Meet my friend the decorating comb
Ever wondered how cakes like the one below get created??? (No I did not make it but getting there 😉 ) I did too.
pixgood.com – burlap flower wedding cake
In my head some people were blessed with the amazing gift of drawing a straight line whilst rotating a cake. So I imagined that said people used a toothpick to draw straight lines across a cake as many times as needed and in whatever pattern they needed. Now that I say that I get the sneaky feeling that there ARE people who achieve this effect that way. But hey! I’m not one of them so you can imagine my joy when I discovered the decorating comb. It was on! Cake decorating just got real people 🙂
Meet my combs 🙂
First attempt with a wide toothed comb – you can vaguely make out the combed sides
My first attempt involved me being terrified of destroying the cake with said comb and simultaneously keeping the comb at a straight 90 degree angle whilst dragging the comb round the cake. Eek! That sounds painful to the cake but alas that’s what I did (don’t judge me). As you can you see above, fear is not a cake decorator’s friend. I just wouldn’t let my comb really get stuck in. As a result, you can barely make out the ridges. Which leads to the question of technique. How DO you use a decorating comb???
Second attempt – This time I used a comb with narrower teeth and less icing. Better than the first attempt me thinks 🙂
I realised, whilst looking for a decent photo of a decorating comb for this post that I’ve been doing it wrong all along. This is not due to poor instruction by my wonderful teacher Beth Sommers on the Craftsy platform, but simply my instincts kicking in when faced with a cake and comb. It turns out your comb should be slightly titled away from the direction you rotate your cake. The video below demonstrates the technique quickly.
Now that I’ve seen the errs of my ways, I can’t wait to decorate another cake using my combs.
So tell me. Have you used decorating combs before? What’s your technique? Do you have a favourite comb? Any tips? I’d love to hear from you.
Until next time… Have a good cake day!!!
XOXO