The Busy Girls Guide to Cake Decorating

Find out how even the busiest of busy girls can whip up impressive homemade treats in next to no time! Ruth Clemens, finalist on the original series of The Great British Bake Off, shares her secrets in creating quick but gorgeous cakes, bakes and biscuits. Choose from 25 beautiful projects to make in under an hour, in an afternoon, or over a weekend and be amazed at what you can achieve!

This book is all about cake decorating without the fuss, the palaver and sometimes the tears too! The projects are split into three sections. The Evening Whip-Ups (one-hour projects) are perfect when you have very little time, and are easy to throw together one evening after work. The Half-Day Delights (two-hour projects) are for when you have an afternoon to spare. Finally, the Weekend Wonders (three- to four-hour projects) are for when you've got a bit more time available in your schedule!

In cake-decorating terms, all of the above are tiny amounts of time—large, intricate projects take professional cake decorator's days, if not weeks, of work. We busy girls don't have the time or the patience to create those kinds of works of art but this book contains stunning projects that can be achieved in next to no time.

In addition to the projects, Ruth talks you through all the equipment and ingredients you need, shows you how to line a cake tin, gives her tried-and-tested recipes for fruit cake, sponge cake and chocolate cake, as well as cupcake recipes, cookie recipes and frosting recipes. She shows you how to pipe with royal icing and buttercream piping techniques, and how to cover a cake with marzipan, how to cover cakes and boards with sugarpaste, how to trim a cake board with ribbon, how to colour fondant to your desired shade, how to stack cakes using dowels, and some wonderful creative embellishment techniques.

The Busy Girl's Guide to Cake Decorating—the perfect place to start your foray into the world of cakes.