This beginner-friendly tutorial will walk you through how to decorate a cake with step-by-step photos and detailed instructions. I’ve even included my favorite tools for smoothly frosting and layering a cake!

An overhead view of a frosted white cake with two large slices cut.

Since starting my blog in 2014, I’ve decorated more cakes than I can count (trust me, it’s been a lot!). After decorating my chocolate strawberry cake earlier this year, I decided it was time to finally put together a post showing you the exact process that I use.

While decorating a layer cake may seem intimidating, it’s actually much easier than you probably think. Everything I’m sharing in today’s post is easy to follow and can be done with almost any combination of cake and frosting you prefer.

I’ve also listed the exact cake decorating tools that I use on a weekly basis so you can replicate my process in your very own kitchen. If you love baking cakes, I highly recommend bookmarking this post so you can reference it later!

An overhead view of basic cake decorating tools.

The Best Tools For Cake Decorating

  • Cake pans: You can use any size of round pans that you want. I typically use two 9-inch cake pans or three 8-inch cake pans for my layer cakes. For a smaller cake (like a smash cake), I recommend using 6-inch cake pans.
  • Serrated knife or cake leveler: This will make it easy to level your cake layers and prevent the cake from being lopsided.
  • Non-slip pad: I like to place a non-slip pad underneath my cardboard cake circle, so my cake doesn’t slide around while I’m frosting it.
  • Turntable: When it comes to cake decorating, this will make things SO much easier! It’s basically a small cake stand that rotates, so you can easily smooth out the frosting on your cake.
  • Cardboard cake circles: These are also optional, but I’ve found that it’s better to frost my cake on one so that I can easily transfer it somewhere else when I’m done.
  • Offset spatulas: I typically use a larger spatula for spreading large amounts of frosting and a smaller spatula to fill in any spots that need a little extra frosting.
  • Icing Smoother/Bench Scraper: Makes it much easier to smooth out the frosting on the sides of your cake! You can use an offset spatula, but an icing smoother is inexpensive and works a lot better.
  • Piping bag: You really only need a piping bag if you plan to pipe some decorations on your cake. I will sometimes use a piping bag to pipe frosting between the cake layers too.
  • Piping tips: I love to use either the Wilton 1M or 2D for piping decorations around the top of my cakes. Feel free to use your favorite piping tip though!
An overhead view of three baked cake layers and a bowl of frosting.

First, Choose Your Favorite Cake & Frosting

For this tutorial, I used my white cake recipe and buttercream frosting. I have A LOT of other cake recipes to choose from though! Some of my personal favorites are my chocolate cake, red velvet cake, coconut cake, and strawberry cake. Whatever cake you choose, just make sure to let it cool completely before you start frosting it.

As far as the frosting, you can decorate a cake with just about any kind. A few of mine that are particularly easy to smooth out and pipe are my chocolate buttercream frosting, ermine frosting, and coconut frosting.

Note: Most of my frosting recipes are enough to lightly cover a two-layer cake. If you prefer more frosting or want some to decorate with, I recommend increasing my frosting recipes by half (unless otherwise noted in the post).

A process shot showing a cake layer being leveled with a serrated knife.
A process shot showing frosting being spread over a bottom cake layer.

Frost & Decorate Your Cake

Once your cake layers have cooled and you’ve prepped the frosting, it’s time to decorate:

  1. Level the tops of each cake layer. A serrated knife or cake leveler makes it super easy to remove the domed tops. The goal is to remove just enough from the top part of each cake to make a flat surface. (If you don’t want to discard the scrap pieces, you can eat them or save them to make cake pops later!)
  2. Frost the top of the first cake layer. To prevent the cardboard cake circle from sliding around, I suggest placing a non-slip pad underneath it. Then, spread a small amount of frosting onto the center of the cardboard circle and place the first cake layer on top of that (this will help it stick). Scoop some frosting onto the center of the cake layer and spread it into an even layer using an offset spatula.

I suggest measuring or weighing the frosting between each layer so they look even and balanced. For a 6-inch cake, I typically use ½ cup of frosting between each layer, for an 8-inch cake I use ¾ cup, and for a 9-inch cake I use 1 cup.

A process shot showing a stacked layer cake ready for frosting.
A process shot showing a crumb coat being applied with an offset spatula.
  1. Continue stacking your cake layers. Place the second cake layer upside down (so the bottom is upright) on top of the frosting and first cake layer. If you are only using two cake layers, you can skip to the next step. If you’re making a three layer cake, pipe or spread another layer of frosting on top of the cake layer. Place the third cake layer upside down on top of the frosting and second layer of cake. This creates a perfectly flat top for your cake!
  2. Apply the crumb coat, then chill. Use an offset spatula to spread a thin layer of frosting around the top and sides of the cake. It’s okay if it doesn’t look perfect, the goal is to catch any crumbs that would otherwise show in your final layer of frosting. Chill the cake in the fridge for 20 minutes or the freezer for 10 minutes until the crumb coat feels firm to the touch.
A process shot showing frosting being spread over a layer cake with an offset spatula.
A process shot showing excess frosting being wiped off with a bench scraper.
  1. Frost the top and sides. Scoop some frosting on top and spread it out with an offset spatula, then work your way around the sides with more frosting. This will look a little rough at first, but trust the process! If you plan to pipe a border of frosting around the top, make sure to set aside about 1 and ½ cups for later.
  2. Smooth out the frosting on the sides. Gently hold an icing smoother/bench scraper against the cake at a 45º angle and scrape off any excess frosting, smoothing it out as best as possible (Don’t worry about the top just yet, we will get to that soon!). As you’re scraping the frosting off the sides, you’re probably going to notice some small spots that need more frosting. Just use a smaller offset spatula to fill in those spots with more frosting, then gently scrape the cake again.
A process shot showing the rough edges of a frosted cake being smoothed out.
A process shot showing a frosted and decorated white cake on a turntable.
  1. Smooth out the top edge. After smoothing out the sides of the cake, you’re going to be left with a rough, uneven edge of frosting around the top of the cake. Use a small offset spatula to scrape that frosting into the middle of the cake and smooth it out.
  2. Pipe a border around the top. Transfer any extra frosting to a piping bag fitted with your favorite tip and pipe a border around the top. Try to apply even pressure to the piping bag throughout this process to keep the border as even as possible.
A three layer white cake on a cake stand, sliced to show the inside.

Customize Your Cake

Easy, right?! Once you’ve mastered the basics, you can start to play around with adding more details. Here are a few more ways to dress up your cake:

A slice of cake topped with buttercream frosting.

If you’re more of a visual learner, I’ve also included a video below for you to use for reference. If you have any lingering questions about frosting and decorating a cake that I didn’t answer in this post, don’t hesitate to leave a comment and ask!