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Autumn Carpenter

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The Complete Photo Guide to Cake Decorating Kindle Edition

by Autumn Carpenter (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.7 876 ratings

Part of: Complete Photo Guide (31 books)

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With hundreds of techniques and over 1,000 photos, this is “an all-inclusive look at how to make a stunning cake from start to finish . . . exceptional” (Library Journal).

This clearly organized resource is like having a cake decorating workshop in a book. Discover useful tips for embellishing with buttercream, royal icing, fondant, gum paste, and more. The easy-to-follow instructions and 1,000+ photos include techniques for piping, string work, creating and shaping a variety of flowers, molding chocolate, and adding patterns with stencils. Cake pro Autumn Carpenter shows how to create striking florals, borders, and accents with silicone molds, hand modeling, pastry tips, cookie cutters, and more. You can also take your skills up a notch and wrap a cake in chocolate, make decorations with isomalt, and use gum paste for quilling. Try new techniques with confidence, and get inspired by a gallery of colorful ideas for holiday cakes, birthday cakes, children’s cakes, wedding cakes, and special occasion cakes. This detailed book includes:

·Cake preparation and baking basics

·Recipes for fillings and icings

·Ideas and instruction for decorating cupcakes

·Piping techniques for making lifelike and fantasy flowers, eye-catching borders, distinctive lettering, and more

·Instructions for creating appealing accents like beading, ropes, and lace using fondant and gum paste

·Key decorating tools and how to use them

·Techniques for incorporating airbrushing, edible frosting sheets, and chocolate molding for one-of-a-kind designs, and more

From the Publisher

Cake Decorating at its Finest!

Celebrating special events with cake is tradition. Whether the party is a simple family affair or a fullblown extravaganza, the cake is an important part of the party. There is nothing like being a part of the party by sharing your talents. If you are a beginning decorator, this book will serve as a step-by-step course in cake decorating. If you are an experienced or professional decorator, this book will quickly become your go-to guide when seeking out new techniques.

Place the cake on a cardboard the same size as the cake

to keep the work surface tidy and free of cake crumbs

when decorating. While icing, ice the cardboard as

though it is part of the cake. Use a pastry brush to remove

excess crumbs from the cake before icing.

Place the quick icer tip, tip #789, in a large pastry bag.

The bag may need to be snipped so that one-quarter of

the tip is showing. Fill the bag two-thirds full with icing.

Holding the bag at a 45° angle, touch the surface of

the cake.

Pipe a band of icing around the bottom of the cake, gently

pressing against the cake while piping.

Pipe an additional row of icing on the side of the cake,

overlapping the row underneath and always gently

pressing against the surface of the cake to keep the icing

from falling. If necessary, pipe additional rows of icing

until the piped icing bands reach the top of the cake tier.

1

2

3

4

Pipe bands of icing on the top of the cake, overlapping

each band. Continue piping the icing bands until the cake

is not visible.

Use a long spatula to spread the icing. Smooth the top of

the cake with long strokes.

Smooth the sides of the cake. Hold the spatula

perpendicular to the turntable when icing the sides. Use

one of the smoothing techniques in this chapter to smooth

the buttercream.

5

6

7

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Sugar artist Carpenter (All About Candy Making) perfectly explains her book: 'If you are a beginning decorator, this book will serve as a step-by-step course in cake decorating. If you are an experienced or professional decorator, this book will quickly become your go-to guide when seeking out new techniques.' This is an all-inclusive look at how to make a stunning cake from start to finish. Organized in easy-to-browse sections, it takes readers through the process from preparation, tools, and recipes; to decorating techniques and templates; to extras to make your projects special; to a gallery of designs for inspiration. The numerous photographs are not only visually appealing but educational, and add to the quality of this exceptional work. Essential for anyone interested in baking and decorating cakes." - Library Journal

About the Author

Autumn Carpenter is a nationally known confectionary artist, author, and demonstrator. She has published several books, including the best selling cake book: The Complete Photo Guide to Cake Decorating and The Complete Photo Guide to Cookie Decorating, and Decorating Cakes, Cupcake, and Cookies with Kids. Autumn book Let's Bake Angry Birds Cakes will be published in October 2014. She demonstrates annually at the I.C.E.S. (International Cake Exploration Societé ) and travels across the United States, sharing the craft of cake decorating and other confectionary arts. Autumn is co-owner of Country Kitchen SweetArt, a retail cake and candy supply store that has been in her family for over 45 years. The business caters to walk-in store sales, catalog sales, and an online store, shopcountrykitchen.com.Autumn has developed her own line of useful tools and equipment for cake decorating and cookie decorating, and sells them online and in many cake and candy supply stores throughout the United States and in several other countries. Her cakes and products have been featured in numerous publications and magazines including American Cake Decorating and Cake Central. Visit her website, autumncarpenter.com and her blog, autumncarpenter.wordpress.com/

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Ganache

Ganache is made by mixing heavy cream with chocolate to make a glaze that is satiny and rich. Ganache can be poured over a cake or whipped to spread on a cake. It also makes a delicious filling. This recipe calls for dark chocolate, but ganache can also be made with white, milk, semi-sweet, or bittersweet chocolate. White chocolate is not technically chocolate because it lacks cocoa powder, but the presence of cocoa butter allows it to work similarly to milk, semi-sweet, or bittersweet chocolate. White chocolate can be colored. Use an oil-based coloring to color white chocolate. The cocoa butter content in the chocolate will affect the thickness of the ganache. A couverture chocolate, or a chocolate with a high amount of cocoa butter, is best for ganache recipes. If using a chocolate with a lower cocoa butter content, the amount of cream can be increased. For the richest, best ganache, use real chocolate with cocoa butter, not candy coating, which has various oils. Candy coating is an affordable alternative and may be used, although the quality of the ganache will not be as good.

Ganache Recipe

- 3 tablespoons (42 g) unsalted butter

- 1/3 cup (80 g) whipping cream

- 8 ounces (227 g) dark chocolate

In a heavy duty saucepan, combine cream and butter. Cook on medium heat until it boils. Remove from heat. Add the chocolate and stir until almost all the chocolate is melted. Whisk the ganache until it is thoroughly melted and the icing is glossy. If chocolate has not completely melted, place the saucepan back on the stove. Heat on warm or very low until the chocolate is melted. Pour or spoon over cake.

Yields: 1 1/2 cups (375 mL)

Quality Counts: Chocolate will differ tremendously in flavor, texture, and thickness. The taste and quality of the ganache will depend on the chocolate used. Choose chocolate that is delicious and melts in your mouth when eaten out of the package, and it will make a fantastic ganache.

Storing Ganache

A cake covered in ganache can be kept at room temperature for one to two days. Unused ganache should be kept in the refrigerator. Ganache can be reheated by placing the ganache in the top pan of a double boiler over warm water. If a whipped ganache is desired, allow ganache to come to room temperature before whipping. Ganache may be reheated in the microwave for 5–10 seconds. Stir, then heat again if necessary, until ganache is desired thickness.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0077RMW3C
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Creative Publishing international (February 1, 2012)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 1, 2012
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 32250 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 1235 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #808,201 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #182 in Garnishing Meals
- #310 in Cake Baking (Kindle Store)
- #546 in Cooking, Food & Wine Reference (Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews:
4.7 876 ratings

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Autumn Carpenter

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Autumn Carpenter is a nationally known confectionery artist, author and demonstrator. Autumn has been around cakes, candies and cookies her entire life. She demonstrates annually at the I.C.E.S. (International Cake Exploration Societé ) as well as throughout the United States. Autumn is an owner of a confectionery supply store, Country Kitchen SweetArt- WWW.COUNTRYKITCHENSA.COM. Autumn also has developed a line of cookie and cake decorating tools that are distributed throughout the world. Products developed by Autumn are featured on her website, WWW.AUTUMNCARPENTER.COM and WWW.SWEETELITETOOLS.COM. Autumn travels across the United States, sharing the craft of cookie decorating and other confectionary arts. She also teaches an online cookie decorating class on www.craftsy.com.

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4.7 out of 5

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Heather

EVERYTHING you need to know to decorate cakes, cupcakes & cookies!!

Reviewed in the United States on February 23, 2022

Verified Purchase

This book is HUGE! It has 328 pages FULL of beautiful pictures of cakes, cupcakes & cookies and has pics of step-by-step directions on how to ice cakes, use different icing tips, and just any subject you may need information on, relating to cake decorating. This is an EXCELLENT book for beginners, or more intermediate bakers who are looking to try a new type of decorating. it covers the basics of baking and icing cakes, piping techniques, making simple and advanced flowers, lacework, string work, making fondant and gum paste accents, modeling animals and people, painting/coloring on fondant, airbrushing, Cricut on cake, natural landscapes, chocolate molding, gelatin accents, isomalt, edible frosting sheets, and SO MUCH MORE! I am so glad that I bought this book! It was inexpensive, so I expected it to be about 60-70 pages long, but it is 328 pages and invaluable! I will be able to use this for years to come, as it will take me quite a while to learn and practice all of the different techniques in this book! My thanks to the author for making a book with such excellent pictures, wonderful step-by-step teaching, and such a big book for such a great value! : )

2 people found this helpful

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tachi1

So glad I finally got it.

Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2013

Verified Purchase

Amazon suggested this book based on my buying history and I had it on my wish list for while. I just got it and my only regret is having waited so long.

The book is in a class by itself in my library:

--it is not technique specific: it includes gum paste, butter cream, royal icing, cut or molded flowers, piped flowers, non-floral decorations at an easy-to-handle level.
--it is not occasion specific: it's for general cake decorating, not weddings, nothing fancy. Family birthdays, baby showers, children's birthdays--any occasion worth going to a little trouble for but not a huge production or expense.
--it is for less work-intensive cakes than those covered in my usual books. Sometimes it's not much more than combining or stacking several cut and shaped forms and arranging them artistically and informally.
--the projects are less work-intensive, time-intensive, and experience-requiring than those found in most of my books.
--the emphasis is on modern, less-formal, more colorful.
--these are all cakes that the home cook can, realistically, make and have them look like the photo.

Who is this book for? If you've taken the most basic cake decorating courses in your local craft store (ex: Wilton classes 1 through 3) and you own a shoe-box's worth of cutters and tools, you can follow these instructions easily. It is, by far, the easiest book you will find to follow, understand, and implement.

It is a really charming book. I would use the word 'cute' for many of the designs, but I think it would give the impression of sticky sweetness and that isn't the case at all. Everything is well-explained and illustrated; there are a lot of common sense tips; a lot of materials and tools are demonstrated (with buying guides).

If you are starting out in cake decorating, this is the first non-course related book you should buy. It will go a long way towards giving you ideas and confidence in addition to confirming your belief that this is a hobby (or home business) you can handle and will enjoy.

17 people found this helpful

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Julie

Great

Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2023

Verified Purchase

The book arrived in perfect condition, like it was never opened. Love the pictures, details and steps by step instructions

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Toni

Wonderful teaching book.

Reviewed in the United States on June 24, 2012

Verified Purchase

From the very talented hands of Autumn Carpenter, comes this wonderful and detailed volume of cake decorating, born of her love of cake decorating and teaching. Her store, Country Kitchen Sweet Art, located in Fort Wayne, Indiana has all things related to cake decorating. And because of that love, plus the myriad of questions she has answered over the years and help she has given so many people in this field, especially those first starting out, she has compiled this manual.

It is written on thick, solid paper with bright colors and clear photography, mostly step-by-step tutorials. It is a heavy book that measures approximately 8"x11" in size so its large and with easy print. It is divided into 4 sections and is color-coded on the page headings.

This would be an excellent book for any beginner, and for those with a need for a good reference book. The photographs are in color, and in ordered numbered. I would venture to say that just the sequential photography alone could suffice for someone for whom English isn't a primary language. Projects are also included at the end of each chapter.

All aspects of cake and cupcake decorating have been covered so that if you see something that you would like, you should be able to do the same, perhaps with a wee bit of planning. Also, many of the tools that are used are easily accessible from craft and hobby stores, and when needed, there are plenty of US companies that can be contacted for the rest.

The four section ares:

SECTION ONE:

Basic Cake Preparation
Every tool and cake decorating toy needed for all the projects in this book, and then some, are listed and shown along with an explanation of each. Some things are the "extras" that are nice to have while others can be improvised, and then there are those that you need to have in order to accomplish a project. This covers pans to flower-making tools to machines, bags, and molds.

Baking the Cake/Cupcakes, Torting (cutting crosswise), and Filling
This pretty much covers what you do to make those lovely cakes turn out perfectly shaped so that you can begin the outside work.

Now, while she then gives a great deal of icing recipes, she has not included any batter recipes but does encourage cake mixes.

She gives recipes for making fondant and gumpaste; these can also be easily purchased if you choose not to make these from scratch. Sometimes it's easier in time and money to purchase them as they can be labor intensive, but certainly are not discouraged.

The next area she teaches is color, glorious color! This was a fabulous chapter on coloring with pastes and liquids and the choices you make with the mediums you use. She has provided several color wheels to help you get to your preferred shades.

Now, not all people like fondant, etc. on their cakes. So the choice left is either whipped cream or buttercream. Whipped cream has a very delicate stability and you are limited on time and temperature because of it. But the other alternative is buttercream and it can be a great medium; if you do it the right way, with either a smooth or textured finish, it can look as spectacular, or even better, than a solid covering. This was a wonderful section and if you think about it, this can really be a showstopper if the buttercream is covered in sparkling sanding sugar; a beautiful twinkle under the lights!

Next is ganache, fondant with/without texture, applying fondant to shaped cakes (shaped cakes are always a challenge for me so this was a great section!) as well as cupcake coverings. Cakeboards and how to stack cakes are also taught; the stacking taught is for simple cakes. Anything elaborate such a topsy-turvy, or large party/wedding cakes were not discussed; the foundation of stacking is basically the same with those but they require more detail and were not part of this lesson.

The shelf life of cakes, how soon to bake in advance, transporation, etc follow but it is in the "Cake and Cupcake" chart that you really get a gem of information. Knowing how much to fill a pan and how to determine covering size, baking times, servings, etc is crucial if you are planning because you don't want to waste time or money. Ms. Carpenter has wonderfully given us some great charts to use to help us in this endeavor.

SECTION TWO:

Piping Techniques
How do you use bags, how do you make bags, as well as piping tips available, are part of this lovely chapter. Then its on to piping itself with all the borders and weaves and squiggles and lines you can use to neaten up a cake. How to write with stamps and free-hand completes this part of the chapter. Then it was on to basic flowers.

Next is Royal Icing and it is a great medium! It's a soft, liquidy sugar mixture that hardens into beautiful candy pieces. She gives quite a nice sample of candy pieces along with the templates needed to reproduce the ones taught. The next step in Royal Icing is "run-in" sugar where you can make large pieces/plaques for a cake as well as cake collars. Brush embroidery is another fantastic skill that anyone can use and I highly recommend this to a beginner because, not only is this gorgeous on a cake or cupcake, but it is a sure confidence builder!! She ends this chapter with Royal Icing Stringwork, and if you enjoy those cakes of yesteryear such as in the Lambeth and Victoria era, this chapter is for you! While it is a very basic lesson, this will ensure your confidence to go to the next level.

SECTION THREE:

Fondant and Gumpaste Accents
Woo-hoo!! Fondant and Gumpaste!! Tools, machines, silicone molds, cutters, cookie cutters, patchwork cutters, picks, and plungers are all tools in your decorating arsenal to make long-lasting decorations for people to keep for a long time.

Flowers
This is a great section as you learn to use flower formers as well as make free-hand flowers that will grace your cake or cupcake and add that touch of beauty from "nature".

Bows, frills, and ruffles, drapes, smocking, , curly streamers, eyelet, and quills are extra beautiful choices to add to your project to enhance that special look. Next up is hand-modeled people and animals to make your project extra personal for someone special (the facial expressions are priceless).

SECTION FOUR:

These are all the miscellaneous techniques that are the finishing touches. The one I enjoy the most is the sanding sugars, or sparkles, on a cake. The use of dusts and powders can add a real "wow" factor as well, and shading can be a real draw for the eye.

Stencils, frosting sheets, chocolate transfer sheets, chocolate panels, chocolate molds, use of The Cricut machine, and gelatin round out this final chapter.

I am so pleased with the way that Ms. Carpenter has pulled together all the essentials of cake decorating and placed them in a neat, organized, and visual manner to help bring to the eye and mind, the beauty of cake decorating. Those who enjoy this art or who are just starting out, will really use this as a basic manual of reference. Peace!

86 people found this helpful

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Claude Blier

Beautiful

Reviewed in Canada on January 27, 2024

Verified Purchase

Super nice book

Amazon Customer

Lovely book

Reviewed in India on August 4, 2018

Verified Purchase

Just a perfect book for cake decoration techniques. Instructions are clear and covers so many things. Colorful and good pictorial presentation.

Marie-Do

Très bon livre

Reviewed in France on February 17, 2014

Verified Purchase

On trouve de tout dans ce livre, des techniques, des recettes, une multitude d'informations
et de photos. Livre que je conseille.

One person found this helpful

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Cornelia

für Deutschsprachige

Reviewed in Germany on December 4, 2013

Verified Purchase

ist dieses Buch ebenfalls verständlich, da alles wirklich äußerst gelungen bebildert ist und jeder Schritt einzeln aufgezählt wird. Es ist aber von Vorteil wenn man zumindest die Grundbegriffe der englischen Sprache versteht. Man erfährt so einige Tipps und Tricks die einen anregen etwas Neues auszuprobieren. Ich habe schon sehr lange und gründlich nach einem Buch gesucht, das sich lediglich mit der Dekoration beschäftigt und auch für Menschen, die nicht Konditoren sind, verständlich ist und man die Vorschläge auch in der Realität erfolgreich umsetzten kann. Habe das Buch nun seit einigen Monaten und bin vollauf zufrieden damit. Ich kann daher auch für Nicht-nativespeaker eine Kaufempfehlung aussprechen, nur jemanden, der kein Wort englisch versteht, würde ich abraten.

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bibisnailwonderland

Wow

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 11, 2012

Verified Purchase

This book impressed me highly. It covers every aspect of cake (also cupcake) decorating, that you'll need. And with lots and lots of photos on how to do it and how the end result should look like, it is better than a workshop.

From basic cake preparation, to extended piping techniques, how to use fondant to cover a cake, but also how to make fondant figures. How to cut and carve a cake, make ribbons with royal icing and also fondant. It is the most complete decorating book that I have. The thing that made me most happy, was the way it is shown with lots of step by step pictures how to pipe different sorts of flowers or easy animal figures. I already looked it up on the Wilton side, and figured I would take my piping bag to the computer to practice (really!). But the book shows also how to do it.

The only small criticism I can come up with is that she makes buttercream without butter, but with butter flavors (yak). And she doesn't give the recipe for crispy treat sculptures, but refers to the package of crispy treats. Since I live in Holland, there is no recipe on the boxes unfortunately. But for the rest I can truly say that I am very glad I bought this one.

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The Complete Photo Guide to Cake Decorating Kindle Edition

From the Publisher

Cake Decorating at its Finest!

Editorial Reviews

Review

About the Author

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Product details

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About the author

Autumn Carpenter

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