If you’re like me, then you’re always finding yourself needing a cake for some type of occasion. There are birthdays to celebrate, picnics to attend, charity dessert sales, cake walks, and more! I love to bake cakes. But when it comes to decorating them, I don’t always have the time or the patience to deal with messy icings and leaky pastry bags. So, I found another way to decorate my chocolate cakes without a lot of hassle. I use rice paper, or, waffle paper, as it’s also known. If you’ve never heard of this baker’s friend, rice paper is a thin, yet durable and edible paper that’s made from rice. You can find sheets of rice paper at your local baking supply store.
The first step to decorate a chocolate cake with this type of paper is to bake your cake, of course. You can either use two round cake pans, or, you can bake your batter in a sheet cake pan. Rice paper decorating will work on either size or shape. By using this type of decorating technique, you’ll actually have two- one layer round cakes, instead of one- two layer cake.
Now, before you place your cake in the oven, you’ll need to ensure that your chocolate cake will come out with a relatively flat top. You can achieve this in one of two ways. You can set the cake pans full of batter on a counter top or on a table. Lift them up and down and “bang” the pans gently on the hard surface. This will help to remove the air from the batter.
You can also use a rubber spatula to help level the batter out. Take the spatula and start in the middle of the pan. Lightly place the edge of the tool into the batter and pull it back towards you. Repeat this process until you have spread all of the batter out.
Then, carefully place your chocolate cakes in the oven without disturbing them.
Bake them as usual for the required period of time.
Once your cake is baked and thoroughly cooled, you’re ready to begin decorating it. If you used round pans, you’ll need to remove the cakes from the pans. Otherwise, if you baked a sheet cake, you can leave it in the pan, if you choose.
Now, cut a sheet of the rice paper so it’s the shape of the top of the chocolate cake. Make it about an inch or two bigger than the size of the top too. Then, lay the paper out flat on a piece of cardboard. Use a sharp utility knife to cut out some designs, such as flowers or interesting shapes, in the rice paper. Remove the cut out pieces.
The next step is to carefully lay the sheet of rice paper on top of the chocolate cake. Make sure it’s centered before you touch the cake with it. Sprinkle some powdered sugar over the paper, making sure not to spill it over the sides. Fill in the cut out places in the rice paper completely with the sugar.
Then, carefully grab the rice paper by its edges and lift it up and off the top of the chocolate cake. And, presto! Your cake is decorated and ready to eat. If you’re going to use the rice paper again for a second cake, you can simply shake off the excess powdered sugar. If not, simply discard the paper and the sugar.
You’ve probably noticed that I specified this method is for a chocolate cake only. That’s because the white powdered sugar shows up the best on the dark color.
Enjoy!
