Sugar Geek University - Celebration Cake Tutorials
Birthdays, showers, holidays and the cakes people ask you for by name. Some are built around a character, some around a finish you can put on anything. Pick the one that looks like the cake you have been asked to make.
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The Free To Watch tutorials are open to everyone, no account needed. Everything else is included with a Sugar Geek University membership. Click any one to see what it covers before you decide.
FREE TO WATCH
How to Decorate Your First Cake
Every step from tools and baking to trimming, frosting with sharp edges and decorating. If you have never decorated a cake before, start here.
How to Stack a Cake Using Milkshake Straws
Supporting and stacking tiers with something you can buy anywhere, so a two or three tier cake holds its shape.
Ready for the rest?
Everything below this point is inside Sugar Geek University. Full-length tutorials, start to finish, nothing skipped, and something new from me every month.
PARTY & POP CULTURE
Moana Cake
Skill Level: Intermediate Guest instructor Sara Weber is back with another tutorial full of so many techniques and textures, you can almost hear Maui say, "You're welcome!" In this tutorial, you will learn how to sculpt and create a silicone mold of the heart of Te Fiti, how to create this edible pi
Dark Side vs Light Side Cake
Skill Level: Advanced Elizabeth Marek breaks down how to create this stunning Star Wars cake, featuring not one but two sculpted cake toppers of Rey and Kylo Ren from the new trilogy. In this tutorial, you will learn how to sculpt the features of the face using Saracino Pasta Model, how to create th
Animal Crossing Birthday Cake
Skill Level: Intermediate For Avalon's birthday this year, we went full Animal Crossing! Avalon loves Animal Crossing so much that we just had to have an Animal Crossing-themed cake, complete with fun stylized island floating in an ocean of jelly goodness. This cake was so much fun to make, adding a
Magic: The Gathering Cake
Skill Level: Intermediate My wonderful husband Dan is really into Magic: The Gathering. So much so, that I decided to make him his very own custom edible Magic card for his birthday. This new online course features making a custom edible playing card, sculpting a magician's hand, making glowing edib
Light Fury Cake
Skill Level: Intermediate In this tutorial, you will learn how to create a gravity defying, floating island structure, how to make gummy crystals, gelatin waterfalls and a fun light fury cookie cake topper with isomalt eyes! Lots of fun techniques in this cake! 56:36 Minutes of Instruction What You
Encanto House Cake
Skill Level: Intermediate I got the chance to make an Encanto-themed birthday cake recently and wanted it to feature the house Casita from the movie. There's many ways to approach house cakes, but for this project, I wanted to make something gravity-defying that felt like an homage to the popular to
Cruella Birthday Cake
Skill Level: Intermediate Bring your punk rock fashionistas to this party, we're making a Cruella birthday cake! I got the chance to make this cake for an artistic little girl that's really into the new Disney movie and I had a blast making this. This cake features a flowing edible red dress, newspr
Book of Brandon Cake
Skill level: Intermediate For the book-lovers, this cake tutorial is a total treat! In this tutorial, you will learn how to create an ornate book design, with decorative scrollwork, a cool artistic stencil design, how to make all the subtle details that make this cake really look like a book, how to
Sportsball Cake
Skill Level: Intermediate Batter up! This online course features something I know almost nothing about— SPORTS!! For this cake, I wanted to try putting together all of the sports-related balls and make a gravity-defying project with a twist... all of the chocolate spheres except the bottom are hollo
90's Cake
Skill Level: Intermediate The spirit of the 90's is alive! The early 90's that is. I made this 90's-style cake for my 20-year high school reunion. OMG I feel so old. The early 90's was all about grunge rock, disc-mans, MTV, FRIENDS and more. Learn how to make this fun 90's themed cake with painted b
Nurse Cake
Skill Level: Intermediate I need a cake STAT! Guest instructor Shannon Mayes is back with another lovely cake for the medical professional in your life. Featuring edible candy pills, edible bottles, a realistic syringe, stethoscope, edible band-aids and a cool medical ID badge, there's something in
Flamingo Pool Cake
Skill level: Intermediate Guest instructor and resident Food Producer Erin Fale has an awesome Flamingo pool floaty cake, complete with an awesome pineapple drink and edible umbrella! If you've wanted to try out sculpting a cake into a magnificent work of art but were feeling nervous about how to st
BABY & GENDER REVEAL
Woodland Baby Shower Cake
Skill level: Intermediate Learn how to create this wonderful woodland animal baby shower cake! Liz Marek breaks down all the steps in the process of making each tier, including how to make the bear, owl and deer's details, how to create the cake topper ears and how to trim and arrange the foliage. 4
Royal Gender Reveal Cake
Skill level: Intermediate Crown toppers are incredibly difficult to pull off, but with Liz Marek's simple trick, you'll be knocking out an entire collection of royal crowns in no time. Guests will think you are minted, showing off these metallic creations, but there might be a gasp or two when they
HOLIDAY & SEASONAL
Christmas Ornament Hanging Cake
Skill level: Intermediate This hanging Christmas ornament cake will have your friends wondering how you did it! The crazy part? It's 99% edible! The cake is easy to assemble and is the perfect size to bring to your next holiday party! This design will even work for so many other themes! A balloon, s
Gingerbread House Cake
Skill Level: Intermediate Guest instructor Mitchie Curran returns for this fun holiday special! In this video, you will learn how to take a store-bought gingerbread house kit give it the ol' fixer-upper treatment, taking a broken-down double-wide and converting it into a cozy upscale bungalow. Mitch
Holiday Cakes Tutorial
Skill level: Intermediate Guest instructor Jennifer Reese from Good Gosh Ganache is back with another set of awesome cake tutorials. In this course, Jennifer breaks down how to use techniques that could be applied to Thanksgiving or Christmas cakes, featuring a checked fondant design, edible raffia,
Gingham Spring Cake
This cake tutorial is bursting with spring details! Learn how to make sugar poppies, hydrangeas, leaves and even edible amaranth! A gorgeous hand-painted watercolor floral exterior compliments the surprise-inside gingham pattern and its all sitting upon a delicate isomalt board with crackle texture!
Strawberry Summer Cake
Skill level: Intermediate Guest instructor Jennifer Reese is back again for a summer-styled strawberry patch cake! In this tutorial, you will learn how to create a wide variety of looks and textures, from realistic strawberry patch vines, to picket fence patterns, a pink and white gingham thatch, a
PAINTED & PORTRAIT
Splatter Portrait Cake
Skill Level: Intermediate The theme of this birthday party was "Little Artists" for Arya, who is turning 4. We discussed a few options and settled on a 4-sided cake with a portrait of Arya at 1, 2, 3 and 4 years of age. It was such a fun project and turned out so well, I'm very excited to share this
Anime Cocoa Butter Portrait Cake
Skill Level: Intermediate I got the opportunity to create a beautiful birthday cake for a girl who is really into Anime, specifically Sword Art Online. I knew this would be the perfect time to try out cocoa butter for painting portraits, and the results were amazing! Cocoa butter painting creates be
Painted Portrait Cake
Skill Level: Intermediate Learn to create a beautiful birthday cake with a hand-painted portrait using Karen Portaleo's new Edible Artist oil paints. You will learn how to make this elaborate cake, with hand-painted golden details scrollwork flourishes and along with the gravity-defying flower hoop.
FINISHES & EFFECTS
Mirror Glaze Ocean Wave Cake
Skill level: Intermediate I created this piece for the Simi Cakes Torch Team Collaboration and loved making it so much, I turned it into a tutorial! I just love how the translucent isomalt wave topper pairs with the super shiny mirror glaze. It's like you're gazing directly into the depths of a swir
Cocoa Butter Cactus Cake
Skill Level: Intermediate This week's tutorial is all about cocoa butter! If you've ever wondered how to use this amazing product, look no further than this online course. We cover how to paint with cocoa butter, how to airbrush, how to create an amazing edible velvet texture, how to create a stunni
Purple Bling Cake
Skill Level: Intermediate This is a re-make of one of my very early cakes in my career. Since then, it has been pinned, shared and re-posted thousands of times. I have always had a thing for shiny edible bling on cakes and get many requests on how to re-create these edible jewels. So here it is! How
Modern Geometric Cake
Skill Level: Intermediate Our latest tutorial is designed by none other than Jessica Phan and is a sure-win modern cake design. Learn how to create a geometric cake with clean buttercream and ganache stripes, a wild geometric frill pattern and an adorable stained-glass bear face cake topper. This ca
Gelatin Flower Cake
I got a chance to make a space-themed floral cake for one of my best friend's for her daughter's birthday. I love trying to mix together seemingly-unrelated themes and this was a real treat. In this tutorial, you will learn how to pick, flatten, and attach edible flowers to a cake, how to coat the f
Lumberjack Cake
Skill level: Intermediate Want to know the secrets to this plaid lumberjack cake that has become an internet sensation? You might think you've got it figured out but the process might surprise you! Be one of the first to create this original and super-trendy cake design! This tutorial teaches you ev
The Everything Cake
Skill Level: Intermediate What do you do when a client says, "I want a cake that has everything on it!" We've all had to deal with difficult cakes that have all sorts of colors, interests or designs on them, and today I'm going to show you how to create a stunning cake using a bunch of colors and pi
GRAVITY & ILLUSION
Floating Cloud Unicorn Cake
Skill Level: Intermediate Learn how to make this super-cute gravity-defying floating cloud unicorn cake! In this online course, you will learn how to create a structure that supports the floating cloud, how to create an edible shiny rainbow, learn how to sculpt the cutest little unicorn cake topper
Floating Cube Cake
Skill level: Intermediate My best friend's daughter is really into the video game Roblox and for her birthday I created this floating cube cake to surprise her. In this tutorial, you will learn how to create a gravity-defying cake cube made with no big support pieces, everything is edible! You will
That’s the whole celebration cake library.
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