"Whether you are a bride on a budget, a mom baking for a birthday, a cook who needs to control added ingredients, or just want to celebrate a special event with a fresh, delicious cake, this book has something for you. Author and pastry chef Erin Gardner is famous for her unique designs and cake decorating skill. In these pages, she demonstrates professional techniques for creating beautiful, custom-made cakes that are also completely delicious. From how to make mouthwatering, homemade buttercream to molding gorgeous fondant flowers and bows, Erin's detailed, step-by-step instructions offer home cooks all the decorating know-how they need. She also presents a host of secrets and shortcuts for dressing up plain cakes in absolutely no time--try her fruit Rollup trick for pretty cake flowers that can be made in a flash. Throughout the book, Erin shows time-pressed cooks how to improve upon well-known cake decorating techniques"-- "This book presents expert cake decorating techniques to make modern, fresh, and fun cakes, while offering easy, time-saving shortcuts to make fabulous, bakery-style cakes without the fancy price tag"--