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Easy Cake Decorating Techniques and Baking Tips

Watch how-to videos and get ideas and advice for baking, frosting, and decorating beautiful cakes.

Cake How-To's

How To: Prepare Cake Pans
Preparing your cake pans the right way is crucial to the success of your cake. Learn how to prep them properly to ensure your cakes come out of the pans cleanly every time.

How to Serve Cake and Ice Cream Like a Pro
Simple tricks to cut and dish out these birthday party treats quickly. 

Table spread of various cakes

How to Bake a Great Cake

No sugarcoating here: When you mix two essential cake recipes with 27 easy frosting, filling, and decorating ideas, you end up with 256,620 (really—do the math) delectable options. Sweet!
Photo: Christopher Baker

How To: Stack and Frost a Layer Cake

Get our tips and tricks for stacking and frosting a beautiful, professional-looking cake every time.
Photo: Christopher Baker

How To: Write on a Cake

Writing on a cake isn’t as hard as it looks. Follow these tips and tricks for piping “happy birthday.”
Photo: Lucky Tiger Productions

6 Baking Tips for Flawless Cakes

Try these foolproof techniques, brought to you from the Real Simple test kitchen.
Photo: HD Connelly/Getty Images
Table spread of various cakes
Yellow Cake With Fresh Strawberry Filling, Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting, and Strawberries
How To: Write on a Cake
Hands taking baked cupcakes in cupcake tin off oven rack

Baking Advice

Flour, measuring cup, and spoon

Cake-Baking Problem-Solvers
Nick Malgieri, the award-winning author of How to Bake, offers these tips.

Chocolate cake

How Do You Bake the Perfect Cake at High Altitudes?
Real Simple answers your questions.

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Metal Cake Server by Sur La Table

Cake Baking and Decorating Supplies Checklist

With the right tools, creating a beautiful and professional-looking dessert is a piece of, well, cake.

  • Bowls. You’ll need at least two mixing bowls for the cake—one for wet and one for dry ingredients. Smaller bowls can hold frosting and cake toppings.
  • Measuring cups and spoons. When baking, it’s important to be precise. Don’t scoop your flour directly from the bag with a measuring cup—the flour will become compacted, and you’ll get more than you need for the recipe. Instead, spoon it into the cup, then sweep off the excess with a knife.
  • Electric mixer. When making the cake, beat your butter and sugar until fluffy, then use a lower speed when adding your dry ingredients. You’ll probably need a mixer to make your frosting, too.

View The Entire Checklist

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