Cake Decorating Class

I like to learn, a new skills, new sports, anything. So I decided to take a cake decorating class at Jo-ann last month. I was very worried that since I don't have steady hands, my decoration would be such an epic disaster. I have to admit I was terrible, but after some practice, my skills improved steadily!

Week 1: decorating cookies
For the first time, I learned about the frosting/icing consistency, how to hold a bag, the different tips used for different decorations, etc.



Week 2: decorating a cake
For this session, we were supposed to bring a cake. During the class session, we would learn how to torte (split the cake into 2 layers) and fill it with some fillings like jam or more icing. I brought a small 9" cake into the class and my frosting did not set even after 20 minutes. You can tell that I have unsteady hands by looking at the uneven border piping in the picture here.



Week 3: decorating cupcakes
In this session, we learned how to make grass, pompom flowers, mum flowers, and shell borders.




Since I am an A-type who is competitive and does not like being at the bottom of the class, I decided to practice on another cake before going into the last class session. Here is the practice cake I did at home using some of the skills I had learned in the previous sessions.



Week 4: decorating a cake
In this last session, we were supposed to bring a completely frosted/iced cake, so that we could concentrate on the design during the class session. Since I was still pretty slow and I had to mix my frosting to the right consistency, I did not finish the cake during the class session. However, I was determined to finish it at home that day.



Detail view of the rosettes.