Wilton Cake Decorating: Course 1, Lesson 1

I was so excited this past Thursday, because I got to start the cake decorating course that I signed up for at Michael's. Having had some experience in making and decorating cakes I really just wanted to polish-off and perfect my icing technique. I think that the best way to give food as gifts to people is to make the food as aesthetically pleasing as possible. What better way to make cakes and cookies look cute than to decorate them with simple icing!

Here's our teacher, checking out the box of Crisco

I signed up with a friend who also loves cooking (she works in a bakery! Isn't she lucky?) and we had an awesome first day. Mind you that the equipment you buy for the class is never enough! After the 2 hr session we ended up spending some more money on baking & decorating accessories. I'm looking forward to the next class, but not so looking forward to the homework that has to be done.

Homework:

1. Have a cake ready to decorate for our next session... doesn't sound too bad eh? But it has to be iced in a variety of colors... meaning that I had to buy various gel icing colors. Since I'm doing a character cake (if you can call a guitar a character) I had to buy the pan as well, which was $18.50... then my brain reminded me that I have to have a caddy to carry my cake in! So, I had to spend more money $20 on a cake caddy!!!

2. Once you've completed emptying out your wallet, prepare next sessions buttercream frosting. 3 cups for practice decorating and then as much frosting as you need for your cake to be iced (4.5 cups)!!! That's a butt-load of frosting... now I have to go out and buy a ton of icing sugar, shortening and work on my biceps :P

3. Prepare the candy plaques for my character cake... using only the finest Callebaut chocolate. I seriously hate those candy melt things, even the dark chocolate ones seem to go lumpy on me... even though I make sure all my equipment is dry!!! Callebaut chocolate seems to be the only kind that likes me, even the white chocolate :)

4. Cover a cake-board with fanci-foil (or just regular foil paper) and place it in the caddy.

5. Make and bake your cake... let it cool and stare at it in awe because you're more than half-way done your homework! Then place it on the cake-board and cover in the caddy.

6. Drag all your stuff to class... the cake, your decorating equipment, the icing, your workbook and DON'T FORGET THE CAMERA!!!

7. Finally, decorate your beautiful cake (make sure it's done beautifully!) and be sure to take extra caution in transporting it home. Otherwise, your efforts will have been futile... those are the worst kind!

NO PRESSURE!

Good thing Father's day is coming up! Otherwise I'm not sure what occasion I would use this cake for. And with all the effort I'm putting into making it, it sure better be eaten... and enjoyed!

Although we're totally stressed about the homework, you wouldn't know it because we're crazy like that. Rule #1... never let people see how "pee-your-pants" worried you are!