ICES Classes

I've been wanted to attend another ICES event since I went to my first day of sharing my sophomore year of college. I woke up at 4 or 5 in the morning in order to drive to Jacksonville (which is pretty far from Tampa!) to attend, see the demos, and meet other cake aficionados like myself. And was it worth it? ABSOLUTELY. (And now I wake up that early almost every day to go to work!)

I remember my favorite demo was given by Geraldine Randlesome, and I met the girls of Simi Cakes, and I have to say, everyone there was amazing and talented and nice and wonderful. But unfortunately, that was the end of my experience with ICES.

Until now!

The FL ICES mini classes are just around the corner, and registration starts in October. I did a rough calculation, and if I'm going to take all of the classes I want to, it will run me roughly $800-$900 for all the fees. That's a lot of money for someone who only makes a couple bucks above minimum wage! But I've been trying to put money in savings every month, and I think this is a good thing to be saving towards. Cake decorating is still my passion, and how long have I wanted to get more involved with ICES? Too long! :) It's one of the reasons I wanted to move back to Florida, too, because the FL chapter always seems to have a lot going on!

Well, I know what I'll be asking everyone for Christmas!

There are so many great instructors that are going to be there, and I really hope I'll be able to finish up my Lambeth education with Kathleen Lange's bootcamps! Plus I want to get some more gumpaste and maybe even isomalt experience under my belt. My 10-year plan is to to become a Certified Master Sugar Artist, which is HUGE GOAL, but one I feel confident about if I can keep learning and practicing!

Lambeth

One of the best things I did all summer was to take Kathleen Lange's Lambeth 101 class. It was such an amazing class.

First of all, I love the style of Lambeth cakes. I think I always have, for as long as I've known what it was. And while I did try to teach myself a little of the basics, especially after listening to Kathleen's interview on Cake Fu, I knew I was going to need to take her class for myself.

I drove nine hours to New Orleans-- during hurricane season, no less-- to take the first two days of her four day class (my mom was with me too, and she couldn't be out of town long enough for me to take the four day class), but for only two days, Kathleen packed so much information into them! She was full of stories and history and helpful hints and encouragement. Did I mention it was an amazing class?

I was pretty nervous at first, but by the end of the class, I was really getting into the swing of this piping thing. I need to keep practicing, of course, and hopefully one day I'll get to move on to to her 201 class, and then the 301 and 401 classes. I thought I'd get the chance to take the 201 class because it was originally cancelled when Hurricane Isaac came through NOLA, but unfortunately, due to my (over)work(ed) schedule, I wasn't able to make it. But I still have my sights set on taking the rest of Kathleen's classes in the future. She's an amazing teacher, and there's so much more for me to learn!

Gumpaste Flowers Galore

I finally finished taking the last Wilton class (finally), and my tentative plan is to try and teach the classes after I finish taking them all. So hopefully I'll stop procrastinating and put my application in to be a Wilton Method Instructor!

I love taking cake classes. I wish they weren't so darn expensive (the class + supplies + gas money, etc) but I understand that education ain't cheap. When I was in Florida, I drove all over the state to take classes, and they were all worth it. I still wish I had a chance to go to the mini classes at ICES in Orlando a few months back, to take Kathleen Lange's Lambeth bootcamp, but hopefully I'll still get another chance one day. Anyway, back to the class I'm in now! The advanced gumpaste flowers class is really helpful, especially when it comes to wiring the flowers. That part is such a pain, but I learned so much that I didn't know before, so hopefully that will help with all my future flowers.


The dusting part is really fun, too, which makes me think that I might enjoy taking some painting classes after I've finished all the Wilton ones... (dusting is just like painting, right??)
But you've got to have some serious patience with these flowers. Especially when they break. I'm not saying that I hotglued one of the petals back onto my briar rose after it broke, but... ;)

If you're interested in taking the gumpaste class, the class information is on Wilton's website, and so is their supply list. Just make sure when you sign up that you're getting course four because at first, the cashier at Michaels tried to sign me up for course three, which is Gumpaste and Fondant, not Advanced Gumpaste Flowers. Although that was a fun class too...just a bit different!

And final sidenote about the supplies: if you opt not to get the course 4 kit (like I did) because you already had the big box of gumpaste flowers, just know that you'll have to buy other stuff, like the sweet pea cutter, and floral wire/tape, and the purple foam (I just used the pink, to be honest, and it worked fine), and there's no briar rose cutter, so I just used the small rose cutter and cut out the five petals individually from there. Also I didn't have the yellow stamens to use for the briar rose, so I just used white. It didn't look as cute, but it was do-able in a pinch. If you find the yellow stamens anywhere, though, let me know! :)

The Airbrushing Class

I don't think I ever uploaded my blog post about the airbrushing class I took a couple months ago. It. Was. Awesome! :D The class was in Ocala, though, so that was kind of a bummer. It was a two hour drive from and we got super lost.

But once we finally made it to the class, it was so worth it. I learned about the different brands of airbrushes (and decided I loved my Duff version. Sure it's not the best out there, but it definitely works for my little projects. When I open up my own place, then I can look into getting one of those fancy brands).

We played with different colors, and learned how to do different techniques and textures, like covering an entire cake in one color, or using a stencil to do a pattern.

And I got to make a really big mess and my mom wasn't around to yell at me. ;-)

Since taking the class, I haven't really done any big airbrushing projects, aside from putting shimmer on some little details of cakes (I'll have to put pictures of those up later). But I definitely feel more confident using my airbrush than I did before the class!

The class was taught by the lovely ladies at Simi Cakes at Icing on the Cake in Ocala, FL. :)

Pretty Royal Flowers

In this week's Wilton class, we made flowers! The apple blossoms and the the primroses were really pretty, but it was the rosebud that really got my attention. I couldn't figure out how to make those darn things for the longest time, but it turns out they're really easy! I just needed to see someone do it in person and then have them watch me to it. Such a pretty effect, too!

Next week we're making daffodils and roses, I think, which I am also excited about. This class is turning out to be a lot more fun than the fondant one. :)

Oh, and, shout out to my instructor, Mary! :-D

Flowers & Cake Design (Part 1)

Well, I started my final Wilton class this past Monday. I'm a quarter of the way done with flowers & cake design and I'm actually really excited for this class. There's a lot of flowers that we'll be doing out of buttercream (or royal icing), and I never really got the hang of the piped flowers when I tried to teach myself. Hopefully I'll be a faster learner with an instructor who's going over the step by step instructions with me.

 This is the pansy that we made. I think this is actually upside down, but I don't really know. I like pansies a lot in real life (my grandma always plants tons of them) but I'm kind of iffy about this gumpaste one. First of all, the gumpaste started to harden and crack before I finished ruffling the petals, so that was a total buzzkill. I also feel like the sizing of the flower is off.

My biggest complaint about this class is that there is a lot of redundancy when you take the Flowers class and the Fondant class (weren't they supposed to fix that?). You even get a lot of the same tools. I'm quite miffed about that; I'd rather get some new tools that Wilton suggests you buy, but they don't actually put in your kit, like the 9" rolling pin or the tapered spatula.

You also have to re-learn a lot of the same skills: how to tint gumpaste, how to make gum-glue, etc. So totally boring if you've taken the gumpaste class already.

And the button flower? I've got mixed feelings about this guy. First of all: SUPER CUTE. I can't wait to use it with this mold for a cake I've been wanting to make for Katie for a couple of years now. But the way the flower cutter is set up is SUCH A PAIN. Also, I don't understand why you don't make this flower in the fondant/gumpaste class either. If anyone can figure that out for met, let me know!

Anyone else taken this class? Did you like it? Was it hard to make the "Wilton rose?" (I really hope I can finally master that elusive flower!)

Mums & Dasies

Kind of a weird picture of my hand at a weird angle, but here is some photographic evidence of the gumpaste flowers I made in the Wilton class.

Let me give you my personal opinion on these flowers, which you may or may not agree on...

The mum? It looks weird. I had no ideas what real mums looked like until my own mom showed me some in our front yard. They are weird looking (although tiny) flowers. I'm still convinced my mum looks like a pink artichoke.

Has anyone ever had a cake with mums on it, or made someone else a mum cake? Can anyone please give me some helpful hints to make this flower look better? Or maybe I should just write it off as one of those things I'll never be able to create.

The daisy was cute. I like how it has yellow sprinkles on it for the center, but I'm not a big fan of the Wilton daisy cutter. It doesn't give very clean lines. (I do like this other one, though.) The flower formers were nice, though!

So, out of all the flowers we made in the gumpaste class, the roses were my favorite, followed by the calla lily. The next flower I'd like to tackle is the tulip, which I have no idea how to do, so if you happen to stumble upon a tulip tutorial on youtube or something, send it to me!! They're my favorite flower, and I'd love to put them on a cake! :)

Also, Wilton is phasing out their old flower set for this new (and more expensive) one. I've got the old one, which I've really only used once, and I'm wondering if the new one is worth the extra tools. It's got dogwood and hydrangea and tiger lily cutters, all of which seems different and fun (but no daffodil or tulip cutters...not that I could figure out how to use then anyway, but still...). Then again, maybe I should just save up to get the higher quality (and also more expensive) metal cutters. Thoughts?

I wish they sold some (or all) of those cutters individually. For example, the large rose cutter. I'd like to get that one, because the cutter I got in my class kit only makes small roses. Then again, I could always buy the larger rose cutter at work. I'll probably end up doing that, and since I've worked with that one before, I know what I'm getting myself into!

Fondant Finale

So I don't know how this cake turned out so fabulous, but somehow, it did. This is the cake I made for my Wilton gumpaste/fondant class. I honestly don't know how it came together. The colors I chose based on the gumpaste and fondant I already had. I just mixed in a little extra color to make them brighter, and some how arrived at this pink/yellow/green scheme.

I've decided that the ruffle border we did in class that night is my new favorite. It looks really cute, and gives the cake a fabric-y look. And the daisies along the border? Ah! Not only did they hide the seams, but they just look like they belong there.

And the flower arrangement on the top was literally a last minute decision. My Wilton instructor and I were just playing around with the cake until it looked good, and this is what we got!

I'm so proud of this cake. Even though I stayed up too late to bake it, and got up too early to crumb coat it (and cut my finger in the process of leveling the cake-- ugh!), this cake is totally worth all the hard work! (Although if I had to do it again, I would be more careful with the knife! Kelsie, don't try to cut cakes before you've had breakfast!!)

Wilton's Fondant Class

I started taking the fondant/gumpaste Wilton class. This week, we made fondant bows for the tops of our cakes, and started to make flowers (which will continue in next week's class). So far, it's been quite fun. And now, I know how to really make the fondant* bows, because the one time I tried to make them before, it was quite a disaster. (It was a 50/50 gumpaste/fondant mix, not just straight up fondant)

Ironically, I watched my boss make a gumpaste bow the next day at work, but I also wasn't paying very close attention because I was also detailing a '72 Chevelle cake. ;)

Definitely liking this class better than the "beginner" course, although I'm sure I could learn all this stuff at work, too. I just wish someone could teach me how to make pregnant lady cake toppers who don't look, well, fat. I'll sign up for that class in a heartbeat. (Unless it's in Vancouver.)

(PS, I've started my list of cake contests here. Please comment/email/facebook/twitter me if you have anything to add!!)

Ribbon Roses

Something Youtube was never able to teach me: Ribbon roses

I finished my cake decorating course!

And you know what? I did learn something from it.

I learned how to make roses.

And ok, not the 'traditional' buttercream roses that you see everywhere, and the kind that I've been trying to master for 4 or 5 years. But they're still roses none-the-less. And I still made them! :)

And yes, my co-workers did tease me a lot for spending money on the class. (Thank you, Mom & Dad!!!) And yes, they can (and have) teach me so much more about decorating (and the cool thing is that I get paid to learn it and I'm having fun and I work with amazing and talented people and I'm basically just living the dream right now...) I'm just trying to diversify my portfolio of skills, and sometimes you have to take a refresher course before you can learn the advanced stuff. I have a feeling I won't be so good at the fondant/gumpaste class I'm taking next.

So, overall, I'd say the Wilton class was fun. Kind of a pain to get all the icing and tips and everything ready before class. But once I was there, it was a good way to spend 2 hours a week.

Am I crazy for voluntarily decorating cakes after spending 40 hours a week doing that as my job? Probably.

But no one said following your passion would keep you sane. ;)

More Wilton: Cupcakes!

One of them fell over and got a little squished. Also, I took this picture on the roof of my car in the Michael's parking lot. In case you were wondering. ;)

In my effort to learn everything I possibly can about cake decorating and "the business," I'm still taking my Wilton beginner class. And this week's lesson was... cupcakes!

As well all I know, I do know how to ice a cupcake (I get paid to do it, after all), but this was still a fun and informative class.

For example, I learned how to make rosette's.. who knew they were so easy?! (Not me; I'd never even attempted them before!)

I also learned how to make "pompom" flowers and shaggy mums... certainly interesting little flowers, even if I've never seen their botanical counterparts before in my life.

And then of course, I had the opportunity to go a little crazy with my cupcake decorating. At work, it's just a little swirl, a little flourish, maybe some sprinkles or chocolate drizzle...nothing too 'out there' (which is fine, because those cupcakes are more about taste than customization). However, tonight I did all kinds of weird and crazy swirlies and flowers and designs...and I must say, they look cute! The color scheme I chose turned out nicely too. The blues and yellows complimented each other nicely.

So I'm not saying you should invest $60 (approx. cost of class and supplies) into this class...but if you happen to find yourself enrolled, I'm sure you'll have lots of fun, and isn't that what cake decorating should be all about? ;-)

Wilton Classes

So I'm taking this Wilton "intro to cake decorating" class--- okay, I get it! I don't need to take this class, but I do *want* to.

I already know the basics...I taught myself back when I was 14 using my aunt's old Wilton books (from the 70s? 80s?) and YouTube, but I never got professional instruction. So I guess you could say I'm just doing this out of order. Or you could say that I've been procrastinating for 5 years...

And even though the class is kinda sorta super easy for me, I am still picking up some tricks, and once I get through this class, I can take the next one (flowers!), which is where the fun really starts (hopefully).

I know that I learn a lot more about cake decorating at work (and get paid to learn, to boot), and that the instruction is definitely more advanced than how to crumb coat a cake or ice a cupcake or make buttercream frosting, but... well... it's kinda a refresher course! ;-)

I really don't think I have anything to lose from taking the class, and who knows, maybe I'll be teaching them one day!