When I first started making cakes I went shopping at Michaels and got the basics. The things that I thought every baker out there had to be able to make beautiful masterpieces. Measuring cups, silicone molds, offset spatula, fondant roller,  you name it. In the real world though, beautiful fondant cakes are waaaay more complicated than baking from a box mix and covering it with fondant.

I learned, by trial and error, that precision comes first before the fun decorating part starts. A good, solid, base foundation is key to yield wonderful results. So here are the top 10 tools that along the way have helped me tremendously improve and ultimately changed my cake game from "pretty cake" to "Amazing!"

Top 10 Tools That Changed My Caking Game

10. Candy Thermometer - When I first started I frosted my fondant cakes in American buttercream. I've never been a fan, in fact, I hate it! but, I had no choice, or so I thought. As I researched online I noticed that the big shot bakers, people in the business that I admire, used meringue buttercream. I looked up recipes everywhere and realized that meringue buttercream was easier to make than American buttercream, more cost effective and best of all, delicious! I had to switch. Then I realize my way of telling when sugar syrup was ready didn't cut it anymore, I needed an accurate reading of temperature. So I invested in a good candy thermometer and it changed my life. Well, maybe it didn't change it as more as it allowed me to be consistent in my meringue buttercream recipe. No more sugary American buttercream for me.

9. FMM Rose Cutter - I taught myself how to make sugar flowers using Wilton manuals. Roses, I find were the easiest flowers to make, but they still took time to make because of the drying process in between the bud and the petals. I found this cutter by happenstance scrolling down my IG timeline. It was a time laps tutorial from a cake supply shop. I was amazed by this 15 second video so much I watched it over and over. I wasted no time in ordering the FMM rose cutter and since then I went from making a rose in 1 hour to less than 5 minutes. In this business like any other, time is money and creating a rose garden in less than 1 hour is money in my pocket.

8. Pizza Cutter - I used to cut the excess fondant when covering tiers with an offset spatula or knife and would end up with a lot of small straight, uneven custs. Sometimes I would end up cutting too much off exposing the frosting. No bueno. A pizza cutter is an unusual tool to use for decorating cakes, but it's very handy to have. I watched a tutorial on Youtube where the lady used a pizza cutter to cut off the excess fondant. Now the pizza cutter has become an important part of my "toolbox" because it cuts in a continuous move as I rotate the turntable and gives me a clean finished look.

7. Rolkem Super Gold - I tried 3 different gold dusts and paints before I discovered Rolkem's Super Gold. I had seen many IGers use it but I was very skeptical because of my experience with previous products. I finally took the plunge and ordered my 50g container. This metallic highlighter dust is food approved in Europe, Canada, and Australia, here in the US it's considered non-toxic and for decorative use only. You can make liquid paint by mixing Super Gold with alcohol or lemon extract, or dry brush this dust directly on fondant, gumpaste, chocolate, candy melts, etc. and it leaves a brilliant metallic shine.

6. Cake Leveler - this tool was one of my first investments and from the very first time I used it I knew I couldn't live without it. No more slanted cakes, uneven tiers, and sketchy structures that are one wobble away from collapsing and becoming a cake fail. I cut the excess dome off and have perfectly leveled torts to be filled with delicious filling and stacked to perfection.

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