Baking Lingo -

Your Guide to Cake Terminology

Whether it’s something as elaborate as a wedding cake or as simple as a birthday cake, sometimes it’s hard to describe exactly what you want in your creation. Don’t worry! I have provided this list of baking terms to help you decide on what you want your cake to be made of. Who knows? It might even give you ideas you never even thought possible!

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Basketweave

A piping technique that features interwoven vertical and horizontal lines (like a wicker basket).

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Buttercream

A smooth, creamy icing that stays soft so it’s easy to cut through. It can be colored and/or flavored. Also used to create piping, swags, and other borders, as well as decorative rosettes. It can be used as filling too.

- Buttercream is made from butter (as its name implies), so it may melt in extreme heat or humidity.

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Cornelli

An elaborate piping technique that yields a lace-like pattern.

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Dotted Swiss

A piping technique that forms tiny dots in random patterns that resemble a fine dot swiss fabric.

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Dragees

Round, edible sugar balls coated with silver or gold and used for decorative purposes.

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Fondant

A sweet, elastic icing made of sugar, corn syrup, and gelatin that’s literally rolled out with a rolling pin and draped over a cake. It’s a smooth, firm base for gum paste flowers, decorative details, and architectural designs, and has a porcelain finish.

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Ganache

A sweet, rich chocolate, denser than mousse but less dense than fudge, which can be used as icing or filling. – Because ganache is made of chocolate and heavy cream, it will soften in very humid weather.

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Gum paste

This paste of sugar, cornstarch, and gelatin is used to mold realistic-looking fruits and flowers to garnish a cake.

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Latticework

A piping detail that criss-crosses with an open pattern.

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Marzipan

A paste made of ground almonds, sugar, and egg whites, used to mold edible flowers or fruit to decorate the cake. Marzipan can also be rolled in sheets, like fondant, and used as icing.

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Piping

Decorative technique created using a pastry bag and various metal tips. Piping details include leaves, borders, basket-weave patterns, and flowers.

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Pulled sugar

A technique in which boiled sugar is manipulated and pulled to produce flowers and bows.

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Royal Icing

Made of egg whites and confectionary sugar, this icing starts life as a soft paste piped from a pastry bag to create latticework, beading, bows, and flowers.

When dry, its texture is hard and brittle – do not refrigerate.

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Torte

A dense cake that does not use leavening agents like baking powder or baking soda.

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Whipped cream

Heavy cream beaten to achieve a thick consistency.

Whipped cream must be kept refrigerated – it is not recommended for outdoor events.

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Resources: Sweet Celebrations by cake designer Sylvia Weinstock (Simon & Schuster, 1999)