Share Your Graduation Cake Decorating Ideas

We (myself and all the visitors) would love you to have a go and submit your own cake not only just for the next competition grand prize but also to share your tips and ideas. If you would like to share your cakes with us send us your cake photos, recipes and tips and also the story behind them, perhaps the graduate just loves the cake flavor you used. We will create your own web page and photo gallery hosted on our site.

The only rule is that it has to be a homemade graduation cake or cupcakes and not a shop bought.

Your submission should consist of:

• a photo of the cake – try to make it a close up one – I use “Paint” (which I think exists on all computers under “Accessories”) and then the View and Zoom options to capture a close-up.
• a short write-up - on recipe details, how you decorated it and any other info like where the idea came from etc.

Each graduation cake picture must be of a cake that you or a family member have made.

The cake picture and your write up must be original and cannot be copied from another source.

The cake doesn’t need to be perfect, sharing your creative ideas, stories and photos can be just as effective.

Just to get things started, here are a few examples I have put together myself or you can just skip straight to the cake competition entry submission form.

You Are A Star – Graduation Cake
By Jane Andrew

I made this graduation cake for a little girl I know. It was her kindergarten graduation and I thought the cupcakes would be a nice favour for the guests to take home with them.

Tools:

Sponge cake (any size), cupcakes (desired amount), jam, ready-to-roll fondant icing, edible pink stars, yellow food coloring, pink sprinkles, star cutter, ready-made butter-cream icing, yellow edible pen, yellow icing.

Instructions:

I just used a classic sponge cake recipe and made plenty of batter so that there was enough to half-fill the cupcake cases too.

I added jam to the middle of the main cake and the cupcakes too for a nice surprise to bite into.

The main cake is covered in fondant icing while the cupcakes are covered in yellow tinted butter-cream icing.

I used a star shaped cutter to cut out the star shapes from fondant icing. I then brushed them lightly with water and covered them with some pink sprinkles.

The writing was really easy as I used a yellow edible pen to start with and then to make it look bolder I adding some yellow piped icing on top. If you don’t have a piping bag then a food bag with a tiny hole cut in the corner would do fine.

The other tiny pink stars on the main cake were ones I found in my local shop.

I hope this graduation cake helped Lucy feel like the little star she is!

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Girly Graduation Cake
By Jane Andrew

This is a very simple and girly graduation cake and was amazingly easy to decorate.

Tools:

Sponge cake (any size), jam, ready-to-roll fondant icing (enough to roll out and cover your cake), edible silver balls, yellow edible pen, edible flowers, thin pink ribbon and thick silver ribbon.

Instructions:

The cake was a straightforward classic sponge cake recipe with jam and butter-cream icing in the middle. I covered the entire cake in jam – this made it sticky so the fondant icing would adhere to it.

Next I covered it in ready-to-roll fondant icing. I rolled it out using plenty of icing sugar and a rolling pin. Trick is to make sure your rolling surface and pin are well covered in icing sugar to prevent any sticking. I then draped the icing over the rolling pin and moved it on top of the cake and then tripped any off the bottom with a sharp knife.

For the writing, I wrote the message on the cake with an edible pen in yellow. I then pressed edible silver balls into the yellow writing – they stuck into the fondant icing very well.

I also bought some little colourful edible flowers from my local supermarket which were secured in place with a tiny blob of white icing.

Final touches involved adding the wafer stick (to look like a scroll) with a little pink ribbon. And some nice silver ribbon around the side of the cake which was secured with a pin.

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After Eights Graduation Cake
By Jane Andrew

This is a simple elegant graduation cake that would suit a boy and again extremely easy to make

Tools:

Sponge cake (any size), jam, ready-to-roll fondant icing, edible silver balls, chocolate after eight sweets, red icing for piping the year, thin red ribbon, thick silver ribbon.

Instructions:

I used a traditional chocolate cake recipe to make this cake, sliced it through the middle and added some vanilla flavoured butter-cream icing.
I then covered the entire cake in the butter-cream – this helps the fondant icing adhere to it.

Next I covered it in ready-to-roll fondant icing. I rolled it out using plenty of icing sugar and a rolling pin. Trick is to make sure your rolling surface and pin are well covered in icing sugar to prevent any sticking.

I then draped the icing over the rolling pin and moved it on top of the cake and then trimmed any spare from the bottom with a sharp knife.

I made a piping bag out of a plastic food bag and just cut off a tiny edge at the coroner. I then filled the bag with the red icing. The red icing was just made from icing sugar, a tiny drop of water and some red food coloring. Mix it and make sure it is soft enough to pipe but firm enough to retain shape. Then simply pipe the year onto the chocolates. Great thing is that if you make a mistake then just eat it and try again on another one.

Now just get some edible silver balls and press them into the fondant icing at random intervals.

Final touches involved adding the wafer stick (to look like a scroll) with a little red ribbon and some nice silver ribbon around the side of the cake which was secured with a pin.

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100 and 1000’s Graduation Cake
By Jane Andrew

This was another kindergarten graduation cake made for – you guessed it - little Jen.

Tools:

Sponge cake, fondant icing, buttercream icing, yellow food coloring, blue edible pen, edible paper, 100 and 1000’s and piping bag.

Instructions:

I actually made the graduation cake with a shop bought mixture this time and just doctored it by adding 2 mashed bananas and ¾ cup of sour cream as Jen just LOVES bananas. I then sliced the cake through the middle and added a layer of hazelnut chocolate spread.

To decorate it I simply rolled out some fondant icing using plenty of icing sugar to prevent any sticking and placed it over the cake.

I then used a blue edible pen to write the message on the cake. This really is so easy if you are not confident about writing with a piping bag.

To make the star for this graduation cake I cut out a star shape with some edible paper, brushed it lightly with water and then laid it on the cake and quickly sprinkled it with 100 and 1000’s. The little sprinkles all stuck to the paper and were easily brushed off the rest of the cake.

I finished off making a butter-cream icing and adding a tiny amount of yellow food coloring to it and spooning the icing into a piping bag. It is so easy to then pipe with pattern around the edges. If you want to try it, just practice on some parchment paper first.

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Chocolate Drop Graduation Cake
By Jane Andrew

Jim just loved this yummy chocolate graduation cake!

Tools:

A lovely moist chocolate sponge cake was hiding under the butter-cream. I used the recipe on the main cakes page of this site.

Instructions:

Again, it was covered with butter-cream icing with a tint of yellow added – I think colors like this look more yummy than say blue, green, purple etc.

Then as you can see, chocolate drops were used to spell out the name.

The scroll was added to highlight the graduation occasion. This was soooooo simple. I just rolled out some fondant icing, cut a rectangle shape and rolled it up and secured it with the ribbon.

Finishing touches to this graduation cake included a sprinkling of silver edible balls and a thick yellow ribbon attached to the sides with a pin.

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Cake Submission Form

Proudly display your graduation cake and inspire other cake makers to bake a special cake for a special day!

Take part in the FREE graduation cake resource.

Share your cake picture, recipe, tips, techniques and decorating ideas.

The cake must be homemade!

Click below to see contributions from other visitors to this page...

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2009 Graduation Cake 
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White butter-cream icing covered the cake. Finishing touches were made with ...

Where to Buy Your Graduation Cake Supplies

If you are inspired now and ready to start baking and decorating a graduation cake then you'll find loads of graduation cake making goodies on ebay all at great prices.

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