Airplane Cake Tutorial

Remember when I made those three cakes in March? Well, this airplane cake was one of them. It was a fun and very easy cake to do, so I thought I might use it as a tutorial for any ladies who are interested in cake decorating, have the basic supplies, but aren't quite sure how start. This cake is very simple and doesn't take a ton of time, but also gives you good practice and, of course, a cake you can blog about in the end. :)

Here's what you're going to need. I suggest you make the cake and icing and set out your supplies a day ahead of time just so you don't get overwhelmed, and so that when you go to decorate you'll have a nice clean area to work in. :)

• A cake - I used a 9 in. one
• Icing - Go here to get the icing recipe I use.

Make one recipe in thin consistency (It says do milk or corn syrup, but I suggest you do both.) Color it light blue.

Make another recipe of icing, this time doubling it and making it medium consistency. Take about a cup and a half out of the bowl and set it aside, labeling it "medium consistency". Now, add 3 1/2 Tbsp. more milk to your icing in the bowl and blend it up. Take about a cup and a third of icing out of the bowl, setting it aside and labeling it "thin consistency".


Now, take out a cup and a half, color it dark blue. Lastly, set aside 3/4 cup of icing, and color it orange. You'll have some icing left over, but it'll be good to have for Just in Case. :)


As for supplies, you'll need

• A spatula for spreading frosting
• A decorating bag (four would be great, but not needed)
• Star tip number 21
• Star tip number 18
• A number 3 tip (two of them would be nice, but again, you only need one)
• A number 5 tip
• A paper outline of an airplane, the size of how you'd like it on your cake. I printed an airplane coloring page off the internet, then cut the airplane out.
• A clean, small paint brush
• Some wax paper
• Piping Gel
• A toothpick
  

Start with your cake.

If you want to keep the icing off the plate while you decorate, put down some strips of wax paper on the plate, then place the cake on top. Frost it, using your recipe of thin, light blue icing.

Let the cake stand for a little bit, letting the icing form a little crust. While you're waiting, make your airplane "stamp". Cover your paper airplane outline with wax paper, and tape it to the table so it doesn't move. Put your tip 2 in the decorating bag, then fill it with about 1/4 cup of piping gel. If you like, you can use the clear decorating gel that comes in the tubes from the store.

Now, carefully trace the airplane onto the wax paper, using the gel.

Your cake should now have a little crust over it (meaning you can lightly touch it and not mess up the icing). Carefully turn over the wax paper with the gel outline on it, and place it in the middle of the cake. Take your little paintbrush and lightly trace the gel, putting a little bit of pressure as you trace so that the gelled outline is applied to the cake.

Slowly peel the wax paper off the cake, revealing your clear airplane outline.

With your dark blue icing and tip 5, pipe icing lines over the places where you want it to be blue. Then, do the same with the orange icing.

Using your small star tip and dark blue icing, start filling in your airplane.

Do the same with the orange icing.

Now it's time to do the clouds. Trace some cloud shapes all over the sides of your cake. You can do it like I did and strategically place them, to cover up any messy spots. :)

Start filling in your clouds. I traced the edge first, and then filled the whole thing in.

You're almost done! Pipe a reverse shell border, using your star tip 21, onto the bottom of your cake (if you were using wax paper underneath it, now would be the time to take that off). Before I started on the cake, I did a few shells on a plate just to give myself a little practice before actually putting them on the cake.

Now, with your smaller star tip (you can use the bigger one if you don't have one that's smaller), pipe another reverse shell border on the top of your cake, right on the edge.

You're done!!

If you want to, you can use your leftover thin, white icing to write a message.

Enjoy your cake!

Love,