Birthday Cake Designs
A course by Whitney DePaoli (Sugar & Sparrow) , Guides students in cake baking and decorating
Joined March 2024
Bake and decorate stunning birthday cakes using buttercream, ganache, sprinkles, and edible toppers for all skill levels

Bake and decorate stunning birthday cakes using buttercream, ganache, sprinkles, and edible toppers for all skill levels
Transform your cake baking skills and delight your loved ones with stunning birthday cakes. Learn to create cakes that are as delicious as they are beautiful, starting with mastering the art of baking soft and moist vanilla funfetti and decadent one-bowl chocolate cakes. Explore the secrets to achieving the ideal buttercream consistency and discover a variety of flavors that will elevate your cake's taste.
Elevate your cake decoration techniques by building structurally sound layer cakes and crafting smooth buttercream finishes. Experiment with vibrant ombré palettes, intricate piping, and chocolate ganache drips. Enhance your designs with sprinkle accents and handmade edible cake toppers, turning your creations into celebratory masterpieces. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced baker, this course will guide you in creating cakes that spread joy and leave a lasting impression.
What will you learn in this online course?
17 lessons & 32 downloads
- 100% positive reviews (3)
- 401 students
- 17 lessons (1h 36m)
- 32 additional resources (18 files)
- Online and at your own pace
- Available on the app
- Audio: English, Spanish
- English · Spanish · Portuguese · German · French · Italian · Polish · Dutch
- Level: Beginner
- Unlimited access forever
What is this course's project?
Create a stunning three-layer birthday cake, mastering techniques like smooth buttercream frosting, chocolate ganache drips, intricate piping, sprinkle accents, and edible toppers, resulting in a beautiful, delicious masterpiece perfect for celebrating special moments.
Who is this online course for?
Beginners, hobby bakers, and non-professional chefs eager to create stunning birthday cakes will find value here. Those with pastry businesses seeking to refine decorating skills can also benefit. Basic baking knowledge and a desire to craft amazing cakes are essential.
Requirements and materials
No extensive prior knowledge is needed, just a basic understanding of baking and the ability to follow simple recipes. Gather essential kitchen tools like a stand or hand mixer, refrigerator, oven, cooktop, rotating turntable, and common cake decorating items.
Reviews

Whitney DePaoli (Sugar & Sparrow)
A course by Whitney DePaoli (Sugar & Sparrow)
Whitney Depaoli is a self-taught cake artist whose journey began in her kitchen, inspired by her mother and television shows like "Ace of Cakes." What started as a hobby evolved into a custom cake business that she ran successfully for nearly a decade. Through countless hours of practice and experimentation, Whitney perfected her recipes and mastered various cake decorating techniques. Her love for sharing her creative process on Instagram led her to launch Sugar & Sparrow in 2018, a platform where she teaches others the joy of cake making. Her blog has become a full-time venture, allowing her to spread happiness through her artistic creations.
Whitney's work has garnered attention from notable brands like JOANN, SprinklePop, and Wilton, where she has created cake design tutorials and contributed to popular publications. In 2023, she authored her first book, "Anyone Can Cake," which has helped people worldwide create beautiful, joy-spreading cakes. Whitney draws inspiration from vintage baking books, fine art, and nostalgic flavors, always striving to create original designs that are easy to replicate. Her dedication to teaching and sharing her passion ensures that anyone can learn the art of cake making and bring smiles to their loved ones.
Content
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U1
Introduction
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About Me
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Influences
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U2
Foundations of Cake Baking
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Planning the Cake
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Ingredients and Tools
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Baking the Perfect Vanilla Funfetti Cake
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How to Make the Ideal Buttercream
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Flavored Buttercream
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U3
Crafting the Cake
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Building the Layer Cake: Filling and Crumb Coat
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Frosting the Cake
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Adding a Sprinkle Border
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Perfect Chocolate Ganache Drip
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Basic Piping Bag Techniques
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Edible Cake Toppers: Sprinkle Truffles
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U4
Adding Additional Details
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Adding the Finishing Touches
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Piping Buttercream Details
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Edible Number Cake Toppers
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Final Presentation, Cut, and Store Tips
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FP
Final project
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Birthday Cake Designs
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What to expect from a Domestika course
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Learn at your own pace
Enjoy learning from home without a set schedule and with an easy-to-follow method. You set your own pace.
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Learn from the best professionals
Learn valuable methods and techniques explained by top experts in the creative sector.
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Meet expert teachers
Each expert teaches what they do best, with clear guidelines, true passion, and professional insight in every lesson.
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Certificates
PlusIf you're a Plus member, get a custom certificate signed by your teacher for every course. Share it on your portfolio, social media, or wherever you like.
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Get front-row seats
Videos of the highest quality, so you don't miss a single detail. With unlimited access, you can watch them as many times as you need to perfect your technique.
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Share knowledge and ideas
Ask questions, request feedback, or offer solutions. Share your learning experience with other students in the community who are as passionate about creativity as you are.
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Connect with a global creative community
The community is home to millions of people from around the world who are curious and passionate about exploring and expressing their creativity.
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Watch professionally produced courses
Domestika curates its teacher roster and produces every course in-house to ensure a high-quality online learning experience.
FAQs
Domestika's courses are online classes that provide you with the tools and skills you need to complete a specific project. Every step of the project combines video lessons with complementary instructional material, so you can learn by doing. Domestika's courses also allow you to share your own projects with the teacher and with other students, creating a dynamic course community.
All courses are 100% online, so once they're published, courses start and finish whenever you want. You set the pace of the class. You can go back to review what interests you most and skip what you already know, ask questions, answer questions, share your projects, and more.
The courses are divided into different units. Each one includes lessons, informational text, tasks, and practice exercises to help you carry out your project step by step, with additional complementary resources and downloads. You'll also have access to an exclusive forum where you can interact with the teacher and with other students, as well as share your work and your course project, creating a community around the course.
You can redeem the course you received by accessing the redeeming page and entering your gift code.
daiescualo
Excelente curso de pastelería!
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sugar_dannyy
El curso me ayudó muchísimo para aprender sobre los bizcochos, rellenos y decoración. Todo estuvo muy bien explicado y detallado. Sin duda lo recomendaría. Regalé a mi mamá el pastel y quedó muy feliz! Un curso muy completo y bien explicado, se nota que la maestra tiene gran conocimiento y habilidad.
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jwlplan
I have been making cakes for a few years, but I learned so much in this course! Whitney explains the process of baking and decorating so clearly and shared really helpful tips that I will be using on all my cakes going forward. I really struggled with getting a smooth buttercream finish before taking this course but the techniques Whitney shared helped me FINALLY get a perfectly smooth finish! I also love her recipes. Easy to follow and the most delicious from-scratch vanilla cake I've tried.