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Class 1
Class 1 consisted of the students watching the instructor and learning lots of hints and tips while she beautifully decorated a cake. We were instructed to show up next week with an iced cake ready to be decorated. I figured practice will make me the best in the class. On July 3 I baked 3 small cakes - 2 6" layers and 1 3D teddy bear. While the "class buttercream icing" is good, it is still awfully sweet. We have to use it in the class, but I will work to find a less sugary solution to accomplish the same thing.
Lessons learned: (1) The frosting recipe is very forgiving. Adding too much water can be easily fixed with more powdered sugar (maybe that's why it seemed so sweet!) (2) Do NOT buy cheap cake mix. It rose way too much and crumbled all over the place. The Aldi's $0.69 cake mix tasted ok, but it was so frustrating to practice decorating (because of the crumbs) that I won't even use the second box. It goes to the food pantry. (3) I need a lot more practice with filling in spaces with stars. There are a lot of blank brown spaces showing on the bear. (4) Use a piece of sturdy cardboard at least 2 inches bigger than the cake you are making. It is very difficult to move the pink bordered cake because the cardboard circle is the same size as the cake. (5) I need to remember that I am LEFT handed. I need to do things BACKWARDS from the instructions in the class booklet. It took me a while to figure out why my bows wouldn't come out right, until I reversed the direction they instruct you to go in. Not bad, eh?! (6) Those templates that pro's use to place lace work are worth the money. There is a very lame attempt at lace work on the sides of the white cake that I chose not to photograph. It is that bad. (7) There is a reason they tell you to use MEDIUM thickness icing for borders. The thick stuff will kill your hands and forearms if you try to make a shell border out of it. (8) Roses Rock! I think I did an EXCELLENT job. These are not too bad for a beginner. I am proud of them. Especially since we aren't supposed to make them till the 4th and final class of this course.
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Class 2
Class 2 (July 7, 2004) We began decorating cakes. We practiced stars, ribbon borders and writing. We used cookie cutters to imprint designs on our already iced cakes, then outlined the designs and filled them in with stars. I wrote on my cake and then we started making roses. I got a few tips from the instructor, but was able to make the roses with ease. Another woman in the class also knew how to make them already, so we practiced while the other students learned to make the rose base. My buddies at Stitch n Bitch admired the cake then dug in before I could snap a pic. The cake went to work with me on Thursday.
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Class 3
Class 3 (July 14, 2004) Last week I was still having problems with crumbs in the icing. This week - I actually followed the instructor's suggestion and bought Bake Easy and the Icing Tip and bag. It went on smooth as silk (first picture). In class, we learned shell borders, drop flowers, clowns, faces, some leaves, and worked on our roses. Lots of stuff going on and my cake turned out beautifully. Color makes a big difference and the leaves really dress the cake up, as well as filling in the holes. I am going to practice my roses some more. They look pretty good, but I want them smoother - I need to press harder on the bag so that the icing flows better. One big lesson: It doesn't matter how pretty it looks, if the cake is dry, it's not worth it. Quit buying off-brand cake mixes.
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