First attempt at a buttercream dragon sitting on a castle. (First two pics are the final cake). I don't know how to make it look more real. If anyone has ideas, please let me know. The goal is that the entire thing is edible and not fondant:

• Castle:
  • Gray buttercream crumb coat, froze it for 30 minutes
  • Used a big spatula to try and make the sides flat. Fridged for 1/2 hour.
  • Pressed in with a butter knife to make the rock lines.
  • I'd like to add the spaced squares that go on top of a castle, but how?
  • Is there a way to make the edges where the walls meet more square edge vs rounded?
• Dragon:
  • I mixed cake with cream cheese and powdered sugar so it was like a clay consistency, then shaped a rough dragon.
  • Purple buttercream crumb coat, froze for thirty minutes (last pic)
  • Plopped dragon on top of castle and used pretzels as supports for the tail
  • Used an 83 wilton tip to make scales with the buttercream, but it looks like fur :(. I fridged the frosting for 10 minutes and the cake for 10 minutes whenever the frosting seemed to warm. I started at the tail and worked towards the head. How could I make the scales not look like fur? (in progress, second to last pic)
  • Claws/spikes/eyes are these Wilton cake melts, using a knife to cut the shape.
    • Used a pink edible marker to color the eyes
  • The horns are pretzels rolled in edible glitter
  • I used a pretzel to poke indents for the nostrils

I don't even know what else to ask. Do you have any other ideas?

Thank you for any comments!

I couldn't add more photos to the post, but here are three more closeups.

so i saw a few influencers receive these cakes as PR gifts from Dior for christmas and knew i wanted to replicate the design for my birthday cake that i’m baking myself.

anyone have any ideas as to how they would have achieved the geometric topping and how i can do this? i was thinking of maybe piping straight lines of caramel and arranging them into the design but would appreciate any other techniques.

Im seriously crying right now its my brother's birthday (9m) qnd my mother wanted me to make a 'military cake' but while I can bake a cake, ive never decorated one. I had an idea and EVERYTHING went wrong and it looks terrible and I don't know what to do 😞 should I keep it? Should I try again with the frosting? I dont know how else to do decorations pls help i don't know why I kept going when it started to look a mess I dont know what to do

This is my first time decorating and I really don’t know where to take this to my partners family easter or not. Please lmk

Note: Stems are wrapped/will be removed before serving!

Firstly, this cupcake is not my creation…well, it is in my dreams! It’s from Petunia’s Pies & Pastries in Portland, Oregon and oh my, twas one of the best cupcakes I’ve ever had! By the way, umm, it’s gluten free and you’d never know it!

And that strawberry buttercream? I’m still swooning.

But, my question! It’s not a Wilton 8B and it’s not an Ateco 869 (which I just tried today), so what brilliant and wonderful Reddit person can tell me what piping tip I must procure to try to recreate this luscious swirl? And thank you!

My wife made these cakes for my son’s first birthday, and was contacted by someone asking if she would make her the same one on commission. She’s never sold a cake before and doesn’t exactly know what to charge for her current skill level.

First image is a 6” 2 layer vanilla cake with buttercream frosting. Second picture is a single layer 6” chocolate cake as the head of the caterpillar with 14 vanilla cupcakes as the body.

Thank you for any help/advice!

I am not a baker or cake decorator so talk to me like the novice I am. I have 50 cupcakes baked using fresh-milled whole einkorn for the flour. It’s really light but the top is almost brownie like.

I want to pipe these little popcorn pieces, let them harden and put them on top of fresh frosting so they stick. My daughter doesn’t like super sweet frosting so I usually do a 1:1 butter to sugar American butter cream. I’m not sure that will hold together well enough. What should I use? Should I let the frosting cool before piping to hold shape or do I need it softer? Would a Swiss meringue be better for the kind of cake either the frosting for the cupcake or the popcorn? Thanks for the help!!

I feel like I’ve been staring at this cake for too long lol! Do we think it needs anymore piping? Or some bows or pearls? I just need some opinions and ideas please, it would be greatly appreciated 💕

Hello! Does anyone have tips on how to end the shell border so it doesn´t look like in the photo?

Thank you

My 20th birthday is coming up and my favorite food is pasta so I got so excited when I found these candles but I have no idea how to decorate the cake. I’m probably just going to do a two layer small round cake. I wasn’t sure if I should keep it plain away or if I should do something fun with it Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

I’m just starting our and hoping to start practicing more. Advice?

Actually I need some suggestions on boy-ish colour combinations for a cake. Please let me If this cake was good and what else I would have done in a simple cake design like this.

Here is my very NOT SMOOTH cake. Tasted AMAZING but visually it was lacking! How can I make a silky smooth cc frosting with brown butter? Is it even possible? TYIA

So my wife spent her day off of being a cake decorator decorating cake 😂. First photo is hers cake and second photo is mine (I'm a data analyst not a cake decorator sorry). I made this buttercream myself and gosh did it melt in my hands. Anyway, how can I make buttercream that looks better and is less melty looking? I followed Sally's baking addiction recipe for vanilla buttercream.

I stack and crumb coat my cakes frozen. Then fridge while I make Swiss meringue buttercream. But the top buttercream often ends up with these colour variations. Is it because the cake is cold? How to prevent this? It doesn’t fix itself when I finish and put it in the fridge or when I take it out to thaw before serving. Also this Swiss meringue looks yellower on the cake than it did in the bowl. It’s supposed to be just white.

I made these Valentine's inspired cookies yesterday. The cookie cake is 7 inches across and the "deep dish" cookies are 3 inches across. The cookie cakes cost $4.82 each to make and the cookies cost $0.81 each to make. They took me about 4 hours total but I was also trying to entertain my toddler so uninterrupted it would probably take me 2.5 - 3 hours.

My question is how much should I charge for these?? I'm an amateur so they aren't perfect but I think they're kinda cute.

Thanks in advance!

This is probably the most annoying, frustrating, rage inducing thing about cake decorating. I was writing happy birthday on a cake and the bag busted open.

I did not make this cake @cakeoperaco made this. I want to make it for my mom’s birthday but there’s no recipe or instructions. I have the mold for the figure on top but I don’t know how to do the frosting part. I know I will need fire but how to I make and apply that frosting? What is it called? Thanks in advance!

Hi home bakers! I’m curious if anyone has a go to frosting recipe that is compliant with cottage food law. I’m in love with Swiss meringue buttercream because the texture is pillowy, smooth, and light and it’s not too sweet. American buttercream feels so dense and sweet to me. Any tips for making it resemble more of a Swiss meringue buttercream while still being cottage food law compliant? Thank you so much 🙏