piping and design skills191

RUNOUTS OR FLOODING
BRIDGE AND EXTENSION WORK AND HAILSPOTTING
SIMPLE LACE DESIGNS
FILIGREE LACE DESIGNS
RING DESIGN WITH TRELLISWORK
LATTICE
CUSHION LATTICE
FLOATING COLLAR

LESSON 12 rolled icing design skills 215

RUFFLING
CLASSICAL DRAPERY
FREEHAND DRAPERY
APPLIQUÉ
BRAIDING
SMOCKING
RIBBON BOUQUET
TASSELS
CRIMPING

LESSON 13 pastillage construction 231

PASTILLAGE FIGURES

LESSON 14 gumpaste flowers 237

PLUNGER FLOWERS
PULLED BLOSSOMS AND BUDS
BASIC FIVE–PETAL BLOSSOM WITH BUD
FOUR–PETAL BLOSSOM WITH BUD
FORGET–ME–NOT
HYACINTH
MIMOSA
CHERRY BLOSSOM
FOLIAGE
FREEHAND LEAVES
CUTTER LEAVES
FLORAL CORSAGE
CORSAGE

LESSON 15 advanced gumpaste fl owers 257

CLASSIC ROSE
FULL–BLOWN OR OPEN ROSE
CARNATION
AZALEA
ARUM OR CALLA LILY
ANTHURIUM LILY
CLOSED TULIP WITH BUD
HIBISCUS
TIGER LILY
CYMBIDIUM ORCHID
ARRANGING A ROUND SPRAY

LESSON 16 miniature cakes and decorated cookies 283

PETITS FOURS
DECORATED COOKIES

LESSON 17 cake and confectionery gallery 293

LESSON 18 recipes 329

APPENDIX 1 PATTERNS AND CAKE CUTTING GUIDES 368

APPENDIX 2 MEASUREMENTS 386

BIBLIOGRAPHY 395

INDEX 396

Toba Garrett is head of the Department of Cake Decorating and Design at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City. She is a member of the International Cake Exploration Societé and former president of the Confectionary Arts Guild of New Jersey. She is also the author of The Well–Decorated Cake, Creative Cookies: Delicious Decorating for Any Occasion, and the IACP Award winning Wedding Cake Art and Design. In 2010, Dessert Professional magazine named Garrett one of the Top Ten Cake Artists in America.