Getting started

I've always liked baking, but have only recently decided to get into decorating. Well, proper decorating that is. Rather than learning from books - which really wasn't working out all that well - I signed up for a four week course at a local cake shop. Here's what I've learned so far.


Week one
Really, there's nothing like a cake decorating class to bring your self esteem crashing back to earth. No photo this week!


Week two

Week two was all about figure piping. The clowns are made from a product called Thick and Rich, which is possibly the least buttery butter cream icing I've ever tasted. It's so far from being a dairy product that once it's whipped, it doesn't need any refrigeration, and can quite happily sit on a cake for days at a time. If you ever stumble upon a cake decorated with this stuff, my recommendation is to scrape it off before eating the cake. Still, at least I learned how to make clowns, a skill which I'm sure won't go to waste provided I've got time to whip up some royal icing.

My shell borders have improved already. These ones look like badly realised surf to me.

Week three
Week three was time to make character cakes. The rest of the class decorated cartoon characters and puppets. One student did Darth Vader. I took the easy way out.

Still, the boys were impressed enough that Deux wants this for his fifth birthday. Obviously I got something right... as if the finger smear in the corner wasn't enough of a give away.

Week four
Week four was the final lesson for the first course. This cake turned into a birthday cake for Maman. Everyone deserves a princess cake once in a while.

I've signed up for another course, this time with more of a focus on fashionable cakes. While I probably won't get a lot of use for my adventures in "butter" cream icing, I still think it was good to get some foundation skills under my belt. Here's hoping the next course turns out some cakes that I'm not ashamed of!