Recipes and Tips

Recipes: Cakes | Cupcakes | Cookies, Bars, Brownies | Frosting and Icing
Allergy Baking: Reference Guide
Tips and Video Tutorials: Hot Weather Tips | Tricks from Fellow Bakers | Preparing Cake Pans | Buttercream Flowers | Royal Icing | Striped Cake | Cake Photography | Attaching Photos to an Email on iPhone

Before you start baking for a request with an allergy, download and read the Allergy Baking Reference Guide, a detailed supplemental guide for baking with allergy restrictions, including:

• Foods and ingredients to watch out for

• Recommended substitutions

• Tips for using substitutes / replacements

• and more!

Download: Allergy Baking Reference Guide (PDF)

• Pound cake recipes are a bit more durable for hot weather and transit-challenged deliveries. Though pound cakes are denser in texture, they still make a very nice cake and do not crack or crumb as easily when carving or slicing. We've included a great pound cake recipe in the recipes section above!

• Level your cake layers before assembling the cake by slicing any rounded or domed parts off the top of your cakes with a large, sharp knife. Stacking multiple cake layers that are flat creates a cake that is much more stable than stacking layers that have rounded tops. For really nice flat-topped cakes that result in less waste when trimming, use Wilton Bake-Even strips (thick, dampened cloth strips placed around the outside of the pan when baking).

• Stabilize your Swiss Meringue Buttercream frosting by adding some corn starch -- approximately 1 Tbsp per cup of frosting. As an extra benefit, adding corn starch also helps the frosting absorb gel food coloring more efficiently, which is especially wonderful for darker colors. Add the corn starch after whipping the meringue and while beginning to add the butter, ensuring it is incorporated into the frosting before adding gel color. Corn starch thickens the frosting somewhat and it remains in a workable texture similar to regular Swiss Meringue Buttercream frosting recipes.

• Use stabilizers like meringue powder (pasteurized egg whites), gelatin, or agar powder (flavorless vegan substitute for gelatin made from seaweed) to help decorations maintain their shape in warm weather. Frosting prepared with meringue powder will form a slight crust on the outside when drying, which allows for easier smoothing of points on piped items (such as round balls or the end of a piped letter) as well as helping other piped decorations maintain their shape. Here’s a link to a great article about how to use gelatin or agar powder so your icing is more durable: https://www.leaf.tv/articles/how-to-use-gelatin-to-thicken-frosting/

• Place your cake on a cake board base that is 2”-4” larger than your cake (leaving 1”-2” around the bottom on all sides). This makes the cake easier to handle, and less likely to be damaged on the sides by the cake box.

• Refrigerate your buttercream-covered cake so that it is cold when you leave to deliver. This will keep the cake more stable during transit and keep it fresher for longer once it has been delivered and is sitting at room temperature for the duration.

• Wipe any residual frosting from the cake board and box for the best first impression. In warm weather, frosting leaves grease stains on the box and makes the cake boards slippery to handle.

How to Make Fondant Silhouettes (external link) - tutorial by gratednutmeg.com