Wilton Cake Decorating Class - Course 1

I had always wanted to take a Wilton class. I mean always - my mom had taken them before and had one of the Wilton yearbook things (a yearly book that comes out with various designs and directions for techniques) and I can remember sitting and looking at the book for a heck of a long time. I even had Wilton decorated cakes for my birthday growing up - I remember (or have at least seen pictures of) a Cabbage Patch Girl, Big Bird, and The Ghostbusters (loved that movie!!). Each and every one of them had the most delicious buttercream icing on top - yum!!!

Anyways, after admiring that Wilton yearbook for so many years, I was online one night and noticed that Michael's was offering their Wilton courses at 50% off (which, I've heard, is something they do every month). I mentioned this to Chris and he told me I should take the class (especially if I wanted to open a bakery someday - I should at least know the basics of decorating, huh?). We went to Michael's, signed up ($22.50 for the class) and used one of my 40% off coupons to get the big mambo jambo kit (that's the technical name). The kit I got comes in a big blue carrying case, similar to a toolbox, and has a whole bunch of tips (used for allowing the icing to make a whole bunch of designs), some featherweight bags (re-usable), clear plastic bags (not re-usable, but fabulous for using with the class because there's not much to clean up afterwards), gel dye (much more powerful and vibrant than the little eye-dropper-ish ones), and a whole bunch of other stuff. If you want to see what comes in the complete set, check it out here .

For $22.50, you get 1 class a week for four weeks. Mine just happened to be on Wednesdays from 6-8pm.

I'll give you a recap with what we did each class and show you a picture of my "final" cake at the end.

Class 1

• learned that icing comes in 3 different consistencies - stiff, medium, and thin
• learned basics of icing a cake
• learned basics of coloring icing
• learned basics of filling an icing bag, putting a tip and coupler on
• practiced with tip 18, star tip (each tip has a number)

Class 2

• learned how to use piping gel to transfer a design onto a cake
• practiced using a few tips to make different designs
• learned how to make a clown out of icing and a plastic clown head (sounds creepy, huh? came out cute, though!)
• completed the first cake - a rainbow cake (picture to come soon!)

Class 3

• used more tips to make even more designs - some animals
• started learning the rose
• worked on some piping and edging designs
• decorated lots of cupcakes with different designs on top

Camera batteries were dead, so I didn't get any pictures :-(

Class 4

• came to class with a pre-iced cake, ready to make the final cake
• practiced roses some more
• learned how to make leaves
• learned how to make a ribbon bow (tough stuff!)
• completed the final cake
• got our completion certificate!

Here's a picture of my final cake:



I've signed up for Course 2 already - it's going to start this Friday!

Chris was loving having the cake for the first couple of classes, but, after celebrating his birthday (yet another cake!) in the middle of those classes, his cake enthusiasm has decreased. Who's coming over to eat my cake on Friday? (after I get pictures of it, of course...lol)

For lots and lots more Wilton information, check out the Wilton website here.

Have a great day!!