When I was a kid, my great grandmother was a cake decorator. I thought she had the most wonderful job in the world, piping all those beautiful, pink and white sugary roses and borders onto the cakes.

But I never dreamed that cakes would reach the amazing level of art and fun that they have today. I still love a rose adorned birthday cake, but it’s always exciting to try out the latest cake design ideas!

Sculpted Cake Design Ideas

This cake design brings three-dimensional art to the cake plate! You’ll find some remarkable examples at Mike’s Amazing Cakes

Don’t let these intimidate you though because most sculpted cakes are much simpler, yet still a feast for the eyes.

An easy sculpted cake design idea is to bake a novelty cake in a mold pan, and then using icing as glue, adhere this to a regular shaped cake such as a sheet cake. The sheet cake is iced first.

Then perhaps you’ll want to paint a background with cake spray paint. Just be sure the background is outside of the area where the character or novelty cake will rest.

You can gently press the mold pan into the sheet cake’s buttercream (crusted) surface to create the outline to work around. Instead of spray painting the background you might want to decorate with piping or items you have in your kitchen or can easily pick up at a store.

For example, if you have a dinosaur cake, you could pipe volcanoes and ferns onto the background and/or add small, plastic dinosaur figurines and such. Be sure to add some icing just before placing the top so that will stick.

Many sculpted cakes require skill levels somewhere between these two. Whatever type of cake design ideas you use here, a pound cake is often your best bet because it is firm enough to hold up under all the trimming and patching together with icing you will do as you sculpt your cake into shape.

The Doll Cake is a beautiful – and popular - type of sculpted cake (Featured in Cake Decorating Made Easy! Volume 2) that is fun to make. And sculpted castle cakes are an increasingly rising cake design idea for special events.

Another magical cake decorating idea is to sculpt a cake from cupcakes. You set the cupcakes on a cake plate or board, arranging them in the shape of an object. Then you ice as one cake.

Stacked and Tiered Cakes

No longer, practically the exclusive domain of wedding cakes, we’re seeing cakes for all occasions climbing to new heights.

A popular cake design idea for a wedding or birthday features fondant covered square layers made to look like beautifully wrapped gift boxes. These usually have fondant bows and often gum paste flowers and are stacked in an offset manner. Variations of the gift cake include hatbox cakes and amazing topsy-turvy gift box cakes.

The gift box cake is one of the latest and greatest cake design ideas. Often made with squarecakes or a mix and match of round and square, the cakes are stacked and decorated to resemble a stack of wrapped gifts.

Topsy-turvy cakes are an amazing cake design idea ushered in by cake design diva
Colette Peters whose cake design ideas are often whimsical and fun, with layers appearing to teeter on the brink.

As seen in our “Cake Decorating Made Easy!” Video Books this cake design idea brings an element of surprise and are perfect for any celebration. By the way here’s one reader says about our Video Books:

“If you are new to decorating or an old pro, you’ll learn something new and helpful from
these books. They are WONDERFUL!!!”

Thelma G.
Tucson, Arizona

Novelty & Character Cakes

Amazing cake design ideas are often found in this category whether created with mold cake pans, cake sculpture, or decorations on a traditional cake.

Traditional Cakes

The most traditional cake can be transformed into an unforgettable cake with create cake design ideas that use sugarcraft. For example:

• Model marzipan into miniature corn, squash and grapes that pour out of an icing Thanksgiving cornucopia.
• Model gum paste into people and other figures, which you use to create entire scenes.
• Use fondant cut-outs to add that special touch that turns a simply design into something amazing.

And while you’re thinking about your next cake design idea, don’t forget the power of piping: icing basketweave for cakes that resemble baskets of flowers or Easter egg baskets; ruffle borders with swags for fancy birthday cakes, pretty messages - and all those beautiful pink and white, iced roses.

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Samantha Mitchell, Co-Author
Cake Decorating Made Easy! Vol. 1 & 2
The World’s First Cake Decorating Video Books

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