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Food & Cooking tips

248 free skill tips with unique step photos — plus long-form guides with FAQ and trusted sources. Every tip links to a full photographed course.

Food & Cooking tips

🍳 Food & Cooking · Step 1/8

Prep pans like you mean it

Prep pans like you mean it — step 1 of 8 in Cake Decorating Essentials. Grease, line the bottoms with parchment, dust with flour, tap out the extra. Weigh the batter into the two pans so they match.

From course: Cake Decorating Essentials

🍳 Food & Cooking · Step 2/8

Level with a sawing motion

Level with a sawing motion — step 2 of 8 in Cake Decorating Essentials. Serrated knife, cake on the turntable, blade level with the equator. Rotate the cake into the knife. Do not press down.

From course: Cake Decorating Essentials

🍳 Food & Cooking · Step 3/8

Beat butter pale, then sugar

Beat butter pale, then sugar — step 3 of 8 in Cake Decorating Essentials. Beat 250 g room-temp butter 3 minutes until it looks paler. Add 400 g sifted icing sugar in two additions on low so you don't powder the…

From course: Cake Decorating Essentials

🍳 Food & Cooking · Step 4/8

Color with gel, not liquid

Color with gel, not liquid — step 4 of 8 in Cake Decorating Essentials. Liquid coloring thins the frosting. Gel, drop by drop. Dark colors deepen as they sit 30 minutes — mix a little lighter than you think.

From course: Cake Decorating Essentials

🍳 Food & Cooking · Step 5/8

Dam and fill

Dam and fill — step 5 of 8 in Cake Decorating Essentials. A ring of buttercream around the edge of the first layer, then fill the inside. The dam stops jam or loose frosting from bulging.

From course: Cake Decorating Essentials

🍳 Food & Cooking · Step 6/8

Thin crumb coat, then the real coat

Thin crumb coat, then the real coat — step 6 of 8 in Cake Decorating Essentials. Spread a thin layer to trap crumbs. Scrape almost to the cake. Chill 15 minutes until matte. Then a generous final coat.

From course: Cake Decorating Essentials

🍳 Food & Cooking · Step 7/8

1M rosette

1M rosette — step 7 of 8 in Cake Decorating Essentials. Fill the bag only two-thirds. Twist the top. 90° to the cake, start in the center of where the rosette will live, spiral out, stop…

From course: Cake Decorating Essentials

🍳 Food & Cooking · Step 8/8

Shell border around the base

Shell border around the base — step 8 of 8 in Cake Decorating Essentials. Bag at 45°. Squeeze, pull, stop. Each shell overlaps the last slightly. If the base looks dirty with crumbs, you skipped the crumb coat…

From course: Cake Decorating Essentials