Wilton Decorating Basics 1 - Class 1

I'm not sure if you remember, but I kind of like baking. And I also have been attempting some fancy cake decorating. You might remember this cake I made a year and half ago for my future sister-in-law. Well, the whole experience was a little bit of a disaster. It took forever to make, I went out of town for work through the whole week leading up to the party, and then no one ate the cake (well, no one at the party - my co-workers were all very happy with that treat)! Anyway, the stuff I didn't blog about were things like, I didn't know about a crumb coat. I KNOW, RIGHT?! How could I not know about a crumb coat! And I didn't really know how to evenly roll fondant. Or how to lay it out on the cake. Or how to make anything else from fondant aside from the cookie cutters I already had. And how to pipe icing nicely. Basically, I baked some cake, made some frosting, rolled some fondant, and stuck little pieces of fondant on. And I was a little bummed. The cake was pretty, but I know I could've done better.

When I was at Michaels buying material for said cake, I saw signs for Wilton decorating classes. I thought, oh that would be fun! And then got distracted by other things. Fast forward to October, and I was in Michaels again buying some crafts for a wedding-related matter, and I saw signs again. This time I thought, oh that would be fun! And when I was checking out, I signed up for the class! So, for the next 3 weeks (and 4 classes), I'll be learning the basics of cake decorating. There are a total of 4 classes offered at Michaels, so I'm going to try to take all four before the wedding.

Listen, I know I'm crazy. But December was the best month to start. I've just finished Finals (woooo turned in my final exam last weekend!) and my next semester doesn't start until the END of January, which gives me plenty of time to knock classes 1 and 2 out of the way. After that? Well, February and March will only be busy with work, wedding planning, school, and house hunting. But I need a little "me" time. I think it's worth it to spend one night a week learning how to make pretty baked goods. The best part? I find the whole experience very calming. For example, yesterday was class one, and I had one of the worst work-days I've had in a long time. I was raging all the way home. But by the end of the class? CALM, cool as a cucumber, relaxed! In short, Amazing! So why not take a few hours to myself a week to learn a new skill and have fun? Who knows, maybe I'll even decide at the end of the 4 classes that I'm up for the challenge of teaching them too?!?!

Anyway, it's hard to take pictures in class because my hands get frosted very quickly and because we move on FAST, so here's a picture of the finished product. We used a #18 star tip to practice. Next week we're working on cakes!