What's One Thing You've Learned That Would Help A Newbie?
Decorating By foxworthbm Updated 19 Dec 2006 , 5:42am by doitallmom
I thought I would start a forum where some experienced cake decorators could give some tokens of advice to newbies. It can be anything you've learned (the hard way), or helpful hints or tips. Thanks tons. 
Violet cancels yellow. If you use butter in your buttercream, add a touch of voilet to make your frosting white. Here is a link to a thread with tons of tips. Enjoy! 
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-41755.html
The best tip or advise I think I have learned came from another decorator years ago. That is how to avoid the dreaded bulge on the sides of an iced cake. Use a #12 plain piping tip and pipe a circular dam of buttercream icing just at the inside edge of your bottom cake layer, fill inside the circle with filling of choice, place the top layer on and then using the same piping tip, go around the side of your cake where the two layers meet and fill in that space with a line of icing. Smooth the line with an icing spatula, then crumb coat and final coat your cake with icing. Making the dam holds in the filling, but it also lifts that top layer enough to create a space or gap between the two cake layers. Filling in that space on the outside of the cake is as important, if not more so, than the dam itself. It fills in the gap between the two layers and prevents an air pocket from forming. That air pocket can create an ugly bulge in your iced cake.
If you use piping gel on waxed paper for pattern transfer, let it dry for about an hour or more. Then it becomes a flexible pattern impression. Lay it on the crusted frosting, rub gently until all the lines seem to appear through the waxed paper and then peel it away.
This works beautifully for making lace impressions on a buttercream cake in which the bride wants the cake to match her dress. A small piece can be used over the entire cake, around corners and over the edges.
This is my favorite accident.
Michele
Thanks for those tips and to KylesMom for that link. I can't wait to read them!
Non-slip rubber matting (available at most hardware or dollar stores) is THE BEST!! Placed underneath cakes during transportation, your cakes are really safe and secure.
Another thing I learned the hard way, but it only took one time. 
Transporting tiered cakes assembled is NEVER worth my stress and anxiety compared to transporting them individually and spending just a few minutes to put them together on-site and finish a little piping of borders. Now, I sleep well without worrying about accidents! 
Using viva paper towels to smooth buttercream...this has saved me so much time and it looks like fondant.
I would have to say ive tried everything that comes to my ears (or eyes) I used to have big trouble while torting my cakes, i bought that knife that wilton sells, first the small one then the big one and i was getting pretty good with the big one .until i heard from a dear friend (conny06)how she torts her cakes
she cuts with a serrated knife or any knife around the cake then she takes a thread(sewing thread) and she puts it into the cut she made all around ,hold the two ends together and crosses them until they come out completely .it is way to easy when you want to make very thin slices or want 3 layers out of a 2 inch cake . start at the bottom ,then center on at a time .that made it easier plus the wilton knife is very very sharp even on the dull side. i have may tinny cuts in my fingers from holding the dull side of the blade to wash it . thanks
one of the most useful tips i learned here...
if you get an eggshell in your egg bowl....use a piece of eggshell to fish it out...it attracts like a magnet instead of chasing it all around the bowl.
most batches i got 45 eggs in a big ole bowl so imagine what a pain in da booty that was!
Using viva paper towels to smooth buttercream...this has saved me so much time and it looks like fondant.
How do you use them? I've never heard of viva paper towels. Are they regular paper towels?
The bake-even strips make for beautiful, flat cakes, so I very rarely have to level or have any scraps.
Diane
i dont want to be rude ,please, that is not my intention .but i read somewhere here in cc it was a link about food safety .not to let your eggs come in contact with the eggshell since eggshell can or have or develope salmonella .ill see if i find the link so i dont sound like a salmonella freak just thought id share cause im always reading everything everywhere ! linda
NEVER let a customer tell you they will bring the ingredients for a cake. I had a customer order a dummie cake for her wedding...she told me she would bring the fondant, color, ribbon, styrofoam, and have a beautiful cake stand ready at the reception site. The fondant was dried up because she left the bucket open, the colors were not what I was used to, the ribbon sucked, the styrofoam was the wrong sizes, and the cake stand was too small! What a mess this created for me! What could have been a quick 7 teir cake turned into me running all over Houston to get the right supplies! I certainly learned my lesson!!
if you don't have the strips, the baking nail is great--grease it and place it in the center of the pan then fill with batter.
i love the plastic cutting sheet under the kitchen aid for easy sliding in/out of the kitchen counter corner.
i love MMF recipe i found on this site--thanks! and all the tricks that entails--
i love the clay extractor for fondant borders....
i dont want to be rude ,please, that is not my intention .but i read somewhere here in cc it was a link about food safety .not to let your eggs come in contact with the eggshell since eggshell can or have or develope salmonella .ill see if i find the link so i dont sound like a salmonella freak just thought id share cause im always reading everything everywhere ! linda
Hmm. . . . . 
Using viva paper towels to smooth buttercream...this has saved me so much time and it looks like fondant.
How do you use them? I've never heard of viva paper towels. Are they regular paper towels?
Viva is just the brand most everyone here on CC prefers. You can use any plain but "heavy duty" paper towel for the method, Viva is just what's worked best for most. HTH.
I am a fairly newbie too.... The Melivra roller method for smoothing your cake icing rocks! Like it even better than Viva method. I do a crumb coat...let it dry a bit... apply second coat of BC... wait only til just not tacky to the touch and lightly roll.... you will be amazed. It is on this site. People were amazed my first class cake was so smooth. Wish my decorations were as easy....LOL!
As a newbie myself here is one of my favorite tips that is not self-evident when you are blithely shopping at Michael's and decide to buy some shimmer dust in anticipation of making some cool cake designs. Shimmer dust is not the same as luster dust!!! The experienced decoraters know this but we newbies all seem to learn the hard way when we mix it with extract and it turns into glop. Shimmer dust is water-soluble and meant to be sprinkled on like glitter; it dissolves into goo when mixed w/liquid. Luster dust not water soluble, is in a class by itself, and is highly addictive (for decorating I mean!). It can be painted on either dry or when mixed w/alcohol. You've pretty much got to buy it on the internet or in a cake supply store; craft stores don't carry it (to the best of my knowledge). I've already ranted on another thread how I think Wilton should change the name of that product 
.
Also I too have heard about the eggshell/salmonella connection but I would think that is irrelevant for anything baked since heat kills salmonella. However for icings I would definitely be careful. But then again I AM paranoid, I actually used pasteurized egg whites for my IMBC. I'm also a walking contradiction cuz I am happy to eat half a batch of cookie dough in one sitting without a second thought .
oh man!...one time i thought i was gonna be smart and get my cakes cooled down really fast...it was in winter....and we had been baking all morning...we had cakes everywhere in the back room where my oven is....well...
i opened the back door to let the cold air in...meanwhile a customer came in....
i'm taking thier order bal bla bla...time passes...
i go back in the back room to see if my cakes were cool enough to wrap and put in the freezer.
that's right boys and girls...a great big ole stray dog got in and was having a feast! 
OMG, littlecake! That is hilarious! Sorry! 
When your cake first comes out of the oven, place a clean towel doubled up on top of the cake, still in the hot pan.press down all over evenly on top of the cake. Presto, a level cake every time. Let cool as normal. Not only do you get a flat top without leveling, or bake even strips, you also have a slightly denser cake crumb. Do be careful of the steam when you do this though.
I also love Viva paper towels for smoothing buttercream.
Another tip I learned here is to pay attention to your cake board. the final look of a cake can be ruined by a neglected cke board. I cover all my wedding cake boards in fondant now, it gives such a nice finished look!
I love the large silicone pads for rolling out fondant. You can just flip them over onto a cake center and peel off. No more trying to roll the fondnat over a rolling pin and having it stick to itself and get all mishaped! It is worth the money to spring for a large mat!
Oh and I avsolutely love edible dragee pearls and luster dust! The look beautiful on cakes and are a super easy embelishment.
mine is for piping royal icing. When I am working with royal icing sometimes I need to do something else and if you use a really small tip the royal icing dries really fast. I have a tall glass that I can put my piping bag in and fill with just a little water, enough to cover the tip once it is in the cup this way the icing doesn't dry and I can still use it without having to take the tip out and cleaning it. I have also left it overnight like this and the next morning it was fine.
Tiptop's Top Ten
1. Learn how to make MMF it is cheaper and tastes great.
2. Use 50/50 fondant and gumpaste for modeling. Fondant is too fragile on its own.
3. Don't buy the latest gadget. Most of my stuff comes from the hardware store.
4. Dowel, when in doubt, dowel again, if you are nervous put one more dowel in!
5. Learn to cover a cake board the right way the first time when taking your cake out of your house. Just get rid of the tinfoil - is too tacky and screams unprofessional homemade in public ....... or if you don't want to learn how to cover cake boards then buy a pretty cake plate.
6. Price accordingly and tell your clients the price upfront.
7. Don't start a thread asking if you undercharged. If you have to ask then you did undercharge and it is too late to get your money. If you must know then ask how much should I charge for this cake? Before you sell it. 
8. Find a cake artist you like and study their work......then don't be afraid to try something new.
9. Have fun on the CC threads.
10. Finally don't take CC comments personally! There are too many people from all over the world and sometimes writing something is not the same as saying it.
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%