Decorate, Cut, and Store Your Cakes

Do you like to decorate your cakes or brownies but hate all the mess that's involved? Here are some simple tips to make the whole process easier and cleaner:

• If you are thinking of piping icing onto your cake, you can easily turn a plastic bag into a piping bag. Spoon frosting into a plastic bag (the kind with a zipper works best because it's strong) and refrigerate until the cake is ready. Snip off a bottom corner of the bag, and pipe away. You can write with your makeshift decorating bag or make designs and patterns. If you find that the frosting is too stiff when you first get it out of the refrigerator, roll it around to warm it up in your hands a bit first.
• Instead of icing, you might like to drizzle the top of your dessert with chocolate. Place half a bar of plain chocolate or a handful of chocolate chips in a small, microwavable plastic bag. Heat until the chocolate begins to melt, and squish it a bit until it's all even. Put it back in the microwave a few seconds if you need more heat. (Don't let it bubble! Only heat the chocolate enough for it to melt, not cook. Microwaves can superheat substances like chocolate and give you a nasty burn.) Snip a tiny bit off a corner of the bag and squeeze as you drizzle a design on your creation. You can repeat this process with different types of chocolate (milk, dark, and white) and different types of flavored chips (butterscotch, peanut butter, cherry, etc.) to give your dessert a unique look.
• Use a paper doily as a stencil. Position it on top of the cake and sift powdered sugar or cocoa powder generously over it. Carefully lift the doily, and you'll be left with a delicate pattern.

Do you always end up with a mess when it comes to slicing a cake you spent hours making? The main reason is that the cake sticks to your knife and then falls apart when you try to cut it. You will be able to serve perfect pieces for your friends and family by wiping crumbs off your knife and dipping it in a glass of cold water between slices. It will also help if you try to make your cuts straight down instead of dragging the knife horizontally across the length of the cake.

To save a cake after it is cut, wrap it closely with plastic wrap and refrigerate it. You can store most cakes in the freezer if you double wrap them without the pan. Just give them plenty of time to thaw out when you want to eat them later.

If you serve your cake straight out of the pan, you'll find that it will stay fresh longer after you've cut it if you place half an apple inside the cake pan. The apple helps to moisten the cake so you don't have to throw away the edges when you go back for another piece the next day.