Cake Decorating Terms and Meanings P-Z

Cake Decorating

Terms and Meanings

(courtesy of www.ladycakes.com)

Pan Coat This is where you add  shortening to a paper towel and you wipe it in the pan to coat the pan and then you add some flour and shake it around the pan and then toss out the extra flour.

Pastillage glycerin, corn syrup or shortening and it dries even harder. It can be rolled very thin and is used primarily for decorative ribbons, shapes and appliqués, as it dries bone-dry and crusts more
quickly than Fondant. It is also used to make sugar greeting cards, picture
frames, bells, boxes or other containers which can then be decorated with
piping or sugar flowers. It is considered "technically" edible, but
if eaten, it will not harm you, but it is not palatable.

Pastry Cream A delicate milk and egg-based filling similar to pudding. Pastry cream can be vanilla, chocolate or coffee flavored.

Pearls Round, edible sugar balls coated with a pearl dust (in almost any color) used for decorative purposes. Pearls can be individual or in strings.

Petals The outermost segments of a flower.

Petit Four A delicate cake or pastry small enough to be eaten in one or
two bites.

Petit Four  Glace An iced or cream-filled petit four.

Pillars Separators used in a tiered cake, such as a wedding cake. They can be made of plastic or wood in several lengths to achieve the desired look.

Pipe To squeeze icing from a bag through a decorating tip.

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

Piping Gel Tint, flavor with concentrated flavored oil and make various designs. Even make a design transfer.

Pistil Female part of flower that bears the seed and houses the stigma and ovaries.

Powdered or Confectioner Sugar Granulated sugar that has been crushed to
a fine powder. Used when making frosting.

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

Rolled Buttercream is similar to Rolled Fondant. It’s stretchy so it’s rolled out. The cake is first covered with a very thin layer of buttercream icing, and the rolled buttercream is laid on top. The rolled
buttercream is sweet and very pliable. You can also mold roses out of them.

Rolled Fondant (It may be referred to as "Sugarpaste"). Originally called "plastic icing" in England, this thick, malleable dough made of powdered sugar, corn syrup,
gelatin and glycerin with added flavor and then optionally tinted. Typically,
it is rolled out and then draped and smoothed to conform with the shape of the
cake for a flawless matte finish, making it a popular covering for wedding
cakes. Rolled fondant can also be modeled, formed, twisted, imprinted, cut out
to form eyelet lace and used to make scrolls and flowers. It can be used to
cover cake boards. It acts as a smooth base for

Royal Icing Flowers Decorated flowers made of royal icing. Meringue powder or egg whites, water powder sugar and cream of tarter

Royal Icing It is usually made with egg whites and confectioner's sugar and can be tinted in any color. Some recipes call for raw egg whites, which I don't recommend if you are going to eat it. Alternatives to
raw egg whites exist, including pasteurized dried egg whites, or meringue
powder. This icing starts life as a soft paste piped from a pastry bag to
create latticework, beading, bows, and flowers. Flowers made from royal icing
are usually not as expensive as hand-modeled ones, such as Gum paste, because
it takes less time to make them, but they're also less lifelike. When dry, its
texture is hard and brittle and keeps virtually indefinitely. Do not
refrigerate.

Scone A type of biscuit or biscuit like bread.

Score Using your spatula edge to make a mark inicing or marzipan, for example, by gently pressing it against the surface.

Self- Rising Flour All-purpose flour with a leavener and salt added.

Sepal One Segment of a calyx.

Separated Tiers of the cake are separated using plastic pillars. The space can be left empty of filled with flowers.

Shortening (A) Any fat used in baking to tenderize the product by
shortening gluten strands. (b) yellow in color for butter flavored shortening
 A white, tasteless, solid fat that has been formulated for baking or
deep-frying.

Simple Syrup A syrup consisting of sucrose and water in varying
proportions.

Semisweet and Milk Chocolate  Varieties of chocolate used in baking
or for eating made by adding sugar, milk, vanilla or other flavorings to
unsweetened chocolate. Chocolate is available in bars and chips.

Spatula Broad, flat metal utensil used to spread icing smoothly and evenly.

Sponge Cake A type of cake made by whipping eggs and sugar to a foam,
then folding in flour.

Spun Sugar Boiled sugar made into long, thin threads by dipping wires
into the sugar syrup and waving them so that the
sugar falls off in fine streams.

Sweetened Condensed Milk A thick, sweet liquid made by boiling down a
mixture of whole milk and sugar until 60 percent of the water evaporates.

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

Swiss Meringue buttercream has a very silky texture and is not too sweet ... this buttercream has a very delicate structure and is not recommended for warm weather.

Stacked All tiers of the cake are placed directly on one another.

Stamens Male part of flower made up of filament and anther, which carries the pollen. Premade stamens for floral work may be purchased at cake decorating suppliers, or make your own.

Sugar A sweetener that is primarily made from sugar beets or sugar cane.

Sugar paste An icing sugar (sugar paste) or a gum based paste (Gum paste) . Easy to mold, shape, color and roll out and you don't have to wait for the sugar paste to dry before finishing the final decoration on the
cake. Use powdered sugar to make a very flexible sugar dough. Sugar paste is
suitable for wedding cakes, because the dough can be saved for years at room
temperature.

Table A small cake can be placed at each table to serve that table's guests. Each cake can be identical or can have it's own personality.

Texturizing A procedure for putting a finish onto the surface of the cake

Throat Trumpet like center of a flower.

Throat former Object used to shape and dry orchid centers.

Tier To stack cakes of graduating sizes.

Tier Separators Constructed supports that separate stacked cakes.

Tongue Sausage-shaped protuberance near the center or top of orchid throat.

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

Turntable Revolving cake stand for easier decorating.

Vanilla A flavoring extracted from the seeds of an orchid.

Whipped Cream Made of heavy cream and sugar and usually has some type of stabilizer to prevent it from breaking down. It must be kept refrigerated and is unstable, thus not recommended for outdoor weddings.

White Chocolate Not a true chocolate because it contains no chocolate
liquor. White chocolate is typically made of sugar, cocoa butter, milk solids,
lecithin and vanilla.

Yeast A leavening agent that releases carbon dioxide bubbles through
fermentation.

Zest Thin, colored outer coating of citrus fruit, not to be confused with thick, white pulp, which is bitter. The outer rind that carries the oil extracts.