"Basket" Cake Trick

By frosting the side of a layer cake with a basketweave pattern and adding fresh berries on the top, you can turn a common cake into an elegant "fruit basket."

1.Spread top of layer cake with a thin layer of apricot preserves or caramel topping

2.Spoon buttercream frosting into a decorating bag fitted with a ridged basketweave decorator tip. Pipe vertical strips at 2-inch intervals around side of cake.

Work from the bottom of the cake up toward top.

3. Make horizontal strip around side of cake, just below top edge. Repeat halfway down side of cake.

Use left hand to rotate cake plate as you pipe on horizontal strips.

4. Pipe more vertical strips halfway between each of the strips made in Step 1. Refill decorating bag as necessary.

Space second set of verticalstrips as evenly as possible.

5. Pipe short horizontal strips between the horizontal strips made in Step 2 and along the bottom of cake. Each short strip starts at the edge of one vertical strip, crosses over next vertical strip and ends at edge of next vertical strip.

Try to lift tip precisely at the edge of the next vertical strip.

6.Replace basketweave tip with star tip. Pipe a star border around top of cake. Pile mixed fresh berries on top of cake to look like fruit in a basket.