How to Frost a Cake (2024)

Everyone knows the icing on the cake is the best part, but it can also be one of the more challenging steps of the cake-making process. And it’s not just the fancy swirls, bobs and swags you see in bakeries. A slick, crumb-free frosting on a cake or cupcake is an achievement in itself. This guide will help you get there and beyond.

1. Attempting to spread frosting onto warm cake layers is a recipe for sloppy disaster. Chill your cake layers for at least 2 hours, or better, overnight. If you’ve made your frosting ahead, make sure it’s at room temperature before you start.

2. A large offset spatula and some parchment paper are small investments that will pay dividends. You’ll also need a long, preferably serrated knife to trim the cake layers and cut them in half. If you’re a cupcake fan, pick up a small offset spatula as well.

3. If you love baking (or at least, cake-making) consider buying a rotating cake turntable on a pedestal. While not essential, it does help achieve a satiny finish quickly and easily. A cake carrier will help you transport your cake to the party.

Prepare Your Cake

You’ve baked your cake. You’ve let the layers cool. But before you can cover them with a luscious layer of frosting, you need to get your cake ready. Make sure the layers have cooled for a couple of hours after they come out of the oven, or even overnight in the refrigerator. When you’re ready to frost, follow these steps.

1. How to Prepare a Cake for Frosting

   These steps below are specific to layer cakes, but you can use the basic information to get the most out of frosting pound cakes and bundt cakes, too (although you might consider glazing those, and we’ll help you with that).

   Cut three or four parchment or wax paper strips to place under the cake. Then, use a serrated knife to trim off any peaks from the tops of the cakes so they lie flat and even. (Eat these trimmings as your reward for having baked the cake in the first place.)

   Place the paper strips on the edges of a serving plate and invert one cake layer onto it so cut side is facing down; this helps minimize crumbs. Make sure the strips are tucked partially under the cake to keep them from moving around, and partially sticking out to cover the serving plate. The strips help keep you keep from frosting the plate as well as the cake. Finally, brush away any loose crumbs using a pastry brush. But be gentle – you don’t want to create more crumbs.

   Haven’t decided what cake you want to bake? lots of ideas for you.



Karsten Moran for The New York Times

2. Tips

   • If your layers are thick and you’d like to halve them to make a four-layer cake, find your longest serrated knife to do the job. It’s hard to do this well, so take your time. First, score a level horizontal line around the perimeter of the layer to guide you as you cut. Then place one hand on top of the cake, and evenly cut the layer across the scored line. Use less pressure and rely more on the back-and-forth sawing motion of your knife to cut the cake.

   • If you’re planning to carry your cake in a cake carrier, make sure the cake plate fits inside it. Or, ice the cake on a cardboard round that’s at least 1 to 2 inches larger in diameter than your cake.

   • If you want additional flavor or sweetness, brush a plain or flavored simple syrup onto top of each cake layer.

Frostings

When it comes to choosing the right frosting for your cake, your options range from a silky buttercream to a rich, bittersweet ganache. While there are no rules about matching frosting to cakes, bear in mind that sturdier cakes, like butter and pound cakes, can stand up to all frostings, whether a delicate buttercream or a heavy fudge. But for airy confections like sponge and chiffon cakes, stick to a lighter frosting, like a 7-minute meringue.

Buttercream & Cream Cheese

• Buttercream Frosting

  The unifying feature of all buttercream frostings, whether sweetened with sugar syrup or jam, is the liberal use of butter. These frostings go well with any kind of butter cake, sponge cake, or fruit-filled cake, but avoid using them on flourless cakes. Make sure all your ingredients are at room temperature before you start; if your frosting looks curdled, it’s probably because they were either too warm or too cold. Buttercream frosting can be made up to two weeks ahead and stored in the refrigerator. Just make sure you bring it to room temperature before frosting your cake.

  Here’s a foolproof method: In a metal bowl, combine 4 large egg whites with a pinch of salt and 1 cup sugar. Set the bowl over a pot with an inch of simmering water and whisk the mixture over low heat until the sugar dissolves. Remove the bowl from the heat and beat with an electric mixture until stiff peaks form. Beat in 3 sticks softened unsalted butter, one spoonful at a time, until the buttercream is smooth. Then, beat in whatever flavoring you’d like to use, like vanilla extract, lemon juice or brandy.

  If the frosting (or your kitchen) seems too warm, stick the bowl in the fridge for a few minutes, then continue beating. If it’s too cold, let the frosting warm up, then continue beating until it comes together. This may take several minutes, so don’t give up.

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  Karsten Moran for The New York Times

  Cream Cheese Frosting

  Cream cheese frosting has the same smooth silky texture of buttercream, but with an added tangy, sweet-tart flavor. It’s a breeze to make and is the traditional frosting for carrot cakes, but consider it for anything from simple white layer cakes to devil’s food and fudge cakes. As with buttercreams, make sure your ingredients are at room temperature. Cream cheese frosting can usually be made a week ahead.

  Here’s how you do it: Using an electric mixer, beat together 1 pound softened cream cheese with 1 stick softened unsalted butter until smooth. Slowly beat in 6 cups confectioners’ sugar until very smooth, about 3 minutes. Beat in 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 2 teaspoons vanilla extract or 1 tablespoon lemon juice plus 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest. Thin the frosting with a little milk if it seems too thick to spread.

Fudge & Ganache

• Fudge Frosting

  Rich and dark, fudge frostings are like the soft and spreadable version of their eponymous candy. This frosting should be used very soon after making, before it firms up and becomes difficult to spread. If you must make it ahead, you’ll need to reheat it, beating it until spreadable.

  Here’s how to make it: Finally chop 6 ounces unsweetened chocolate. In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, heat 1 1/2 cup sugar, 1 cup heavy cream or milk, and a pinch of salt until the sugar dissolves. Pour the hot sugar mixture into a bowl and add the chopped chocolate, 1 stick of softened unsalted butter and 2 teaspoons vanilla extract or other flavoring (bourbon is nice). Stir until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth. Place the bowl with the warm chocolate mixture into another larger bowl filled with ice. Using an electric mixer, beat until thick and fudgy.

• Ganache Frosting

  Ganaches, made from chocolate mixed with butter or cream, are smoother and silkier than fudge frostings, but just as rich. They can be made from bittersweet, milk or white chocolate. Use semisweet chocolate for a sweeter ganache, and bittersweet or extra-bittersweet chocolate for something less sugary. Ganache can usually be made a week or two ahead. Store it in the refrigerator and bring it to room temperature while beating it again before frosting your cake.

  Here’s an easy, standard method for perfect ganache: Finely chop 12 ounces bittersweet chocolate and place it in a large, heatproof bowl. In a small saucepan, heat 1 1/2 cups heavy cream with a pinch of salt until it comes to a simmer. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate. Let the mixture sit for a minute, then stir until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth. Stir in 4 tablespoons unsalted butter and 1 to 2 tablespoons flavoring, like vanilla, rum or espresso.

7-Minute Meringue

• Beating eggs whites with sugar gives a glossy, billowing meringue frosting that’s a classic on coconut cakes and Lady Baltimore cakes. Seven-minute meringue frostings, also called Swiss meringues, are made in a double boiler over simmering water to dissolve the sugar, using electric beaters to achieve the froth. Cakes with meringue frostings are best served the day they are frosted.

  Here’s how you do it: in a metal bowl, combine two egg whites, 1 1/3 cups sugar, 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar and a pinch of salt. Beat with an electric mixer until well combined. Place the bowl on top of a pot filled with an inch of simmering water. Over low heat, beat the egg mixture until it’s thick and fluffy, about 7 minutes. Mix in 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Make sure you frost your cake immediately, or the meringue will firm up and become impossible to use. And never store meringue frosting in the refrigerator; the humidity will make it bead and weep.

Glazes

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  Karsten Moran for The New York Times

  Made from confectioners’ sugar or chocolate, glazes are a subset of frostings. Instead of being applied with a spatula, glazes are thin enough to pour over the top. They will run down the cake’s sides in attractive drips, and then harden as they set. It’s useful to place your cake or cupcake on a rack instead of a plate to apply the glaze, so the glaze doesn’t pool around the bottom. When the glaze has set, transfer the cake to a serving plate, using a large offset spatula if you have one. Glazes are great for simple bundt cakes and pound cakes – really, any cake in which you want to gild the lily.

  Here’s a simple glaze: in a large bowl, whisk together 2 cups confectioners’ sugar with 1/4 cup milk or cream and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Add more milk, a teaspoon at a time, until the desired consistency is reached. It should be thick yet pourable. You can substitute cold coffee, orange juice or lemon juice for all or part of the milk.

Frost Your Cake

You’ve baked your cake layers, chilled them down, de-crumbed them and have them all ready for frosting. Follow these steps for the neatest, most evenly frosted and best-looking cakes. A simply and beautifully frosted cake needs no further decoration if you take the time to do it right – but rainbow sprinkles or chopped nuts hide a multitude of frosting sins, so don’t fret if it’s not perfect.

1. How to Frost a Cake

   Make sure the bottom cake layer is sitting on parchment strips to keep the cake plate clean and frosting-free. Using an offset spatula or a knife, spread the frosting your filling evenly on top of the bottom cake layer. Then, using a large offset spatula if you have one, carefully pick up your second layer and gently place it on the frosted layer, trimmed side down. If the layer isn’t centered, use your hands to position it before you apply the frosting. Repeat if you’ve got more layers and filling.

   Give your layers another brush to remove any more stray crumbs, and then prepare the crumb coat. This is a thin coating of frosting that seals the crumbs to the cake so they don’t show through. Take about 1/2 cup of frosting and thin it out with a little milk or water so it’s very easy to spread. With an offset spatula, spread a thin layer of it on the tops and sides of the cake, then chill until set, about 15 minutes. Repeat if you can still see crumbs showing through the icing. Chocolate and dark cakes will often need two crumb coats; white or yellow cakes are more forgiving.

   Now frost the cake with the unthinned frosting using an offset spatula. Start with top of the cake, spreading the frosting all the way to the edge of the layer. Then, frost the sides. If the cake is on a turntable, spin it around as you frost for an even coating. When you’re done, remove the parchment paper strips and admire your nice, clean plate. But don’t do this yet if you are planning on piping any decorations on the sides or bottom of the cake. Read on for more details on how to do that.

Decorating

There’s nothing wrong with a plain and simple frosted cake. But if you want to add some fancy swirls, roses, shell borders and other frippery, here’s how. We’ll also show you how to write neatly on a cake with a pastry bag. Your birthday cakes have never looked better.

1. Decorating With a Spatula

   For a basic wavy look all over the cake, use an offset spatula or a knife and a back-and-forth motion to create swirls all over the frosting. This is one of the easiest ways to add texture and a classic diner cake look to your cake. If you’re using a fudge frosting or a meringue, you can lift the spatula to pull up some of the frosting and create spikes all over the surface of the cake. (This doesn’t work as well with ganache or buttercream, though.) You could also use a fork to create striped patterns on the cake.



Karsten Moran for The New York Times

2. Decorating With Garnishes

   To add texture to your cake, you could press chopped nuts, coconut, mini chocolate chips, chocolate shavings or curls, or sprinkles into the sides or top of the cake. Sliced strawberries, whole raspberries, pomegranate seeds or other fruit look nice too, but don’t add them until just before serving or they will water down and possibly stain the frosting.



Karsten Moran for The New York Times

3. Decorating With a Pastry Bag

   To pipe out letters, borders, flowers, dots and swirls, you’ll need a pastry bag, or a zip-top plastic bag approximation of one. (We’ll tell you how to do that.) Here’s how to use it:

   First, assemble the pastry bag. If using a disposable plastic bag, snip off the tip to create an opening. For any kind of pastry bag, plastic or coated cloth, insert a coupler down through the bag into the opening. Using a coupler, a plastic fitting that connects the bag to the tip, makes it easier to change tips; otherwise, you’ll have to remove the frosting from the bag to get to the tip. Then, screw the tip on to the coupler. You can also just insert the tip directly into bag if you don’t have a coupler.

   To load the frosting into the bag, invert the bag, tip down, into a glass and fold the bag over the sides. Using a spatula or large spoon, press the frosting down into the bag, getting it as far into the bag as possible. You’ll want to avoid as many air bubbles as possible. Once you’ve filled the bag – about halfway is best – twist the top shut and press a little frosting out through the tip. Hold the bag near the tip with your dominant hand, and use your other hand to push the frosting out of the bag from the top, continuing to twist the bag top as you go. Now your bag is ready for action.

   If you don’t have a pastry bag, you can also use a zip-top bag with the corner cut off. Choose a heavy-duty bag that is easy to seal, and a gallon-sized bag is easier to handle for adults (if you’re working with kids, though, choose a quart size.) Cut a very small opening in one corner for writing, and a larger opening for other decorations. You can attach tips and couplers to a plastic bag as well as you can with a pastry bag.



Karsten Moran for The New York Times

4. To make stars and borders, choose a star tip. Use a smooth tip for writing, dots and stripes. Choose the shell tip for leaves, shells and borders. And for flowers? A flower tip, of course. Before you start decorating your cake, practice whatever you have in mind on a plate. It’s hard to neatly correct piping gone wrong without refrosting the cake.

   To pipe flowers, fit your pastry bag with a flower tip and fill bag with frosting. Place the bag straight up and down, at a 90 degree angle from the cake. Squeeze the bag gently while simultaneously turning the bag slightly. Pull up slowly.

   To pipe borders, fit your pastry bag with a star tip and fill the bag with frosting. Hold the pastry bag at a 45-degree angle, touch the tip to where you want to start the border, then squeeze hard while pulling the bag straight up. Stop squeezing and bring the bag down about 1/2-inch away from where you started. Continue in that fashion all the way around the top or bottom edge of the cake.



Karsten Moran for The New York Times

5. Writing on a Cake

   It’s easier to write on top of the cake in the center before you pipe any borders or decorates on the top of the cake. It gives you more room to work, and if you make a mistake, it’s still easy to re-frost the top of the cake and start again. Practice writing the message with frosting on a flat surface before trying it on the cake. Make sure you make at least two kinds of frosting for your cake, or make a light frosting and tint it for the frosting used as decoration.

   To write on a cake, choose a pastry tip with a small hole. The smaller the hole, the more elegant the letters will look. Using a toothpick, place a dot where you want each letter of the words to go, spacing them equally. Then use the same toothpick to trace out the letters in the frosting. This is your guide. Pipe over the toothpick-lined letters, using firm, even pressure on the pastry bag. And remember: brief is better.

Frost a Cupcake

Although cupcakes are just small cakes, the technique for frosting them is different from large layer cakes. For one thing, if you’ve baked the cupcakes in paper liners, you won’t have to deal with a crumb coat, and you can spread the frosting on with a knife or pipe it on with a pastry bag. Most frostings and glazes work for cupcakes, but meringues can be challenging on such a small surface.

1. Frosting With a Pastry Bag

   Using a pastry bag or zip-top bag fitted with a star or plain tip, swirl your frosting on the cupcake, starting at the outer edge of the cake and moving toward the center. Top with sprinkles, chopped nuts, chocolate shavings or coconut flakes.



Karsten Moran for The New York Times

2. Frosting With a Knife

   You can also use a small offset spatula or butter knife to spread frosting on top of the cupcakes in an even layer. Wield the spatula or knife with a back-and-forth motion to create swirls all over the frosting, or lift it up all over the frosting to create spikes. This works best with fudge and meringue frostings. Buttercreams and ganaches are usually too soft.

Transporting and Storage

You’ve baked, frosted and decorated your gorgeous cake. Now how are you going to get it to the party without ruining it? Read on for some solutions.

Karsten Moran for The New York Times

1. A cake carrier is a sound and not-too-steep investment. Make sure to frost the cake on a cake plate or cardboard round that fits inside the carrier. The plate or round should be at least an inch larger in diameter than the cake.

   A large cardboard box is another option for carrying the cake. An upside down plastic tub container could also work if it’s big enough.

   If your cake plate or cardboard round is smaller than the cake carrier or box you’re using for transport, use strong double sided tape (or make a tape ring) to tape the plate or board to the bottom of the carrier. You don’t want it to slip and knock around.

   If you’re driving to an event with a cake and can’t find someone to hold the cake carrier in her lap (the safest place), the floor of the car is safer than the back seats. If you want to put the cake in the trunk, line the trunk with a nonslip mat or yoga mat so the cake carrier stays put and doesn’t slide around.

   You can buy cupcake carriers made specially for transporting cupcakes. Or, return the cupcakes to your cleaned out baking tin. Place a toothpick in each corner cupcake and lightly drape plastic wrap over the top.

   Always bring some leftover icing and other decorations to repair any frosting damage at the party.