Cakes

I have been decorating cakes since high school? I decorated the kids' birthday cakes for years. When we moved to Beijing there weren't so many decorated cakes, American style (sweet) so I started making and decorating more. In Norway I made decorated cakes for my Young Women's birthdays. This is a bridal shower cake I made in Norway for one of my Visiting Teaching sisters.

I wanted to learn how to work with fondant but to take THAT course you have to start with Course I. So I did. I had free time after we first moved to Alaska and decided to do something worthwhile and perhaps meet new people. I did meet people but most were taking classes with friends. I still learned something from each class. And how to make so many flowers!

These are from my Wilton Course classes. I took them at Michaels' Crafts Store in Anchorage.

Course I, lesson 1 was teaching us how tos: how to bake a cake (using Wilton even strips...that really do help to keep the cake baking more level, rather than have a bump in the center), how to level a cake, how to frost and stack it, how to make "Wilton Buttercream frosting". Lots of how tos.

Then in lesson 2 we worked on using decorator bags and various tips, how to transfer patterns to a cake and doing the drop star filling-in techniques. Obviously I had done that before and wasn't interested in rainbows or filling a cake with lots of stars...


In Course I, lesson 3 we learned the first steps to making the "Wilton Rose" and clowns. I already knew how to make roses. I thought the cakes were just to practice on, not to decorate as "masterpieces" so I just put things on my cake, practicing... Didn't know there would be pictures and I should have balanced and positioned my clowns and rose better...

I missed Course I, lesson 4 with my original class due to going to AZ and ID to receive our Norsk shipment. I took lesson 4 when I got back to Alaska and joined another class. This class was on decorating a cake using roses.


In Course II we learned how to use Color flow Icing, Royal Icing and make various flowers. We also learned how to do other borders and basket weaving. I just didn't like the birds so I didn't put my Red Cardinals on my cake...plus the red would have clashed. You can see that I like more muted colors than the rest of the class. I really did enjoy learning how to make so many different flowers. I also appreciated even more all the Royal Icing daisies my sister Eileen made for my wedding cake all those years ago! Oh how her back must have ached! Thank you Eileen.

The Fondant and Gum Paste Course actually comes in between Course II and Course III. This was the class I originally wanted to take. I enjoyed stepping out of the box and doing something completely different and yet used all the skills we learned in the class. It was fun. I did learn that it is better to use Royal Icing when writing/decorating on fondant. Buttercream just falls off. It lasted on the eggs just long enough for pictures.

I also learned that homemade marshmallow fondant is cheaper to make (although it is hard on your mixer) and tastes tons better than ready prepared fondant. Because you can heat it up in the microwave for a very short time, it becomes softer and more pliable to use. I found that it needed to be rolled out on cornstarch whereas the Wilton fondant does well on a greased rolling sheet. And you must use enough cornstarch or shortening so that it doesn't stick to the rolling sheet because that will really make a wreck of your frosting job!!! (Yes, I do have experience in this...)

I started taking my own pictures of my cakes. You can see where some of the buttercream frosting decorating the eggs has fallen off. Yes, those are individually crafted fondant leaves, daisies and eggs. (Fondant daisies aren't easier than Royal Icing daisies but do go a bit faster.)

Even with all the fancy cake learning, I still had to do the traditional Easter bunny cake for Easter dinner.














After the Fondant and Gum Paste class comes Course III where we learn how to use fondant... again. But it really was better to have the introduction to it before because in this course you're expected to know how to work with it already. Here we learned how to top a square/rectangle cake with fondant. It is NOT as easy as the instructor made it look. We all had wrinkles. We also learned how to ripple the fondant bows for a more realistic look. I had figured out the curly ribbons for my Easter Egg cake and did not like them on this cake.















Grand Finale Cake

The last cake you make is a wedding cake. It can be stacked or pillared. This is mine. Each of those flowers are hand done (by ME) fondant/gum paste roses and leaves. They are completely edible other than the fact that they are held together and arranged with wires... I was going to do a different border instead of the green ribbon but ran out of time and found the ribbon while looking for floral tape. The color matched and helped to hide the fondant wrinkles in the top layer (don't roll the fondant so thinly, but then I was using up all the white that I had made and had to make sure it would go around... Learn as you go.) I must say I am proud of how it turns out when I don't think of me as having a real artistic touch arranging flowers. It was a sad day when I dumped all those flowers in the trash. All that work and out it goes... We ate the bottom layer at work. The middle and top are in our freezer.


I was hired to replace a lady who went on maternity leave. Angela became a friend and I wish she were still at work. She was very kind. We had an office shower for her and I made the cake. It looked good but...
*the blue didn't turn into baby blue like I wanted it too
*the frosting that I used under the fondant (yes you still have to frost the cake with frosting and then you put the fondant over it) never hardened up and the fondant sagged.
*The blocks are not heavy and are not what makes cake look like it's sagging from their weight...
But Angela was pleased. And that is what matters. You get what you pay for...

And after this cake, the fondant is gone and I am done... It takes a lot of hours to make fondant decorations: blocks, flowers, buttons, etc. and then put the cakes together. It is fun. It does stretch my artistic abilities. And now my girls are married and don't need me to make them a cake...and all the kids are grown up and I'm not around them to make them or the grandkids birthday cakes...and I finally have the skills!

So, I'm wondering, why did I take the classes?