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Cake Baking and Decorating Diploma Course

Learn everything you need to know about cake decorating, from design to delivery. Packed with written, illustrated, and video instructions, the Cake Baking and Decorating Diploma Course will guide you, step-by-step, through the process of creating a delicious, beautifully decorated cake. You'll receive plenty of useful tips along the way, to help you hone and improve your baking and decorating skills.

Course overview:

Certified

Accredited

10 Modules

12 Videos

Study Group Access

Earn reward points

What Will You Learn?

Whether you’re a total rookie or looking to refine and perfect your existing skills, this online cake baking and decorating course offers everything you need to create beautiful, delicious cakes with professional flair.

The course begins by introducing the essential tools and equipment you’ll need, as well as the basics of designing a cake. You'll learn how to properly prepare your workspace, gather and measure ingredients, and get yourself ready to bake with confidence.

From there, you’ll be guided step-by-step through baking three classic cakes, allowing you to put your cake-baking skills to the test:

A classic Madeira cake
A rich and indulgent chocolate sponge
A sweet and flavourful fruit cake

You’ll also learn how to adapt recipes to suit different tastes and cake tin sizes.

Master Cake Preparation Techniques

Once your cakes are baked, you’ll discover how to level, torte, and fill your sponges with jam, cream, and other delicious fillings. You’ll then be guided through applying a buttercream crumb coat, which is an essential step before topping with sugarpaste icing. For fruit cakes, you’ll learn how to use an apricot jam glaze and marzipan for a sweet, traditional base.

Expert Cake Decorating Skills

Next, the course takes you through working with pre-made fondant to achieve a smooth, clean finish. You’ll be introduced to a range of cake decoration techniques, including how to:

Make 2D and 3D fondant decorations
Create character toppers like a teddy bear for kids' birthday cakes
Craft number toppers for birthday or celebration cakes

Each step is supported by written, illustrated, and video instructions to help you follow along easily.

Bringing It All Together

In the final stages, you'll learn how to assemble and finish your cake, expertly combining your decorations into a beautiful design. You’ll also explore handy practical considerations, such as:

How to photograph your cake clearly
Tips for safe transport and delivery
Food safety guidelines, including allergens and inedible elements you must communicate to the recipient

These tips are especially valuable for anyone looking to turn their new skills into a successful cake-making business!

By the End of This Course, You Will:

You’ll have gained the skills and confidence to learn cake baking and decorating from start to finish. You’ll know how to design, bake, decorate, and deliver a cake professionally. You’ll understand the tools, techniques, and ingredients needed to create beautiful cakes, and feel confident applying your cake decorating skills to meet any brief with ease. And best of all, you’ll quickly become everyone’s favourite friend or family member whenever cake is involved!

Artistic, technical and delicious. The work of cake bakers and decorators is an interesting one and if you’ve found yourself wanting to try your hand at making your own cakes, but don’t know where to begin, then this is the course for you.

The Cake Baking and Decorating Diploma Course takes complete beginners and provides step-by-step guidance in written, illustrative and video forms to offer a level of understanding that may otherwise take much, much longer.

You may already have some experience with home baking and wish to advance your skills and increase your level of understanding, this course can help you with that too.

Introduction
Part 1: Getting Started
Part 2: Cake Decorating Equipment
Part 3: Consumable Items
Test Your Knowledge
Key Learning Points Exercise
Module 1 Assessment

Part 1: Getting Creative
Part 2: Design Elements
Test Your Knowledge
Key Learning Points Exercise
Module 2 Assessment

Part 1: Getting Started
Part 2: Ingredients
Part 3: Getting Ready to Bake
Test Your Knowledge
Key Learning Points Exercise
Module 3 Assessment

Part 1: Sponge Cake Baking Tips
Part 2: Madeira Sponge Cake
Part 3: Chocolate Sponge Cake
Part 4: Flavour Adaptations
Test Your Knowledge
Key Learning Points Exercise
Module 4 Assessment

Part 1: Making a Fruit Cake
Part 2: Fruit Cake Flavour Adaptations
Test Your Knowledge
Key Learning Points Exercise
Module 5 Assessment

Part 1: Flavoured Syrups
Part 2: Preparing Sponge Cake for Covering
Part 3: Torting and Filling a Sponge Cake
Part 4: Crumb Coating
Part 5: Preparing Fruit Cake for Covering
Test Your Knowledge
Key Learning Points Exercise
Module 6 Assessment

Part 1: Fondant Icing
Part 2: Covering a Round Cake Drum
Part 3: Covering a Round Cake
Test Your Knowledge
Key Learning Points Exercise
Module 7 Assessment

Part 1: Quick and Easy Cake Toppers
Part 2: Creating Your Own Toppers
Part 3: Creating Number Toppers
Test Your Knowledge
Key Learning Points Exercise
Module 8 Assessment

Part 1: Creating Cake Decorations Using Cutters
Part 2: Creating Decorations Using Moulds
Part 3: Wire Cake Fountains
Test Your Knowledge
Key Learning Points Exercise
Module 9 Assessment

Part 1: Transferring the Cake
Part 2: Decorating the Cake
Part 3: Taking Photographs of Cakes
Part 4: Preparing for Delivery or Collection
Test Your Knowledge
Key Learning Points Exercise
Conclusion
Module 10 Assessment

The Cake Baking and Decorating Diploma Course will take you up to 150 hours to complete, working from home. There is no time limit for completing this course, it can be studied in your own time at your own pace.

This is a Level 3 course and will give you 150 CPD (Continued Professional Development) points.

Upon completion of your course assessments, you receive 2 certificates. A certificate from the Centre of Excellence and a CPD certificate displaying the number of CPD points earned from the course.

This course is endorsed by the Quality Licence Scheme. Therefore, upon successful completion of this course, learners can also receive a certificate of achievement from Quality Licence Scheme and a Learner Unit Summary, which lists the details of all the units the learner has completed as part of the course. (This certificate is optional and costs an additional £25).

The Quality Licence Scheme is part of the Skills and Education Group, a charitable organisation that unites education and skills-orientated organisations that share similar values and objectives. With more than 100 years of collective experience, the Skills and Education Group’s strategic partnerships create opportunities to inform, influence and represent the wider education and skills sector.

The Skills and Education Group also includes two nationally recognised awarding organisations; Skills and Education Group Awards and Skills and Education Group Access. Through their awarding organisations they have developed a reputation for providing high-quality qualifications and assessments for the education and skills sector. They are committed to helping employers, organisations and learners cultivate the relevant skills for learning, skills for employment, and skills for life.

Their knowledge and experience of working within the awarding sector enables them to work with training providers, through the Quality Licence Scheme, to help them develop high-quality courses and/or training programmes for the non-regulated market.

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FAQs

There is no time limit for completing your course it can be studied in your own time at your own pace.

All of our courses vary in length but most of our courses will take you between 50 - 250 hours to complete. The length of this course can be found in the Accreditations section above.

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