Make Professional Cakes with one Awesome Tip

Make Professional Cakes with one Awesome Tip | The Bearfoot Baker

Do you ever wonder why your cakes may not look the same way professional cakes look? When I first started decorating cakes I would spend hours working with the icing so it would look smooth. No matter what I did it never ended up looking the same as professional cakes. I knew how to make the flowers with royal icing, but the buttercream seemed to look a little lifeless. This was really disappointing!

Then one day I learned the secret and I want to share it with you. Do you want to know how to make your cakes look professional?

How to Make Professional Cakes with one Amazing Tip | The Bearfoot Baker The secret is an ingredient that’s in the buttercream frosting.

How to Make Professional Cakes:

Both of the buttercream flowers were made with the same buttercream frosting recipe. There is one difference, I made two different batches using different ingredients. They both were piped with #104 decorating tips and were the same consistency. I wanted you to keep that in mind as we continue to find the tip that will change your cake decorating.

How to Make Professional Cakes with this One Amazing Tip | The Bearfoot Baker

Okay, it’s time to explain why the flowers in the picture above look so different even though the same recipe was used to make both batches of the frosting. Are you ready for the secret on how to make professional cakes at home?

The frosting for both batches was made with shortening instead of butter because sometimes you need a frosting that will withstand a little hot weather if your event is going to be held outside. If your frosting is made with all butter, it won’t hold up as well. I’ll post this recipe soon but for now, we are going to talk about how important the ingredients are. Just keep in mind, the frostings were made with the same recipe but with different ingredients.

The buttercream frosting recipe called for shortening. I used two different kinds of shortening when making the frosting.

  • The rose at the top of the picture was made with Crisco shortening.
  • The rose at the bottom of the picture was made with a hi-ratio shortening.

Huge difference! The hi-ratio shortening not only makes a smoother less greasy frosting, it is creamier and holds its shape and doesn’t leave your mouth feeling like it is covered in grease. There are different brands you can get like Sweetex, Alpine or Ck and it’s a little more expensive than Crisco but to me, it’s well worth the price.

The flowers made with the Crisco seem to be a bit wilted. After I made the flowers I decided to make another batch of the buttercream using the Crisco shortening. This time I used less milk and a little more confectioners’ sugar. I did get a better result but they still didn’t have the same quality look as the flowers made with the hi-ratio shortening.

How to Make Professional Cakes with this one Awesome Tip | The Bearfoot Baker

A while back Crisco had to change their recipe because the FDA made a decision to ban trans fats. The reason it was banned was that trans fats don’t have any health benefits and it’s hard for your body to break them down.

If you don’t want to use trans fats, don’t. You can make buttercream frosting with an all-butter buttercream recipe, or you can use a Swiss Meringue Buttercream or Italian Meringue Buttercream frosting, but keep in mind that they won’t do as well at an outdoor venue because it can’t take the heat as well as a buttercream made with all shortening.

You Have to See this Tip to Help You Make Professional Cakes at Home | The Bearfoot Baker

That is the secret to make your cakes look like they were made from a profession bakery instead of in a home kitchen. Hi-ratio shortening makes all the difference in the world, well at least all the difference in your buttercream frosting.

Want the Recipe so you can make Professional Cakes?

How to Make Crusting Buttercream that Actually Sets Firm and is Perfect for Making Beutiful Buttercream Flowers | The Bearfoot Baker

If you want the recipe, you can find it at How to Make Crusting Buttercream that Actually Sets Firm Recipe.

Bear hugs,

Lisa