9 Cake Tools Every Home Baker Needs

The average home baker may think that baking and decorating professional looking cakes is just impossible.  Every time you try, it ends up looking like something off of a Buzzfeed Pinterest fail list. I can almost guarantee you that’s because you aren’t using the right cake tools.  Making simple, beautiful cakes is actually pretty easy if you come at the task with the right equipment.

 

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This post was originally published on May 6, 2019.  It was republished on December 8, 2022 with updates.

 

Basic Cake Tools for Success

 

First of all, I’m going to make a big assumption here that you read my post about the best baking tools and fully stocked up your equipment.  You should already have some basic kitchen equipment like:

• Bench scraper (check out Dollar Tree for one!)
• Bowls
• Spatulas and spoons
• Digital scale
• Quality cookbook

 

Now let’s dive right into those cake tools you need to start making professional quality cakes!

 

 

Stand Mixer/ Hand Mixer

 

In my post about the best basic baking tools, I mentioned the hand mixer because it is an affordable and useful tool.  For making cakes, it can be great to mix batter and small batches of frosting. But if you’re serious about cakes, you really need a stand mixer.  Without a doubt, it’s a bit of an investment but it’s vital to making big batches of frosting. 

If you’re on the fence on whether to get a stand mixer, let me help you figure out if it fits your baking needs. While it’s a tool I use almost every week, it’s not going to be worth the price tag for everyone. 

 

Piping Tips 

 

Even if you don’t think you want to do a lot of fancy piping work, these cake tools are going to make assembling your sweet treat sooooo much easier.  I like to use a large circle tip to pipe frosting in between cake layers, as a crumb coat, and for covering the cake with frosting. 

But now that you’ve got these fun tools, feel free to get creative! You can practice piping frosting onto a piece of wax paper. When you’re all done, just scrape it up and frost your cake or keep practicing.

 

 

 

Piping Bags

 

I hate to break it to you, but you can’t actually use piping tips unless you have piping bags. My favorite ones are these disposable 12 inch and 16 inch bags. They won’t burst and I haven’t had any problems with them.

However, the savvy choice for the planet is reusable piping bags. You can find them in many sizes. I find it easiest to turn them inside out when I hand wash them. 

 

Related Reading: Piping 101: Piping Buttercream Like a Pro

 

Acrylic Cake Discs

 

I’ve been using these discs for a year or two now. Before I had them, I thought they were nice, but a bit superfluous. Nowadays, I hate having to frost a cake without them! They make the process quicker and the results are way sharper. My 6.25 inch discs are from CakeSafe and my 4.25inch discs are from Amazon.

Check out my step by step tutorial for how to use acrylic cake discs if you’re not familiar with them. These are cake tools that give you the professional finish. They also make a world of difference with frosting 4 inch cakes!

 

Cake Pans

 

Obviously, if you’re making a list of basic cake tools, you need to have cake pans on the list.  The size you choose will depend on your personal preference. Most of mine are 3 layer 6 inch cakes, so I use these Fat Daddio pans the most.

However, if you prefer shorter, more traditional cakes, having two 8 or 9 inch pans is going to be the best choice. Random, but I even love these super shallow 6 inch pans.

 

 

Turntable

 

The secret to getting those smooth, sharp edges on your cakes is a turntable and a scraper.  This set comes with some other awesome cake tools like a large offset spatula and textured scrapers.  

This piece of equipment is also great for adding decorations to cakes like pretty piping or a tasty ganache drip.  It’s important to get one that is solid and moves smoothly, otherwise your cake is going to look sloppy. I like that this one is metal and heavy duty. It turns like a dream!  I worry that plastic ones wouldn’t be as smooth. 

 

 

Offset Spatula

 

I like having a full sized one and a mini spatula to be prepared for any cake decorating situation.  These are great cake tools for spreading frosting on your cake and adding texture to the finished look.  

Even after I pipe the frosting in between cake layers, I like to use one of these offset spatulas to smooth it out and make sure the filling is even and flat.  While bench scrapers are fantastic for smoothing out the sides, offset spatulas are better for smaller areas. They are perfect for finishing off the top of the cake.  

 

Related Reading: 7 Reasons You Can’t Make a Perfect Cake

 

Gel or Powder Colors

 

Choosing the right food color can make a world of difference in your cakes. The most common choice is gel color. It’s super concentrated and won’t water down your buttercream. For the best colors, I suggest Chefmaster or Americolor.

Just recently, I got some powdered food color from The Sugar Art. I wanted these for my macarons, but they’re also great for coloring cake batter or frosting. These ones are activated with moisture, so make sure you look up how to use them first.

 

Cake Boards

 

The last item on my cake tools list is cake boards.  Cake boards serve several purposes in cake decorating. They let you easily move your cake from the fridge to the turntable or cake stand. Besides that, they also support your cake and help keep it in one piece!  

For a cake that’s not leaving my house and not extremely heavy, I can get away with using one cake board that is the size of said cake. However, most of the time I like to use one board the size of the cake and then I’ll place that on a larger decorated board. This provides more support and looks pretty.

 

Please take note, if the cake will be transported, or is larger, you should use a cake drum. You can make your own cake drum by taping or hot gluing 2 or 3 cake boards together. 

 

 

Get out and Get Caking!

 

 

Now that you’ve got these handy cake tools, get out there and get caking!  You’ll find that once you’ve got the right equipment, baking and decorating cakes will be a breeze.  It may take you a little bit of practice, but you’ll find that your cakes are going to look much more professional and I guarantee the compliments will pour in.  Make sure to pin this list for the future too!