Starting the cake decorating course tomorrow

I start my cake decorating course tomorrow; first of 4 classes.  I made the icing tonight, and I am using bought cookies.  I bought cinnamon/ginger flat  digestive cookies. I figure they would be ok with icing.  Tuesday I'm taking the results to work to give away!  lol

We want pics!

Will we see any of your work on CakeWrecks?  Hopefully not.

I have taken cake decorating class few years back and remember to relax your wrist and your fingers

by the time your finished with all your decorating cake classes you're probably wont want to see icing for while?

I'll be with you in spirit.....wishing you lots of luck! Pictures, please!

Yes, pictures please!

catspaw66 said:

Will we see any of your work on CakeWrecks?  Hopefully not.

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Mani said:

We want pics!

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Winchester said:

I'll be with you in spirit.....wishing you lots of luck! Pictures, please!

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AbbysMom said:

Yes, pictures please!

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I had so much to lug with me, that I didn't bring my camera. I doubt the ones from today will be any good, but I have to practice during the week, so I'll post pictures of those.

cats&kittens said:

I have taken cake decorating class few years back and remember to relax your wrist and your fingers

by the time your finished with all your decorating cake classes you're probably wont want to see icing for while?

Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip!  I'm only taking 2 levels, so it shouldn't be that bad.  I'm not interested in learning to work with icing gum and fondant.  I just want to learn the basics on how to ice a cake and put some pretty flowers and leaves on them.

Went to my first class.  I took my cookies. I made my icing, and lugged it all into work so that I could take it with me.

We didn't use anything in the course box at all!  Didn't even need the cookies or icing!

The first class was supposed to be practicing stuff on the cookies.  She explained that she mixes up the classes in each level instead of sticking to the "by the book" way. She explained that we get more from the course that way, and we will even cover small bits of future class content and in the end get more out of the course than if she went "by the book".

So today was theory. She explained icing and the different types. She covered the various tools, what is considered a good cake pan, how high to fill the cake pan, and how to actually get a flat topped cake right out of the oven instead of having to hack off the top to make is flat.

She explained colouring icing and how to get true blood red and  deep pitch black icing.

And she did some demos on how to do a crumb layer and ice a cake without having a bunch of crumbs all through your icing.

Next week we will get to decorate the top of a cake.  She will demo some techniques and we will go back to our stations and practice.  And then for the last 30 minutes of the class or so we will decorate the top of our cake. 

So I have to bring with me next week:

8" x 1" cake

3 batches of icing (home made, not the bought like they tell you in the course handout sheet).  Some people were a bit ticked off that they spent money on the icing and now they aren't going to be using it. I think they can return it so long as they haven't opened it, obviously.

And I have to divide the icing into parts and colour each part a different colour.

Next week she will show us how to fill and icing bag. I already know that!  It's about all I know, hehe

And she showed us examples of what we will be doing for each level, should we decide to take future ones.  I had only intended to do the first 2 levels, but OMG!  I'm definitely taking level 3 and level 4!! They actually have us making a floral arrangement with gum paste lillies!!!  I love lillies!!!
 

Sounds like a good thorough course!

It is.

Next week, we have 3 choices for the top of our cake.

1.  Cupcake design


2.  Fish design. This is the one I opted to do.  I've picked the same colours too.  Only my cake is going to be blue, with white dots and a white border... simulating bubbles.


3.  Hamburger design.  Doesn't seem very popular because I can't find a picture.  But it's basically a hamburger bun, meat and ketchup all made from icing.  Here is a kind of example

I love all the designs, but that cupcake "calls" to me. It's pretty and adorable. Please take a picture of your fish; that would be so cute for a child's birthday cake.

Years ago, I made the Wilton frosting and piped it on to styrofoam balls in a small star-shaped pattern. Then I put hangers through the tops of each ball and attached a pretty red velvet ribbon.....that way we could hang them on our Christmas tree. Kind of like a snowball. My mom wanted to take a few to a flea market that she went to at the time. She sold out of them in less than 15 minutes! I was making snowballs forever that year and every week she sold out of them. People were buying them a dozen at a time. I was amazed because they were so incredibly easy to make.

You can also cut a small paper cup in half. Put an icing basket pattern around the bottom half of the paper cup, attach an icing handle and fill the cup with Easter grasses and icing flowers. I forget where I got that idea, but Mom sold a ton of those around Easter and then again for Mothers Day. The neat thing is that, if you take care of them, they will last for a long time. We still have a couple of the snowballs for the Christmas tree.

I also made inedible cookie dough and cut out holly leaves and poinsettia cookies. Decorated them and then attached little magnets to the backs of the cookies for attaching to the fridge. She sold a lot of those, too.

It sounds like you're going to learn a lot. I wish we lived closer together; it would be more fun for me to take a class with you.

That sounds like such a fun class to take!!!

I finished Level 1 of the cake course and received my certificate yesterday.

I haven't posted pictures because I haven't really been decorating things so far.  The second class I took the uniced cake like I was supposed to and did the fish design, but it looked pitiful! So I didn't take any pictures.  The 3rd class instead of taking cupcakes I took cookies just to practice on and tossed them when I was done.

But last night I took a cake with me and we were making ribbon roses.  It doesn't look professional, but it doesn't look that bad either, so when I'm finished I'll take a picture and post it.

I start Level 2 on Monday. In that class I'll be learning how to make actual roses with petals, plus other things.  I think it's mostly about using royal icing.
 

Cool....it sounds like a fun class. They say that roses are really difficult, but once you get the hang of them, you won't forget them.

I'd love to see pics of the ribbon rose cake.

Here are 2 pictures of my "graduation" cake that I did last Monday.   I took it to work today and one of the girls I work with took pictures for me.  I plan on making lots and lots of cupcakes so that I can practice my techniques on them. I figure it is easier, and cheaper than making 24 cakes!

I can't seem to ice it without getting crumbs. That cake was frozen when I iced it, and I did the crumb coating.  But I guess that will all come with practice.

Nice job! Love the roses! Were they difficult?

Very nice!

Beautiful. I guess we won't be seeing yours on CakeWrecks.