Glossary: Cakes
It's easy to feel overwhelmed the first time you meet with a cake designer. Don't fret - following are several cake decorating terms to help your initial intro run as smooth as fondant (see below):
Basket-weave: A piping technique that features interwoven vertical and horizontal lines (like a wicker basket).
Buttercream frosting: An off-white or ivory soft frosting with a butter base. Due to this base, it may melt in extreme heat or humidity.
Cornelli: An elaborate piping technique that yields a lace-like pattern.
Dragees: Round, edible sugar balls coated with silver or gold and used for decorative purposes.
Fondant: A smooth icing with a porcelain finish that is rolled to uniform thickness and wrapped around or draped over the cake. A fondant cake should not be refrigerated.
Ganache: A sweet, rich chocolate, denser than mousse but less dense than fudge, which can be used as icing or filling. Made from a combination of chocolate and heavy cream, it may soften in very humid weather.
Gum paste: A rigid, edible modeling medium used to make garnishes for the cake.
Latticework: A piping detail that criss-crosses with an open pattern.
Marzipan: A paste made with a ground almond base that is used to mold cake trimmings. It also can be rolled in sheets, like fondant, and used as icing.
Piping: Decorative details created using a pastry bag and various metal tips. Piping details include leaves, borders, basket-weave patterns and flowers.
Pulled sugar: A technique in which boiled sugar is manipulated and pulled to produce flowers and bows.
Royal icing: An egg white-based icing that becomes plaster hard and easy to sculpt into ornamental shapes with a pastry tube. When dry, the texture can be hard and brittle. Make sure a cake with this type of icing is not refrigerated.
Torte: A dense cake that does not use leavening agents.
