5 Easy and Creative Ways to Decorate a Cake

5 Easy and Creative Ways to Decorate a Cake

This post is dedicated to beginners out there. I love when I meet people who are learning how to bake and decorate cakes! You can see their excitement and how proud they are of themselves as they keep improving. I still remember some of the first cakes I’ve ever made and it’s been so fun to go on this journey! So, if you’re new to decorating cakes, let me be the first one to tell you that you can totally do it! And you’ll keep getting better along the way. To help you get started, here are 5 easy and creative ways to decorate a cake. 

I chose 5 cakes that are beginner worthy, so you will have a lot of fun with any one of these! There are a ton of different ways to decorate a cake, and a lot of them are actually pretty simple yet stunning. I hope you find some ideas you want to try when decorating your next cake!

I will say having the right baking tools makes a HUGE difference in how your cake turns out and even improves your overall decorating experience. You can check out the cake decorating tools I recommend HERE. I also have a post you can check out HERE to learn more about each one and why they’re so important. I want you to enjoy your cake decorating process and having quality tools will help with that! 

5 Easy and Creative Ways to Decorate a Cake

As I said, there are tons of different ways to decorate a cake, but I narrowed this list down to my top 5 favorite ways to decorate a cake that are pretty simple to do when you’re just starting out. These cakes will give you that boost of confidence to keep moving forward. And if you’re a sweet tooth like me, you’ll be hooked on this whole cake business after taking the first bite of your cakes! 

Easy and Creative Cake Decoration #1: Chocolate Ganache

The first decoration idea on the list comes from my Chocolate Ganache Cake. This would be a great cake to start out with because it’ll give you good practice at nailing a recipe and making a ganache. Usually, a ganache would be in between a layered cake, but with this one, it’s poured over the top of the entire cake. (Sticking true to its nickname, Lazy Chocolate Cake!) Making the ganache as silky smooth as possible will help it look ten times better when using it to decorate the cake. Check out the full post HERE for the best way to make a chocolate ganache. 

Easy and Creative Cake Decoration #2: Textured Pattern with Offset Spatula

Next up is a textured pattern on your buttercream that you make using an offset spatula. This decoration idea comes from my Caramel Cake. I love how easy it is to assemble and decorate this cake. I think you’ll find it fairly simple as well! The trick is to apply your crumb coat and then freeze your cake for 10-15 minutes before adding another layer of buttercream. This will ensure no crumbs from your cake will show up in your final buttercream layer. 

Once your crumb coat is set, add your buttercream and then smooth it out with your straight cake scraper. Then, use your offset spatula to add the textured rows. This is a simple trick that adds a little bit extra to your cake. You can check out the post HERE for a full tutorial on how to decorate your cake like this. 

Easy and Creative Cake Decoration #3: Rustic

It is incredibly easy to create this rustic look with your buttercream. You could even just use a butterknife to create it if you really wanted to. I used this textured look on my Chocolate Lemon Zucchini Cake. Since this cake is only two layers, decorating it was really pretty quick. Make sure to check out the full post HERE because it includes a video tutorial for this easy and creative cake decoration idea! 

Easy and Creative Cake Decoration #4: Classic Piping Design

There’s something about this classic piping design that will never go out of style. This design comes from my Mint Oreo Cake with Chocolate Mint Oreo Buttercream. I love how nice and neat it looks and then adding the piping around the border of the cake was the perfect finishing touch. This cake is a great reminder that cake can still look amazing without adding too much decoration. 

Easy and Creative Cake Decoration #5: Fresh Fruit

Fresh fruit will always be an easy and creative way to decorate a cake. I have SO many cakes where I use fresh fruit as some sort of topping on the cake. So, if you’re ever baking a cake with any kind of fruit element in it, try to think of simple and fun ways to implement the fresh version of that fruit to decorate your cake. Even if it is just a border around your cake like it is in my Chocolate Strawberry Nutella Cake pictured here! 

5 Easy and Creative Ways to Decorate a Cake

Alright, you guys, which of these 5 easy and creative ways to decorate a cake will you be trying first? I hope this post gave you some proof that you can keep your decorations fairly simple and still create a stunning cake! Besides, we all just want to cut it open and eat it all, right? For more cake inspo, check out this post HERE. If you liked this post and want to learn more, come follow me on Instagram! You can find me @cakebycourtney where I share tips and recipes on all things cake!