What every baker should have and some fun fancy extras
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YouTube’s algorithm clearly knows me well, which is how I spent hours watching Laurie Shannon, a.k.a. “The Icing Artist.” Shannon and her husband and business partner, Kevin Jones, have a YouTube channel with almost five million subscribers. They create baking and cake decorating videos together from their home in the Greater Toronto Area. Their videos are equal parts educational and entertaining.
Shannon is a self-taught cake decorator who learned the craft from watching YouTube videos. She’s also a self-proclaimed perfectionist. Jones has only made and decorated a handful of cakes himself but has learned a trick (or 10) from watching Shannon over the past decade give or take.
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The couple started their channel, The Icing Artist, in 2013. Together, they share baking hacks, try baking trends, test weird Amazon gadgets and so much more. And trying new things is actually Shannon’s favourite part of what she does. “We’ve come out with so many different series and they’re so diverse and different, and trying something new and having all of these things that can play off of is really fun for me.”
Summary of Shannon’s favourite cake decorating tools
What every baker should have: An offset spatula and icing smoother
Not a must, but a “nice to have”: A cake turn and good-quality gel
Most indulgent tool: Gold leaf and gold dust
Weird baking tools that work well: A pizza cutter, scalpel and fabric tape measure
Q&A with Shannon
Q: What are key cake decorating tools that every level of baker should have?
A: An offset spatula and icing smoother. No matter what cake you’re doing, you need something to be able to smooth out your icing. An icing smoother is a piece of aluminum, stainless steel or plastic that has a straight edge that you just run along the side of the cake. Those two tools are non-negotiables for me.
Q: What other tools aren’t required but are nice to have?
A: A cake turn is definitely a big thing. It’s difficult to smoothly apply icing around a cake. A cake turn makes it easier.
Food colouring is also an important thing that people struggle with. They go to the grocery store, get those little droppers of food colouring and have trouble colouring their icing. You want to use a gel. A good-quality gel will make all the difference.
Q: What’s your favourite indulgent tool you like to use?
A: When you’re trying to elevate your cakes, gold leaf. Gold leaf is something that I’ve used in so many of my designs and instantly elevates it. It’s what I used in turning a $20 grocery store cake into a $500 wedding cake.
The initial investment is a little high because gold leaf can run between $50 to $100 but you get lots of pages of it and it lasts a very long time.
Also, really good gold dust. And even colours, like silver or bronze dust. When you invest in really good quality shimmer dust you’re going to see the results.
Q: Are there any obscure tools that you find work well?
A: A pizza cutter. A pizza cutter is really good for smoothly cutting fondant.
I also use a scalpel. I got them on Amazon and it’s so tiny and so sharp and has a really fine point soo I can fondant with fine detail.
And a fabric tape measure. I put it over the entire cake and I can measure the entire circumference and diameter of the cake. That way I can measure how big I need to roll out my fondant.
Q: What’s the most challenging part about decorating cakes?
A: Getting my icing smooth, and chocolate. Chocolate is not my friend. If anyone watches my channel they’ll see a lot of me struggling with chocolate. I’m still trying to figure out how to work with chocolate
(We think Shannon is surely getting the hang of it. Check out her fantastic chocolate work.)
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