Affordable and Easy Ways to Creating an Award Winning Dessert

Desserts are exciting! It’s almost second nature to gasp with excitement when we see a delicious assortment of desserts. We may wonder who made it, how they made it and if they will share the recipe with us. It’s truly amazing to see a well decorated and delicious tasting cake come together from just a handful of ingredients. So what’s the secret? And why and how do the photos of cakes, cupcakes, cookies and other tasty treats look so good online? 

Pinterest, Instagram, and TikTok allow people to share pictures and videos of beautifully made desserts, and it presents such high expectations for its viewers. So of course, they scroll down for the recipe, gather all the ingredients and get to work. But often the end result of the recipe is just not the same. The outcome does not meet expectations and all that hard work of measuring, mixing and crafting is essentially wasted. The difference noticed in appearance and possibly taste has a whole lot to do with a few factors, such as the baking, decorating and photographing of the baked goods. These are a few low cost options for any wannabe baker. They’re almost guaranteed to greatly improve your baked goods! 

SPRINKLES

You may be shocked at what sprinkles can do for your baked goods. Sprinkles have really blown up over the years. You’ve probably seen the incredible cakes that have sprinkles in the center, and once cut into there is a surprise of sprinkles spilling out. It's innovative, it's smart and it’s every child's dream! You may have also seen Fancy Sprinkles, a company that designs and packages colorful bottles of sprinkles. With so many shapes, sizes and colors at your fingertips, Fancy Sprinkles will complete any cake or cupcakes beautifully. Sprinkles can provide the perfect touch to any tasty treat. You can choose to erratically spread sprinkles on your cakes and other desserts, or they can be strategically placed to make a pretty, patterned design. Either way, sprinkles are so fun, super affordable and deliver eye catching results. 

CAKE DECORATING SUPPLIES

In order to decorate a cake, you must have the proper baking tools and accessories. There are plenty of baking items on the market and you could easily overfill your kitchen cabinets and drawers with all the baking bells and whistles. Don't do this, it's unnecessary. It's more important to focus on the must have items that will provide a baker with mind blowing results without breaking the bank. Google “cake decorating ideas” and you’ll be overwhelmed with photos and videos of the most extravagant looking cakes. But do not fear, for an at home baker can achieve such desired extravagance with a few very important baking supplies. 

Number One - a variety of icing tips and piping bags: Icing tips produce various textures, patterns and designs. And in order to use icing tips, piping bags are needed. A cake is more likely to look professionally done by utilizing icing tips. 

Number Two - a spinning cake stand or turn table: A cake stand or turntable makes decorating easier. It brings the cake closer for decorating and rotates 360 degrees for quickly smoothing the cake surfaces. 

Number Three -  icing spatulas, and number four - a cake scraper: Icing spatulas fit nicely in your hand to apply the icing to the cake. Lastly, a cake scraper is used to smooth out the sides and the top of the cake. A cake with uneven edges will be difficult to keep balanced and will not be as attractive. 

All four of these tools will give your design a seamless and symmetrical look, something that is hard to accomplish by hand. 

FOOD COLORING

The best part of food coloring is that it provides so many possibilities to a dessert. The icing on a cake can be dyed and the cake itself can be dyed. Cake designs, such as rainbow, ombre, animal print, floral and much more are all made possible with a couple drops of food coloring. The power of color and creating are endless. Wassily Kandinsky once said “color is a power which directly influences the soul”. Colorful cakes attract consumers. Edible designs would be dull without incorporated pops of color. Food coloring allows a baker to dive deeply into design and fully execute their decorating ideas. Color achieves the full picture and truly, cannot be forgotten or left out. 

ASSORTMENT OF BAKING PANS 

Investing in quality baking pans is a decision not easily made, but you'll thank yourself when you do. An assortment of different size cake pans is also key to accomplishing tiered cakes and other fun designs. Some main concerns to have with bakeware is if the cake sticks to the pan, even distribution of heat and proper baking and of course, its durability. You don’t have to spend a fortune on an assortment of baking pans. There are many low cost options available, just be sure to do research to find exactly what suits you and your baking needs. 

STAGE THE DESSERT 

Finally, it’s time to discuss the secret to all those perfectly posed pictures of cakes, cookies, pastries, and other desserts. Staging and photographing a dish comes with some practice and a lot of creativity. This may be a good time to break out some of your kitchen tools and ingredients to use them as props in your photos. Pose your baked design with a pretty or plain background. Capture your sweet treats in the right light. The right light can be found near a window, and usually not in direct sunlight. The quality of the camera does impact the quality of the photos, but good photos can definitely be accomplished with today's smartphones. The goal of food photography is to captivate your viewers and show off your impressive skills of baking and decorating baked goods. 

There are many ways that can help any at home baker elevate their kitchen creations to a whole new level of crowd pleasing, mouth watering, decadent desserts. You may not be the next founder of Baked by Melissa, Carlo’s Bakery or Mrs. Fields, but these simple ways to make and decorate baked goods that are picture and post worthy will definitely step up your cake game. Sprinkles, cake decorating supplies, food coloring, and an assortment of baking pans are just a few simple and helpful recommendations for baking and decorating. If you’re ever searching for decoration inspiration, or just want to taste a sweet treat without doing all the hard work stop into Pocono Dessert Co. or check out some of their delicious sweets and treats here.