The Busy Girls Guide to Cake Decorating by Ruth Clemens

Roll a multitude of turquoise and bright pink balls and position in alternating colours around the base of each cake, securing with dabs of water.

    11 To make the wired cake topper, take 12 lengths of florists’ wire. Tightly wind the 13th piece of wire around the bases of the wires to secure them together (see Making a wired cake topper ).
    12 Push the wires into a small posy pick so that they sit tightly. Stand the pick in a potato or an apple to hold it steady while you work on it. Bend the wires into position by running them through your fingers – in the same way as you would curl a ribbon using scissors – and twist a small hook in the end of each wire.

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TIP
    If your wires don’t sit securely inside the posy pick, place a small piece of sugarpaste in the base of the pick first.
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    13 Roll numerous small and medium balls of pink and turquoise sugarpaste. Insert the hooked end of the wires into the balls and squeeze lightly to secure. Add a ring of small balls in alternating colours around the base of the posy pick.

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    “To roll out balls all the same size in double-quick time, roll out the sugarpaste evenly then use a small cutter to cut out equal sized pieces and roll into balls in the palm of your hand. For super smooth balls, grease your hands slightly with white vegetable fat (shortening).”
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    14 Trim the edge of the board with the pink ribbon, securing at the back with a pearl-headed pin.
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    “To make the whole cake quicker – omit the balls around the base of each cake and trim with more of the pink ribbon instead.”
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Troubleshooting
    Cake decorating can be frustrating at times when things don’t quite work out the way you wanted. I did this to a cake in my early decorating days, late at night and in sheer frustration (yes, my husband was rather alarmed!). Please try not to resort to this! Remember you’re always learning, keep practising, appreciate what you have achieved and most importantly give it a go!

Get ready
    It is important to prepare a large cake properly for decorating, adding the buttercream/frosting layer which will stick the sugarpaste (rolled fondant) to the cake. Buttercream really needs to be made with butter rather than a margarine/low-fat spread so that when chilled it will set firm – that will not happen with spreads. This layer needs to be chilled until firm before covering your cake otherwise the filling in the middle of the cake will be soft and will cause an unsightly bulge in the sugarpaste around the sides of the cake.
Get baking
    •  If your cupcakes suffer from a huge volcano effect when baked in the oven this has been caused by either too much mixture in the paper liners or an oven that is too hot. Try turning down the oven temperature next time you bake for gentler baking conditions for your cupcakes, allowing the centres of the cakes to cook at the same rate as the crust forms on the tops. Trim off the excess domes of your cupcakes before decorating if necessary – these trimmings are the baker’s treat!
    •  I’m often asked what causes paper liners to peel away from cakes. There are a few things that contribute to this – the main culprit is moisture. Excess moisture can come from a range of places; lemon cupcakes are the worst for this, but underbaked cupcakes and using a margarine/spread with a high water content instead of butter will cause it too. Make sure cupcakes are not allowed to cool in the tin (pan) too long before placing on a wire cooling rack. They will start to sweat and the steam will start to separate the cases from the cakes.
    •  Dry and burnt cakes can often be rescued by trimming away any burnt bits and then brushing them with a sugar syrup. To make the syrup, combine 180g (6 1 ⁄ 2 oz) caster (superfine) sugar with 225ml (8fl oz) water in a medium saucepan. Heat gently, stirring occasionally until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. You can also flavour this syrup with 5ml (1