When setting up to start a cake business, it can be really overwhelming what tools and equipment to buy, because there is so much cake decorating stuff out there!

You want to start building up your tool kit, and spend your money on things you will need and use in a cake business.

When setting up a cake business, you really only require a basic set of decorating tools (which can decorate over 90% of your orders & will cost less than $100 – for most people!)

So many go out & spend thousands on palate knives, piping bags, piping tips, books, cutters, luster dusts, color icings, edible decorations, cake boards, storage containers, sprinkles, air brush gun & colors, fondant smoothers, tins and let alone the cake decorating courses!

Hey, that’s cool to go spend all that money, but if you are looking at starting your business as cheap as possible, I’m your woman to help….

If you love cupcakes and love baking for your friends and family (& wanting to have your own Cake Business) here is your Essential Cupcake Decorators Tool Kit, ALL for UNDER $100!

Get your free Ultimate Tool List PDF Here.

Must Have’s in Your Cupcake Decorating Kit:

Chocolate Sprinkles
Edible Glitter (Silver)
Cachous (Silver Edible Balls)
Food Colors
Edible Flowers
Butterfly cutters

With these 7 (simple), yet effective decorations, you too, can create professional looking decorated cupcakes, just like the pretty ones on the cupcake stand!

There are 2 main icings I use to decorate – butter cream (recipe here) and chocolate ganache (recipe here).

Cake Tools List

Piping Bags & Piping Tips

To decorate Cupcakes, all bakers & decorators use piping bags & piping tips. There are lots of different types and brand names in the market. Some tips are rubbish, right up to some exceptionally good, but expensive.

The extremely cheap bags & tips are rubbish. Throw these in the trash. They break easily and only do a very basic piping job on cupcakes, which doesn’t make them look professional.

The expensive brand bags & tips come in $150 kit. These are a very good quality and the cupcakes will look professional. The down side is there are A LOT of tips in this set & can be very confusing choosing which one to use, for what desired effect.

The piping bags I recommend good quality canvas bag, that are easy to hold, use, decorate & clean. They are also extremely affordable at approx. $5. They come in a range of sizes. I like Ateco or Wilton brands.

The tips are extremely affordable at approx. $1.50 each! There are star nozzles & round nozzles and both come in different sizes. I would recommend getting 3 of each (No. 5 – star & round, No. 9 – star & round, No. 11 – star & round.)

This will give you a professional looking, piped cupcakes, which is actually really easy to do yourself. I believe in you!

The piping bag and tips can be purchased from – Cake Decorating Shops, Michael’s, Hobby Lobby, Joanne’s, Homewares Shops and online (Amazon has everything!).

Piping bag – on Amazon.

Piping Tips– tip kit on Amazon.

I would recommend going to practice, using the Cupcake Decorating Video Tutorial. Here is a bangin’ butter cream recipe to decorate those cupcakes with!

Butterfly Cutters

Have you checked out all the different fondant cutters out there? Dude. There is A LOT of really cool stuff that can be done with cupcakes.

If you have a limited budget I recommend buying the butterfly cutters!

The ones, pictured, are the best of all the butterfly cutters, as they leave the imprint on the fondant decorations, rather than just the shape. They are also extremely affordable at approximately $9 for the set of 3 different sizes. These are available at your local cake decorating shop or online.

Note – I show you how to use these cutters & decorate with fondant in the What Is Fondant Video Tutorial (which is available in the Video Tutorial Library for enrolled students in Cake Business School.)

Bowl & Spatula

This is a 5L plastic bowl (and it’s pink, so that makes it awesome). I found this for $4 at a discount shop. While you are there, grab a plastic spatula (again, pink and awesome) for $2.

In the kitchen, it is highly recommended using plastic, as it is the most hygienic of food equipment. For example, wooden spoons attract bacteria.

Palate Knife

A palate knife is used to put butter cream and chocolate ganache onto cakes in a flat & controlled way, to make your cakes look more professional.

Pictured are two types, flat & angled. I have become a huge fan of the angled palate knife in the last year, but before that used the flat palate knife for 10 years. Both work well, it just depends what your personal preference is, once you start decorating with them. To start with, I would suggest a small angled palate knife, approx. 10-15 cm long, which would cost approximately $11.

The picture also shows the large palate knives, about 25 cm long, which are used more for large cake decorating.

Palate Knife – a medium sized ‘Angled Palate Knife’ will do most jobs. (Costs approx $11 from Cake Decorating Shops, Kitchen Shops, Spotlight or online.) Here you can find on eBay, or Amazon.

Electric Beater

If you do have a larger, bench top mixer, that is fantastic!) But if you are starting from scratch and are on a budget, then I would recommend a small electric beater.

They can be as affordable as $15 from the Supermarket. (Pictured here is a Brevillle, which has a slightly larger motor for $40.)

Business Secret – I used a hand held for the first 2 years in business. The beater might of died every 4 months, but it worked. (And the cake tasted awesome, even if I say so myself!)

Electronic Scales

It is essential to weigh ingredients (pretty much) to the gram.

By using electronic scales, you can be extremely accurate with your measurements, so you have a beautiful tasting and more consistent product. Electronic scales can be found at the Supermarket, local cake decorating shops, and House & Home type shops and online. They vary in price from $10 – $150. I would suggest finding one at approximately $30 range, as long as it measures to the 1 gram, takes up to 5 kilograms and comes with batteries.

Electronic scales – to weigh flour, etc accurately. (Costs approx $30-60 from Cake Decorating Shops, Kitchen Shops, Spotlight or online.) Here is the link for Amazon.

Total Tool Box

Electric Beater $15 + Piping Bag $15 + Nozzles $9 + Butterfly Cutters $9 + Bowl & Spatula $6 + Palate Knife $11 + Electronic Scales $30 = $95!

Get your free Ultimate Tool List PDF Here.

Remember, if you are starting out or growing your cake business, I am here to help!

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