I remember back when I bought some of my first cake dekoration tools. What was good to start with? and what was not that important? It was so easy to spend too much money on equipment and I must admit that I still do have unpacked cutters in my tool box.

So now I try to be more critical whenever I see something new on the cake decorating market because do I really need it? So to help newcommers to the cake decorating universe on what to spend your money on first. I have writen a basic list that hopefully will help you to deside what you need the most.

Note: not all of the tools I am talking about is on the photo.

Cake pans: you can always start out with some basic ones. But when you want to spend money on “real” cake pans then go for brands like: Wilton, Silverwood, Fat Daddios and Invicta.

Rolling pin: Do try and see if you can get a long one. Because you can also use it to “roll up” your fondant and transfer it to the cake. Use a shorter and smaller one when you make decorations. You can get rolling pins in non-stick and wood.

Smoothers: A pair of smoothers really makes the different when it comes to smoothing fondant.

Angled spatular: Makes it more easy to apply buttercream frosting on the cake.

Pizza cutter: To cut off exces fondant.

Constarch duster: I use this when I roll out my fondant or sits and make decorations. You can make one very easy.

Modelling tools: A good set of modelling tools will help you when you are making figures or flowers. I like the sets from JEM and PME.

Petal pad: When making flowers a petal pad out of firm foam is neede. Especially when you work with the ball/dog bone tool.

Petit spatulars: I use them to all kind of things. You could also just use a small knife.

Piping bag and tip: In the beginning I only had one piping bag, a coupler and a pair of decorating tips. Start out with round, star and leaf. They are still the ones I use the most.

Colours & dusts: There are different brands of paste/gel colours on the market today. I like the brands SugarFlair & AmeriColors. Often you can get a starter colour kit that will give you plenty of opportunities. Remember that colours like black and red can be hard to obtain from regular paste/gel colours. Most brands have those colours with extra strenght. That way you dont have to use a whole bottle to get a deep color.

Dusts are like eyeshadows they comes in all the colors of the rainbow and it can be hard not to buy too many So a white pearl lustre dusts and a couple of plain dusts is good to start out with. You can mix your own shimmer dust by mixing petal dusts with pearl lustre dust.

Cutters & embossers: An easy rose cutter is always a good rose cutter to start out with. I also like the ejector cutters and you can now get a nice variety of ejector cutters with leaves, blossoms, calyx ect. One of my all time favourite is the silicone flower veiner as you can make pretty flowers in no time. Use it with 5 petal blossoms and Petunia flower cutters. You may also like lettering cutters ?
Embossing stamps can quick make beautiful details in your fondant.

Miscellaneous: Clear alcohol for mixing colours & dusts. A small non-stick board. A good cake decorating book. Soft and fine brushes for painting. Toothpicks for adding colour and small painters palette for mixing colours but also for drying small flowers are good basic’s to have in your tool box.

Finally one of the best tools to have is the sugar craft gun. It can help you out with so many things and it will soon be one of your best tools to work with.

You are more than welcome to post a comment and tell me what kind of tools that you started out with in the beginning.

Happy Caking

Louise