A cake covered in varying shades of red and pink icing, with additional shiny sugar balls, cherries and a disco ball for decoration. An impressive example of the result for a vintage cake decorating workshop.

Learning Vintage Cake Decorating

12th February 2025 - New Experience Number 1.

Jump to 'Try it yourself'

The first of my 52 new things for 2025 was an awesome Valentine’s Frillseeker Party which was all about learning the art of vintage cake decorating

Levelling up a delicious Victoria sponge, we would be icing and piping buttercream to decorate our cakes in our own interpretation of love.

What Is Vintage Cake Decorating?

If you’ve ever seen a cake that looks as though it has been covered in frilly icing, that’s usually the vintage style.

You might have heard of them as Lambeth cakes or Lambeth icing. This is reference to Joseph Lambeth, who shone a spotlight on the frilling technique, and wrote a book called “The Lambeth Method of Cake Decoration & Practical Pastries”, way back in 1934.

They look incredibly intricate and delicate, come in some outrageously impressive designs, and I was going to have a go at the technique!

Close up of the top of an impressively decorated Valentine's themed cake. The icing looks sweet and delicious.
Vintage cake decorating can often look very impressive
Close up of a frilly layer of pink buttercream icing around the base of a cake
The frilly buttercream icing is often known as Lambeth icing.

The Four Letter Baker

Following The Four Letter Baker on instagram is an utter joy. She is a supremely talented cake artist based in North Yorkshire, and shares the amazing makes she creates for people celebrating an occasion and daring to be a little bit different.

Whipping up something new, she organised a Valentines Frillseeker party, in which she would guide us through the basics of vintage cake decorating so that we could take home our very own love themed cake.

Welcoming us in for the workshop, The Four Letter Baker, (also known as Michaela), set the tone for an exceptionally friendly and fun night.

The Four Letter Baker - a white woman behind a cake as she is demonstrating vintage cake decorating
The phenomenal Four Letter Baker in action

Getting Started - Learning Vintage Cake Decorating

To begin, Michaela talked us through the preparation that she had done with the cakes to get them ready for the event. This included baking them from scratch, layering, adding the jam filling, and giving them a crumb coat. A what coat? I hadn’t heard of this before either. 

It’s where a thin layer of buttercream is used to cover all of the outside of the cake. It helps to keep it moist and stops the crumbs from getting into the final icing layer. Genius!

The first thing we would be doing, was covering our individual 4 inch Victoria sponge cakes in a coloured buttercream icing. With a swift demonstration and making it look super easy, Michaela introduced us to the tools we needed and the method for creating a smooth icing layer.

A tall victoria sponge cake that has been covered with a crumb coat
The cake already prepared with the crumb coat.

Covering The Cake

Scooping a generous dollop of a creamy icing onto the top of the cake, I then spread it over the entire surface of the sponge ready to be perfected.

A bowl full of deliciously creamy pink icing ready for covering a cake.
Starting with a big dollop of icing.
A sponge cake covered with a crumb coat, and a dollop of pink icing sits on the top, ready for covering the surface.
Adding the icing ready to cover the cake.

The concentration levels were high and my tongue was probably out as I placed the edge of the plastic scraper onto my cake as firmly as I dared. Slowly and steadily I turned the cake stand. It worked!

It needed neatening out, but already it was looking like a smoother base to work on.

Several rotations of the cake stand later, and many attempts to create the smoothest surface I possibly could, I was in danger of overworking it. Despite some imperfections, and a couple of gaps, I thought I’d best leave it while the going was good.

A cake covered in uneven pink icing.
From this messy covering...
A sponge cake smoothly covered in pink icing.
...to this slightly smoother and neater covering.

Frilling

Gathering around the counter again, Michaela introduced us to the different nozzles, and demonstrated the piping technique, creating some fabulous frilltastic decorative swirls. Again, she made it look so slick and simple as she gave us tips on the tools and techniques to use.

Looking down at a stand of different shapes and sizes of nozzles used for piping icing and vintage cake decorating.
Who knew there were so many different sizes and shapes of nozzles for icing?!

Back at our seats and using the practice sheets, this did not look promising. My piping was wobbly and uneven, looking more like a slug than a pretty decoration. I’m glad this was not on the actual cake!

Experimenting with some of the other techniques, I found one which I seemed to be marginally better at, and braced myself to commit the icing on the cake.

Holding my breath, I gently squeezed and moved the piping bag with one hand, and turned the cake stand with the other.

Three sample practice sheets for learning the art of vintage cake decorating. There are shapes and indicated movements to help people learn the techniques.
Some very handy practice sheets.

Layering - Learning Vintage Cake Decorating

I’d done it! I’d added a first frilly layer around the base of the cake. It was a similar height all the way around, even if the loops were a little uneven in their frequency,

A cake on a rotating cake stand. The cake has been covered in pink icing, and a collar of pink frilly buttercream icing has been added around the base.
A first, fairly even, ruffle around the base of my cake

Feeling a little more confident, I picked a different shade for my next frill which I piped around the top of the cake, and then added another sweet layer of icing around the base. 

The piping bit felt like it was getting a little easier, even if my technique needed a lot more practice. It wasn’t the neatest, there were some odd blobs here and there, but it wasn’t bad for a novice!

A tall sponge cake that has been covered in pink icing. A ruffle of frilly icing has been added around the base and a border of red icing has been piped around the top.
Adding a frill border around the top.

Embellishing

Inspired by the lovely ladies on my table, I added what were meant to be hearts around the top of the cake.

I promise you I practiced on the clear sheet first and they looked like a heart, but when I tried to recreate the moves onto the cake they look more like those pink shrimp foam sweets that you can buy. Or an ear. Either way, they weren’t quite the obvious loved themed shape I’d hoped for, but at least they were fairly evenly spaced.

A sponge cake covered in pink icing, with two , not very neat, ruffles of frilly buttercream icing around the base, a frilled icing border around the top, and some light pink icing which looks like it is in the shape of an ear. It is meant to be a heart, but this is an example of vintage cake decorating by a novice.
One of my ruffle layers around the base wasn't quite the neatest, and you can see the hearts looked more like ears!

My last bit of piping was an attempt at some necklace like drops around the middle of the cake. I think I should have used a smaller nozzle to make a more delicate pattern.

The Glitz Bits

Lastly we added the finishing touches. There were sparkly shiny sugar balls, red sugar lips, pink sugar hearts, scrumptiously sweet cherries and non-edible disco balls to make our cakes look absolutely ace.

A particular favourite was the edible glitter spray which I think most of us applied liberally at the end, adding a spritz of sparkle.

Heart shaped bowls filled with sugar hearts and silver sugar balls. Perfect additions for vintage cake decorating.
Adding the finishing touches and a bit of bling to the cake.

The Finished Results

There it was. My first attempt at vintage cake decorating. It may not have been the neatest, but it was certainly unique, and it had been a totally brilliant event.

Huge kudos to The Four Letter Baker, as she had clearly put so much time and effort into making sure everything ran smoothly. Her enthusiasm for sharing all the top tips and handy hints was infectious and I’m sure it has inspired many of us to give it another go. 

A sponge cake decorated with lots of frilly buttercream icing and decoration. You can tell its made by an amateur, but it still looks impressive as it has been made at a vintage cake decorating workshop.
Not the neatest icing, but I was pleased with that for a first attempt.

I loved seeing all of the finished cakes at the end. There were some fantastic designs and very talented participants.

A couple of people had even iced a message onto the top of their Victoria sponge, and they looked incredibly neat! Maybe that’s something for me to try next time?!

A beautifully decorated sponge cake. There is a lot of buttercream icing layered in pretty frills around the cake, and lots of decorations and embelishments.
One of the other impressively decorated cakes...
A beautifully decorated sponge cake. It has pink frilly icing around the top and bottom, pink ribbons, and some glittery sugar balls. An example from a vintage cake decorating workshop.
...and another from one of the ladies I shared a table with.

Feeling The Love - Learning Vintage Cake Decorating

I was on a table with a lovely bunch of ladies, and it was so nice to share the experience with them.

Lots of delicious and impressive cakes with beautiful frilly icing, all in individual boxes. These have been made at a vintage cake decorating event.
Everyone decorated such impressive cakes

Offering reassurance and words of encouragement as we went through moments of uncertainty, and championing each other throughout the make. Everyone was really friendly and it was a fabulously fun night.

The Other Half was suitably impressed when I gave him the cake, and even more delighted when he tucked into the deliciousness. It didn’t last long!

A delicious looking Victoria sponge that has been beautifully decorated with lashings of pink buttercream icing, and has been sliced into so you can see the light and fluffy sponge.
It looked good, it tasted delicious!

Why You Should Try Vintage Cake Decorating

It’s a brilliant fun, mindful and creative experience, and you get to eat the delicious  fruits of your labours!

You can unleash your creativity! Whatever your style, whatever your message, you can capture it on a cake! Who knows, you might also uncover a hidden talent!

If you’re looking for something a little bit different to do with friends, or an idea for a hen-do, then this is a brilliant experience to try.

Even if you don’t consider yourself particularly artistic or creative, you’ll be amazed at how decorative you can actually make a cake.

If you want to give someone a unique and personal gift, why not try vintage cake decorating? Make your mark in icing, and give it as a gift that will delight and impress the recipient!

Want To Try It Yourself?

Click here for other food and drink experience ideas you could try.

Cost Of Experience

  • The 3 hour workshop cost £49.46. It might look an odd number, but it was through eventbrite so included their fees. 
  • The price included a 4 inch cake which had been baked and crumb-coated. It also included all of the icing, decorations and tools for us to make our unique and individual valentine’s themed cakes. 
  • Prices will vary depending on who you book your experience with.

Recommendations

  • Go big, go bawdy. When it comes to vintage cake decorating, more is definitely a good thing. Be free with your frills!
  • Remember to breathe! It’s very easy to not realise you are holding your breath when you’re concentrating on the piping. 
  • Be prepared. Whilst this wasn’t especially messy, you might get some icing on yourself, so it’s probably a good idea not to wear your finest outfit.
  • Enjoy! Take some pictures of your finished creations and let me know how you get on if you decide to give vintage cake decorating a go!

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