Adventures in Cake Decorating – Part 2

My cake decorating class has officially come to a close.

Overall I’m super pleased with all that I learned. Sure, my cakes still need a little work, but I think in the 7 short weeks, my artistic skills have certainly improved!

Some of the key things I learned over the course of the class:

• Frosting flowers are extremely hard and mine look terrible. When I got my wedding cake years back, I really didn’t understand why frosting flowers cost more than real flowers. Now I get it.
• Cake decorating takes a long time, especailly for me. The final project was a wedding cake, and took about 10 hours. Granted I am a lot slower than anyone more experienced, but it still will take a chunk of time.
• I would be broke if I relied on creativity for a paycheck. I am much better at replicating pictures than coming up with any design ideas on my own. Thank you Pinterest. I would not have survived without you.

Here are a few of my creations over the last few weeks.

My friendly dinosaur made out of buttercream frosting and marshmallows.  Isn’t he cute?!

My Doll Cake was one of my favorites. It was super fun to put together and there are so many creativity options between the dress and the doll you pick (it’s essentially half a Barbie).

To make her dress, I made two 8″ round cakes stacked on top of each other and then used a paper plate to shape it. For more cake and an easier option, you can buy a Wilton Wonder Mold for a cake pan in the shape of a dress.

My cake went to good use! I brought my cake into work to show my coworkers and one asked if she could bring it to her neice’s 2nd birthday. The little girl clearly had a blast playing with the doll and getting cake everywhere!

For our final project, we made a wedding cake. Other than a 2-tiered cake, we were given total freedom to choose our cake design. After enlisting some friends’ help, I decided on a green and white “Go Ducks” wedding cake!

For the bottom layer, recommended by my friend Jenny and inspired by pictures on Pinterest, I made an ombre design.

 It all started with five shades of frosting.

And then lots and lots of patience! Make five dots in descending order of green-ness, then take a small spatula and swipe. Make another layer of the five dots and swipe. And repeat. Over and over again. This whole process took about 90 minutes for a 10″ round. It was tiring, but also rewarding at the end.

For the top layer, I made some green swirls of frosting and of course, the cake toppers were adorable Bride and Groom rubber ducks.

The swirls were much harder than I ever anticipated. I kept getting nervous I would mess it up, so then my hand started shaking and then it just ended up a little jerky looking. Something to work on for sure!

Overall it was a really great class. Now that I have all of the tools and a handful of the skills, I’m looking forward to more cake decorating adventures!