Rotten decorator for cakes in general? (7)
I believe the answer is:
officer
'general?' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'rotten decorator for cakes' is the wordplay.
'rotten' becomes 'off' (I've seen this before).
'decorator for cakes' becomes 'icer'.
'off'+'icer'='OFFICER'
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for officer that I've seen before include "Military person in authority" , "served in the wardroom" , "Holder of a post" , "Public servant" , "Person holding a commission in the services" .)