Cake Decorating Project

What is it All About?

Creativity can be a piece of cake! Through this project you will learn the skills to start making cakes for parties and events. It starts with knowing the basics like simple borders, decorations and cake molds. Then it advances to lace and lattice work, tiered cakes, special icings and, finally, advanced flowers.

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Grow in Your Project

Beginner

Prepare icing to use for borders, drop flowers, and lettering
Experiment with different decorating tips
Learn about professional cake decorating equipment
Decorate with borders, flowers, leaves, and letters
Use a stencil and paper pattern to decorate a cake

Intermediate

Bake and frost level cakes with smooth icing
Bake and frost two-layer cakes with jam, pudding, or other filling
Make flat surface flowers and flowers on a nail
Learn piping techniques
Learn advanced borders like lattice, basket weave, pine cones, and haystacks
Consider cake size, shape, decorating placement, and number of servings

Advanced

Assemble stacked and tiered cakes
Experiment with gum paste
Color and shape marzipan for decorations
Make pulled sugar decorations
Apply rolled fondant to a cake and decorate it
Study the principles of element and design used in cake decorating

Click Here for Cake Decorating Project Member Resources

Resources for All Levels

4-H Cake Decorating

Take Your Project Further!

Visit a bakery to see cake decorating in action
Create drawings for decorating ideas using the internet or magazines as inspiration
Attend a food or restaurant show
Visit a professional decorator to get new ideas
Interview a home decorator about markets, pricing, and advertising
Attend a cake decorating class
Attend a wedding cake consultation
Compare and contrast different brands of cake mixes or food colorings

Applying Project Skills to Life

Enhance Your Communication Skills

Give a demonstration at your club meeting about how to ice a cake for decorating
Share common cake decorating problems with other project members
Give a demonstration about mixing colors for frosting cakes

Get Involved in Citizenship and Service

Make a decorated cake for your neighbor
Make a decorated cake for a fundraiser or silent auction
Host a cake walk at a 4-H carnival
Create birthday bags for the local food pantry

Learn about Leadership

Hold a cake decorating workshop for younger members
Work with a leader or your County Educator to host a Cupcake War

Showing What You’ve Learned

Educational poster on advantages or disadvantages of different cake mixes
Educational poster on type of icing
Chart explaining tools to use for icing a cake
Poster explaining different borders and how to create them
Chart listing common cake problems
Create a scrapbook of cakes you have decorated
Display pictures of borders, writing, etc. that you have created on cakes
Decorate a cake
Sketchbook of different design for cake
Display of a marketing plan for a cake decorating business you want to open
Create an educational poster describing when to use different types of cake icings
Educational display of how to properly clean and care for cake decorating tools
Educational display on how to transport a cake once it is decorated

Adapted with permission from Wyoming State 4-H, Project Information Sheet, Cake Decorating. Retrieved from: https://www.uwyo.edu/4-h/projects/expressive-arts/cake-decorating.html.

*Resources available at your local Extension office or shop4-H.org.

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