How do you decorate a cake with zebra stripes with frosting?

Answer 1

Frost your entire cake with the primary color you wish to use. Pipe the secondary color on the cake in straight parallel lines. Turn the cake so that the stripes appear to be going from top to bottom. Take a small thin device, toothpicks work well, and carefully pull it through the surface of the icing. Go in a line from right to left. Move about an inch up and pull it through the icing going left to right. Keep going in lines switching directions. It will pull the lines of color through the primary icing. It would create an effect much like the cake labeled "Toothpick Frosting" in the related links below, except it would be striped instead of spiral.

For a more realistic zebra skin effect, you could also try the aerosol icing colors that are available at most grocery stores. You would frost your cake white and then basically "airbrush" the stripes where ever you would like them. It is fairly simple to use, even if it may be your first time.

Answer 2

Start with a cake ready to be decorated. Brush off all crumbs and loose pieces. Using a plain white frosting and an icing spatula ice the cake and smooth the top and sides. Mix your black frosting to a spreading consistency and load into a decorating bag. Use a picture of a zebra, to get an accurate design. Using a toothpick, lightly mark the areas you intend to colour black. With a flat nib on your decorating bag, fill in the areas you marked with the toothpick. It is not necessary to get too close to the edges if you are going to texture the cake, but if you are planning for a smooth finish be sure to get as close to the edge as possible.

To texture the cake, lightly use a cake comb to drag across the black icing onto the edge of the white. Once you have finished combing all of the black, clean the cake comb and repeat the process across the white and onto the edge of the black. Be careful and do not try to drag across the entire cake (from colour to colour) as it may result in a messy look.