Alisa’s Five “Must Have” Cake Decorating Products

By Alisa Bangerter – Studio 5 Party, Holiday and Idea Contributor

Bake-Even Cake Strips

These aluminized fabric strips help even the heat distribution so cakes will be perfectly level and moist after baking. Eliminates cracking, high centers and having to level cakes before decorating.

Basic Turntable

Turntables are great for decorating and help make to keep décor even. Turntables come in many styles and price ranges. For basic cake decorating, an inexpensive but great quality turntable is the Trim’ N Turn Ultra Cake Turntable. It has a grip on top and bottom to prevent slipping and a lock that will keep it from rotating if desired.

Icing Combs

Icing combs and triangles are pulled across the top or sides of cakes to make decorating ridges. They are very inexpensive and add a professional touch, especially to sides of cake and eliminate the stress of trying to achieve perfectly smooth icing. A really fun icing comb to try is the Icing Sculptor where you insert a combination of 64 design blades that creates hundreds of unique custom designs in icing. Very cool! Another item I use often to achieve a comb like technique is a Cake Icer tip that will ice the sides of a one layer cake quickly and efficiently. (Many bakeries use this tip on cake sides.)

Message Letter Press Sets

These plastic word sets are pressed gently into icing to create a pattern to follow when writing. Sets come with words in a variety of writing styles or in sets where you can put letters together to make your own sentiments. A good tool to use if you have difficulty writing freehand on cakes. Makes your writing look professional. These sets are also available in simple patterns and shapes.

Decorating Bag Holder

This is a new Wilton product I have recently tried. It is a stand that holds multiple decorating bags upright. It is very convenient to keep tips clean and bags organized when using multiple bags. Silicone Decorating Tip Covers are a great product to use while bags are in the stand to keep your icing from drying out. (A unique decorating bag to try is the Two Color Decorating Bag Insert (Striper Bag) by Ateco. It is a divided bag that allows you to place two colors of icing side by side to create two-toned décor. http://www.atecousa.net/)

All Products are by Wilton (unless noted) and available at many local stores or online at www.wilton.com

There are thousands of cake decorating products available from numerous companies from very basic to extremely advanced. A good quality basic cake decorating set would be a wise investment (avoid plastic cake décor sets in grocery store isles for best results) as would taking some cake decorating classes – to avoid frustration and to get good results. As your skills progress, some of the tools you use and invest in might change a bit to suit your style or needs. Happy decorating!