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Mini cakes are perfect for mini celebrations, or if you want to give each person their favourite flavour or personalised decorations
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In this tutorial I'm going to show you how to bake mini cake layers without special tools
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and how to assemble and frost such tricky little things, and then I'll share a few ideas for decorating them
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There are lots of ways to make mini cakes, and I have tutorials on how to make them in special mini cake pans
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and in cupcake pans, and I've put the links for those tutorials in the video description
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but the quickest way is to bake a sheet cake, and then cut out mini cake layers with a round cookie cutter
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This is a 9 by 13 inch pan, and this is the 6 inch batch size of my perfect chocolate cake
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But you can use any cake recipe, and any size or shape of pan. For example, I had some extra layers of vanilla cake
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so I cut out some mini cake layers from those with a round cookie cutter and also with a star-shaped cutter
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which I turned into naked mini cakes with pretty piped filling between the layers
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This is a 3-inch cookie cutter, which is about the width of a cupcake, just to give you an idea of the size of these
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But with three layers, these mini-cakes are going to be much taller than a cupcake. To frost mini-cakes, it's essential that the cake layers are cold, so you can either put them in the fridge for about an hour
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or if you like you can put them in a Ziploc bag and freeze them for up to a month before you make and decorate your cakes The easiest way to add filling to your cakes is to pipe it onto the cake layers because the cakes are so tiny that it tricky to hold them still while you spread filling onto them
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From my sheet cake, I cut out 12 circles, which makes four mini cakes of three layers each
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They look nice and neat, ready to be frosted, but first, you have to secure each one to a cakeboard
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This is a 4-inch cakeboard, which is just big enough for these little 3-inch cakes
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I've put the link for these cakeboards in the video description. Spread or pipe a little dollop of buttercream onto the middle of the cake board and then press
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your mini cake down onto it. When the buttercream sets, it will act as glue, sticking the cake to the board
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If you prefer, you can do this at the beginning, putting a dollop of buttercream on the
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cake, and then press your first layer of cake onto the board and assemble it there, alternating
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cake and filling right there on the board. Either way is fine. If you're enjoying this tutorial
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please click the thumbs up button and subscribe to my YouTube channel for a new cake decorating
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tutorial every week. I want to show you another way to assemble mini cakes and decorate them at the
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same time. Put your buttercream in a piping bag fitted with a piping tip, or you can use
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different colors of buttercream and different piping tips, like this petal tip. After attaching
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your first layer of cake to the board pipe the buttercream onto the cake giving the filling a pretty shape and texture I using a 1M star tip to pipe these little orange stars Place the next layer of cake on top and then pipe on the next layer of filling
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I'm switching to yellow buttercream and a petal tip for these ruffles. Only the outer edge of the filling will be visible
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So it's a good idea to start there and work your way in, so that you focus on the neatness of the piping on the outer edge
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If you start in the middle and work your way out, you'll be guessing on how to space the piping so that you end up right at the edge of the cake
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and that's why it's easier to start at the edge. This is a 199 open start-tip
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and then on my final layer of cake I'm using a petal tip again to pipe a flower on top of the mini cake
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By adding this detail to the filling of the cake, you're adding a decorative touch now while assembling the cake
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which means you can present this as a naked cake and skip the frosting step if you want to
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The challenge with frosting mini cakes is the size and weight of the cake
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Because they're so tiny and lightweight, you have to do something to do something to
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prevent them sliding around on the turntable and toppling over when you spread frosting onto them
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There are four tricks for this. The first is to use a non-slip mat, which stops the cake from moving around
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on the turn table, or you can use a ring of masking tape instead to stick the cakeboard to the
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turn table. The second trick is to spread or pipe that dollop of buttercream onto the cakeboard
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It sticks the cake to the cakeboard so that the cake doesn slide around on the board but this only works if the cake is cold which is the third trick Having a cold cake makes the buttercream doll upset so that it holds the cake firmly in place when you apply pressure to it as you frost it
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Having cold cake layers also means that the filling will set quickly and hold the higher
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cake layers in place, so when you frost the cake, the cake won't fall over. The fourth trick
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is to make sure your buttercream is the right consistency. If it's too stiff like this, it will pull off the
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cake when you try to spread it on, or push the cake around on the board. Add a bit of milk or cream
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to make it thinner and it will be much easier to spread onto your cake as you frost it. This is a crumb coat
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which is a very thin layer of frosting to trap in any crumbs so that they don't get into the final
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coat of frosting. After you've crumcoated your mini cake, you can freeze it for up to a month
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wrapped in two layers of cling film or saran wrap, or leave it in the fridge overnight
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or you can move straight on to decorating it. You can frost these mini cakes normally and the non-sliегда mat or ring of masking tape will
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hold them in place on the turntable. Or you can avoid smooth frosting and instead you can cover them with piping, like roses
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piped with a 1M star tip or ruffles piped with a petal tip
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And I have tutorials on eight ways to decorate cakes with each of those tips and I've
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put the links for those tutorials in the video description. Thanks for watching
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Remember to click the thumbs up button and subscribe to my channel for a new cake decorating
