How to Decorate a Cake with Cream

To decorate a cake with cream, you need to prepare this cream first. Carefully separate the egg whites from the yolks. The bowl (heatproof), whisk, and mixer attachments should be perfectly clean and dry. Pour the egg whites into the bowl and add sugar, lightly whisk. Place the bowl over a saucepan with boiling water, thus creating a water bath. The egg mixture should be constantly stirred to prevent the proteins from coagulating. The mixture should be heated to 65 °C. If you don't have a thermometer, don't worry, just rub the mixture between your fingers. If the sugar is not melted and the mixture is hot, then it is ready for the next step. Remove the bowl from the heat and start beating with a mixer. The mass should become white, fluffy, and cool. This step takes 5-10 minutes. The bowl should be cool to the touch, this is important, otherwise, when adding butter, the cream will turn into a liquid sweet mass.

When the bowl has cooled to the touch, you can gradually add room temperature butter in small portions. Don't worry if the mixture looks like buttermilk, it's easy to fix! Just place the bowl back on the water bath for a few seconds, stir. If the cream is too liquid, refrigerate it for a while, and then beat it again.

Add rum to the ready butter-egg white mixture and beat for another minute. The cream will become smooth, shiny, and uniform. In general, the cream is perfectly flavored, you can add vanilla extract or mashed berries (just don't overdo it with the berries).

There are countless ways to decorate a cake with this cream. Let's consider some of them. But first, let me show you the tools I use to decorate a cake with cream. I use different spatulas to apply the cream to the surface of the cake: narrow spatulas are suitable for applying strokes, and a wide spatula similar to a construction tool is needed to smooth the edges of the cake. If you don't have spatulas, you can use a silicone spatula like this.

The easiest way to decorate is to apply rough strokes. First, apply the cream in a thin layer to the entire surface of the cake and level it with a spatula. Then apply strokes with a spatula all over the surface, either in one direction or randomly, according to your preference.

Strokes can be done with a colored gradient. To do this, dye part of the cream in several shades of the same color. Apply the lighter cream first with a spatula to the leveled cake, starting from the middle of the sides. Apply the darker cream with strokes from the bottom edge of the cake.

To easily create gradient sides, dye a small amount of cream in the desired color (darker shade). Put the cream in a pastry bag, cut an opening (or use a round nozzle). Apply the cream along the entire perimeter of the cake at the bottom edge. Then remove the remaining cream from the bag, add white cream to make the color lighter. Apply the cream a little higher along the perimeter of the cake. Repeat the process until the cream becomes completely white and fills the entire perimeter of the sides. Then, using a spatula, smooth the sides of the cake. This will result in even edges with a smooth gradient.

Now let's look at how to decorate the cake with cream using nozzles. I will show you how to do it using rose and star-shaped nozzles. In this photo, the nozzle on the right is Rose, and on the left is Star.

To create a lace-like cake, you need to use a star-shaped nozzle (№6B or №172, Wilton). Prepare a teaspoon in advance. Squeeze out cream in the form of stars along the entire perimeter of the cake. Then, using a spoon, carefully spread a part of each star starting from the center. Make sure to remove any excess cream from the spoon to ensure neat patterns. Then squeeze out the next row of stars and repeat the process. Each subsequent row of stars should be placed on the smooth part of the cream directly above the lower star that was spread with the spoon. The top of the cake can be decorated in a similar way by placing stars in a spiral pattern. There will be more movements involved since each placed star needs to be spread with a spoon.

To simplify the situation, decorate the sides of the cake with the same nozzle, leaving the stars whole, and leave the top of the cake smooth. Decorate the surface of the cake with fruits or cream flowers.

To decorate the cake with beautiful roses, use the Rose nozzle (2D, Wilton). First, draw a rose, starting from 1-1.5 cm above the bottom edge. Start squeezing from the center, and then make a circular motion, carefully removing the bag with the nozzle as soon as you complete the circle. The next rose should be started slightly away from the first one. This way, the roses should tightly fit together, forming the first row. For the next row, start squeezing the rose between two bottom roses, about 1-1.5 cm away from them. Similarly, finish the row. This way, the cake can be densely covered with roses. In case there are gaps between the flowers, they can be covered with cream. Using the same nozzle, squeeze out a star. Roses can be made with a colored gradient. Look at how beautifully you can decorate a cake with cream!