Bake and Decorate a Delicious Cake With These Easy Tips - NBC Southern California

You don't need a bunch of fancy tools to make and decorate a great cake. Courtney Rich of Cakes by Courtney tempts our taste buds and breaks down how to make a delicious cake using simple tools you have at home.

Tips before you bake the cake:

Prep and be ready. Get your wet ingredients out of the refrigerator in advance so they are room temperature and ready to go.
Make sure your baking soda and baking powder aren't older than six months. You need fresh ingredients to get the best rise out of your cake.
Don't over mix your cake batter and when in doubt mix slowly. Over mixing your batter causes your cake to get dense or even worse have your cake sink in the oven.
Preheat the oven in advance. If you preheat the oven for 30 minutes before its' time to bake so all the heat will be distributed evenly throughout the oven so your cake bakes evenly.

Tips for decorating the cake:

Make sure you set the cake on a flat surface so you spread the icing evenly.
You don't need a fancy cake decorating kit. You can just use a knife and spoon to spread the frosting.
Rich recommends using an ice cream or cookie scooper to evenly put the frosting on the cake.

How to ice the perfect cake:

Set the first layer down on a flat plate.
Use cookie scooper to put one scoop of frosting down in the middle of the first layer of the cake.
Then use a knife to push the frosting evenly towards the edges of the cake.
Before you put the second layer on, get eye level with the cake and make sure frosting has been applied evenly.
Once the second layer is done add a thin layer of frosting to the sides of the cake. This is called the crumb layer. Make sure this layer is thin.
Put the cake in the fridge to let the thin crumb layer set.
Once the crumb layer is set add another coat of frosting to smooth and perfect the look of your cake.

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