I'm new to cake decorating, but love baking and art. I want to learn decorating as a hobby to make cakes for family birthdays or any other event. My daughter's first birthday is coming up soon and my husband's grandma's birthday is right around the corner. I have a sheet cake pan that is 14x12. I am now wondering if that isn't a little too big to work with. I can really use any advice, tips, and any insights at all with baking a cake and icing. I'm lost on recipes for both and what supplies do I need for the cake and icing? I have all of the decorating supplies such as tips, bags, etc. Also a cake board and box. After searching the web I almost feel overwhelmed. Please help.

welcome to CC there is a thread on here about everything you need to know about buttercream i am not sure how to post the link so i will give you a bump so it can get to the home page and maybe someone can post the link for you.


shelly

First off let me be one of the first to welcome you to CC and the wonderful world of cake decorating. Your pan size should be all about how many servings you are wanting to get from it. There are a couple of great cake recipes out there and it really just depends upon whether you are wanting to bake from scratch or box it is all up to you and your likes and dislikes. Most that bake with box mixes use a recipe on here for WASC it should be in the recipe section on here. It uses box cake mixes and different ingredients to achieve a variety of different flavors. So just from that basic recipe you can achieve chocolate,vanilla,lemon etc. depending upon what you are looking for. You will also find a number of butter cream recipes on here. Some are rated and if they are not you can see which are the most popular by the number of times it has been looked at. That may be a good indication of a good recipe since it is so popular. Decorating is a creative outlet much like painting a picture. I think everyone has their own interpretation of what appeals to them and most of all it is a great deal of trial and error. Just take it all step by step and along the way should you have a question or need a hand post in the forums and you may be surprised how many helping hands you get If I can be of any help I would be more than happy to assist you There are no dumb questions here... we all started in the same boat

Hi and Welcome to CC, Monka_mommy.

Decoding CC acronyms:

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-2926-.html

Everything you need to make, assemble and decorate tiered/stacked/layered or sheet cakes:

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-605188-.html

The above super-thread has popular CC recipes for: crusting American buttercreams, fondant and doctored cake mixes (WASC with flavor variations).

The links to Wilton's cake preparation and servings guide will also be very helpful. The charts give servings yield (wedding or party size), and required batter amounts by pan size/s, as well as recommended baking temps. and times and amount of frosting required to cover and decorate. And so much more.

Look forward to seeing pics of your cakes.

HTH

P.S. Indydebi has done the math (of calculating single layer servings) on common sheet cake sizes:

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-302303-.html

Thanks everyone. I'm a little confused on how much batter I will need. Is there anyway to figure that out? I was wrong on the sheet pan size also, it's 12x18.

Welcome to the family Monka mommy!!

You can find a chart at wilton's web site for batter, buttercream and fondant amount used in different cake sizes. I know that a box of cake mix had approximately 4 1/2 cups of batter. From there you can do the math.

You will have a great time here on CC going through all the tips and ideas. It just takes time. But I have learned so much here, that I doubt any course can teach as much.

Have fun, enjoy... and again welcome!

Let's us know if you need help.