An illustrated guide to turning baked treats into professional-looking culinary masterpieces. Cake Decorating Skills reveals professional cake-decorating secrets that can be easily mastered by even a novice baker. Step-by-step photography and clear instructions teach readers how to make quick and easy flowers, pretty piped patterns, perfect frosting and mouthwatering chocolate flourishes. The book covers techniques and recipes for every kind of cake, filling, frosting, covering and decoration. It includes: Basic recipes for sponge cake, cupcakes, sugar cookies, buttercream frosting, fondant and royal icing Color icings with instruction on color theory, dusting, spraying, shading and special effects Covering and texturing with tiers, novelty shapes, rolled fondant, flat and piped buttercream and chocolate paste Molds made of sugar paste, plastic and silicone to create figures and beads Working with chocolate to wrap a cake, make shards and create flowers, fans and molds. Baking fancy cakes at home is a popular hobby, and enthusiasts are always looking for new inspiration and ways to improve their skills. Cake Decorating Skills is an essential addition to any baker's reference shelf.