Cake Decorating Class #1

My mom has always made (and continues to make) the best cakes.  For our birthdays growing up, she would always take us to the local bulk store in town and we'd get to pick out whatever cake pan we wanted and that's the cake that she would make.  She's made Winnie the Pooh, Ariel, Blue's Clue and many many more over the years.  She also would make them for the church, which everyone always loved (and still does!).  Thus, it is not surprising that I have always wanted to decorate great cakes too.  I want my children to be able to have great birthday cakes like I always did, so I have finally signed up for a Wilton Cake Decorating class!

I had originally signed up for one back in February, but it got cancelled, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise as my friend Amanda was able to sign up with me for this one!  It is a lot more fun to take a class like this with someone.

Last night we had our first class, it was basically the teacher telling us all about the great Wilton products out there to buy, which let's face it, if I plan on making these for my kids, I probably don't really need, so while it was interesting to see the products and how they worked, I would have preferred to have had more time decorating.

The teacher did show us how to make the buttercream icing we'll use in the class and the different consistency you need it to be, which I found very helpful.  She also showed us how to ice a cake without getting crumbs in the icing, which come in handy because I tend to have that problem a lot...

Finally, we were able to start practicing making stars on a little practice board we have in our kits.  We had to buy Wilton's ready use icing for the first class, which comes in a stiff consistency, so we had to water it down, which was fun because the container was completely full and it was hard to stir.

 

This was after I had scooped some into my icing bag.

Once we actually had it the correct consistency, we started practicing.  While my mom let my sister and I play around with her bags and tips when we were younger, I never realized the strength and control you need to be able to consistently get the icing out.  I just did this little board, but my hand was shaking almost this entire time.  I have a new found respect and sense of awe for my mother who decorated our cakes using this technique.  Amazing!

My first time making the little stars. 

All my tools and my practice board.

 

Our course book.  The page on the right is everything that we need
to bring next week...the teacher knocked it in half, but it's still a lot of stuff!

Once we all completed the practice sheet, the teacher then was to take us all to the Wilton aisle and pick out all the things she talked about and let us ask questions, but she told us we didn't have to go, and that we could decorate our cookies (which we had to bring for the class) instead, so my friend and I decided to do that while the majority of the class left for the Wilton aisle.  Unfortunately, we were so focused on decorating our cookies, I never thought to take pictures of us decorating until afterwards, so here are some pictures of the finished project!

Pretty good, if I do say so myself!

Next week we get to decorate a cake by using a stencil for the top.  They give us three shapes to use or we can pick our own, so I have to start thinking about what I want to make!!