How to Decorate a Tray Cake at Home
Have a problem with dull tray cakes? Worry no more as this recipe will teach you how to decorate a tray cake at home.
Yield: 12
Equipment
- Cake baked in a disposable tray with lid
- 16 inch Piping Bags
- Variety of tips (4B, 1M, 2D, 104)
- Gel Food Coloring
- Buttercream (American, American Meringue, Swiss Meringue, Italian Meringue, or Royal Icing Buttercream)
- Bowls and spoons
- Sprinkles
Instructions
- Bake a cake in a 9*13 disposable tray with lid.
- Allow the cake to cool completely before decorating.
- Color your choice of frosting (I recommend American buttercream, Swiss or Italian Meringue Buttercream, American Meringue, or Royal Icing Buttercream, I do not recommend cream cheese icing as it's the least stable of all and could melt, however, you could add American buttercream to the cream cheese icing for stability.)
- Prepare your piping bags with different tips. (Refer to decorating basics on how to prepare piping bags)
- Color 1-2 cups of frosting desired colors. (I used 2 drops of Electric purple, 3 drops of deep pink, 2 drops of soft pink, and left one piping white)
- Add frosting to bags.
- Start by anchoring the tray cake with large rosettes.
- In order to make a rosette use a tip 1M or 2D. These are called large star tips.
- Place a quick squeeze of icing on the cake (it will look like a star).
- Make a tight circle going around the star, slightly above the cake-never drag the piping bag or you will pull up cake crumbs.
- Keep an even and steady pressure.
- After making the rosette, stop squeezing the icing and then pull away.
- Every design will be a steady pressure, stop, then pull away. If you pull off while squeezing you will have a mess!
- Make large rosettes all over the cake and move on to a different dip.
- To make the zigzag lines use the tip 104 also called the "rose tip" and just move your hand back and forth to create the design.
- The final tip 4B was to make "drop" flower designs. They are used to fill in gaps.
- Place sprinkles liberally over the top of the cake and you're done!
Notes
For the cake-only one boxed cake mix was used to bake the cake, two will be too much, you wont be able to close the lid.
This can be made for smaller servings and work as a party favor! Amazon has several foil pans with lids in bulk.
You can use 12inch piping bags but I would recommend 16-inch piping bags because you will have to refill the 12 inch at least once.
This technique uses more frosting than you think it does so you will need to have several cups of buttercream.
I wouldn't recommend using store-bought frosting as it will be too soft and not hold its shape, you could, however, use store-bought buttercream (which can be found at craft stores, restaurant supply stores, and Walmart
To clean your piping tips, boil them in hot water to get rid of any butter residue. I also run them through the dishwasher after boiling.
This can be made for smaller servings and work as a party favor! Amazon has several foil pans with lids in bulk.
You can use 12inch piping bags but I would recommend 16-inch piping bags because you will have to refill the 12 inch at least once.
This technique uses more frosting than you think it does so you will need to have several cups of buttercream.
I wouldn't recommend using store-bought frosting as it will be too soft and not hold its shape, you could, however, use store-bought buttercream (which can be found at craft stores, restaurant supply stores, and Walmart
To clean your piping tips, boil them in hot water to get rid of any butter residue. I also run them through the dishwasher after boiling.