Collins Jill - Cake decorating with the kids : 30 modern cakes and bakes for all the family to make

This book was inspired by our own children, and by the fun weve had making and decorating cakes for the many occasions that suddenly become so important once you have children of your own school ftes, end-of-term celebrations, Mothers Day, family get-togethers

Our children have always been keen to get involved with the baking and cake decorating process, and many a happy afternoon or wet weekend has been spent baking cupcakes, cutting out decorations and swirling with brightly coloured icing before eating messily!

While there are dozens of books written for children that concentrate on developing their baking skills, we couldnt really find any which went that step further, and helped to guide children along the path of true cake decorating which is, after all, the most exciting part!

We have divided our book into 10 distinct chapters, with one main project and two subsidiary projects each all of them pretty, quirky or just plain fun. Each chapter has step-by-step instructions for building beautiful themed cakes, with lots of steps that children can do on their own, or with a little help from an adult. At ages 10 through to 14, our own children are pretty much able to do everything, but younger children might need a bit of help with some of the projects. At the end of each project, your children will have created (with a little help from you) a beautiful collection of cakes, cupcakes, whoopie pies or cookies of which they can feel justly proud, and that will garner praise and accolades from all sides (and who doesnt welcome praise after a job well done?). The only thing we cant promise is that you will have any help clearing up the kitchen afterwards we never quite managed to persuade ours to get involved in that bit!

We have loved creating this book with our children, and hope that you will also enjoy making all the lovely designs with your own children.

Happy decorating!

Jill & Natalie

If you enjoy baking and cake decorating, you probably already have all the equipment you need for the projects in this book, and more besides. The lists that follow provide details of everything you need and can be dipped into as part of the basic equipment listed in every project.

Kitchen scales accurate weighing of ingredients is essential

Measuring spoons for measuring small quantities

Mixing bowls for mixing ingredients

Wooden spoons and spatulas for mixing and folding

Electric mixer makes short work of all your baking but if you dont have one, you can always use a mixing bowl, a wooden spoon and a bit of elbow grease!

Cake tins (pans)/cupcake tins/baking trays for baking cakes, cupcakes and cookies

Greaseproof (wax) paper or re-usable baking parchment for lining tins (pans) and melting sweets

Cupcake cases a variety of styles to suit your projects

Wire cooling rack for resting cakes and cookies as they cool

Rolling pins large and small, for rolling out sugarpaste and petal paste

Small non-stick plastic board for rolling small amounts of sugarpaste and petal paste

Plastic dowels for supporting tiered cakes

Edible pens for marking dowels and for quick-and-easy decoration

Paintbrushes a variety of different sizes are useful for painting and sticking

Edible glue for sticking small pieces of icing together

Piping (pastry) bags small for piping royal icing and large for piping buttercream

Cutters a variety of shapes and sizes are useful for different projects

Chocolate moulds for creating fun and easy chocolate decorations

Drying mat a great place to dry small sugarpaste pieces and cut-out shapes

Piping tubes (tips) also known as nozzles, a variety of different types and sizes are useful for filling, piping and decorating cakes

Palette knife for lifting delicate sugarpaste pieces

Paste food colourings and edible glitters

Craft knife for accurate detailed cutting

Cocktail sticks (toothpicks) great for adding tiny amounts of colour

Sugar shaker for dredging icing (confectioners) sugar onto your surface to prevent sticking

Sprinkles for easy decoration

Icing smoother for smoothing cakes that are covered in sugarpaste

Baking and decorating cakes with kids is enormous fun for everyone but of course when working with kids it is always important to make sure that they understand the importance of being safe in the kitchen.