How to Use Cake Decorating Magazines to Get Great Ideas

Cake decorating magazines are a great place to find new and inspiring ideas for cakes, whether you are a seasoned pro or a happy amateur.

When looking through the pages of a cake decorating magazine you need to look beyond the immediate visual impact of the cakes and study the techniques and ideas that have been used ~ and then ask yourself how you could put them to good use.

Starting a cake design can be tricky so having a set of cake decorating magazines to look through, or even better getting the person you're making the cake for to look through them is a great way to get a better idea of what someone is looking for and the types of things they like, and more importantly the types of things they don't.

Whether you are interested in wedding cakes or sugarcraft in general there are a range of magazines out there so there is sure to be a cake decorating magazine to suit you. Plus, cake decorating magazine subscriptions make great presents for anyone you know who loves to bake.

The biggest contender in this group is 'Wedding Cakes - A Design Source' - which is also my personal favorite.

This quarterly magazine is packed to the hilt with pictures of beautiful wedding cakes, all usefully grouped together under headings such as 'Beautiful Bows', 'Chocolate Collection' etc making it much easier to find your way around.

It also contains reader projects, showing in detail how to make particular designs and effects, and has a great section at the back of actual brides and grooms cutting their cakes, which is a great way to see how particular cakes look in real life situations.

This is a magazine to take your time over ~ by all means rush through the first time just to stare in wonder at the amazing creations ~ but then you need to go back to the beginning and start again.

Look at everything from the decorations to the cake tier seperators to get ideas. Take each picture and imagine what it would be like in different colours or using different aspects of a selection of cakes.

This is a magazine you will refer to time and time again, and if you're anything like me you're copies will end up full of turned down pages and post-it notes full of ideas for the future.

If you only ever subscribe to one wedding cake magazine - this should be it.

 There are 2 magazines in this section I can personally recommend.

First is Cake Craft and Decoration Magazine - this is a monthly magazine which while not as thick as some others does has the advantage of being more frequent.

Cake Craft and Decorationis a more general magazine but always contains something on Wedding Cakes and Novelty Cakes, has several 'How To' projects which are well explained plus a useful supplier list at the back - a great all-round resource.

Cakes and Sugarcraft is another quarterly magazine from the same stable as 'Wedding Cakes A Design Source'. Its focus is on the latest cake ideas and concepts. It's always chock full of great projects, ideas and recipes. This is one to love whether you are a keen cake decorator or just want to drool over the pictures.

 Cake decorating magazines are an on-going resource and should be used as such.

It's a good idea to group the ideas in them in some way i.e. Novelty, Summer Wedding, Winter Wedding etc so you don't have to start from scratch when searching for something you're sure you saw some time ago.

Don't just read them an put them away, keep re-reading old copies on a regular basis as what you'll find is that as you learn more techniques and complete more cakes you'll be able to apply more of the ideas you see in the magazines.

So treat yourself, get a cake decorating magazine subscription, then at least once a week sit down with your magazines and a cuppa and refresh your memory ~ never has working been so much fun.