I wanna learn.
I had the hardest time ever finding a properly bakery that wasn’t asking for an arm and a leg. SO yeh
Sites?
Re: Baking and Cake Decorating
i got a brochure from a community college that teaches cake decorating - dont knw about the baking part though - will try and get more info :)
I’m pretty sure you live in the US, so my best suggestion for you is go to Michaels (craft store) and you can take wilton cake decorating classes.
www.michaels.com (for store locations)
attached are some sample cake designs you learn, they are not my own, but i have taken these classes as well…
they are really affordable classes. as for the baking, practice at home… there are a total of 4 courses. once you have completed these courses, go to your bakery and you can gain your experience there…
this is from course 1: 
this is from course 2: 
Re: Baking and Cake Decorating
^oh wow! looks dee-lish! i want cake toooo now!
Re: Baking and Cake Decorating
Oh wow -- these look great!
Thanks -- will totally try it.
I didnt know micheals has cake decorating classes?
Re: Baking and Cake Decorating
Yeah Muniya, I was going to suggest Michaels as well. I've been meaning to take these classes myself.
Re: Baking and Cake Decorating
Decorating Cakes: The Basics - Allrecipes
Check this out
If you go to advanced you can even learn how to make Fondant!!
I’m excited!
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One of the colleges I work for is a culinary institute and today I got to see the most beautiful cakes and pastries made by the students! 
Re: Baking and Cake Decorating
All a matter of time my dear. whose got the time to take those classes/ :(
i dont think you need classes to learn the basics of cake baking and decorating- just curiosity, lots of creativity, and the “shawq” to learn through trial and error. i want to take the michael’s ones to enhance what i know, and mainly for piping, but there are tons of tutorials online and on youtube that you can follow along with also, muniya, if you want to learn on your own schedule.
i made this for a friend’s son’s 1st birthday- the theme was robots and monkeys.
(sidenote: love the new multiple image uploader feature!)
Re: Baking and Cake Decorating
SGC, what is the icing you used for the robot? its so shiny! is it buttercream?
Muniya: Both micheals and hobby lobby offers Wilton's cake decorating classes.
Re: Baking and Cake Decorating
SCG I agree.. your monkeys are too cute. You've got to show me how you did that.
And what shortning did you use for the fondant?
IRA I believe thats called fondant. Its like a harder icing
Re: Baking and Cake Decorating
yeah, that's fondant on top of the robot cake. i made it from marshmallows so it tasted better than the store-bought one. you basically knead it like aata and then you work colour into it and keep kneading until its uniformly distributed. then you roll it out and drape it and shape it, etc. for your design.
the key is a TON of crisco (the vegetarian one, of course, in the blue package) all over the rolling pin, your hands (like liberally applying lotion), and the board you roll it on.
its quite the workout but easy peasy!
the monkey cupcakes are super easy also.
i just made basic buttercream and tinted it tan.
spread it over the top of the cupcakes.
i used two cheerios for the eyes, half of those Nilla cookies for babies for the mouth, and one chocolate melt candy (from Bulk Barn) cut in half for the ears. the mouth and nose were piped on with those small gel icing tubes (also from Bulk Barn).
that's it!
i also piped some chocolate pudding, using a piping bag with a thin tip, into the vanilla cupcakes so they were filled for that extra bit of yumminess.
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Hmm marshmallow based fondant sounds really good. The other kind doesnt taste decent at all. I have heard at weddings, they usually put a coat of buttercream under the fondant and when serving, they peel the fondant off.
SGC thanks for sharinag athe monkey cupcakes recipe. I would love to try making these but the idea of eating all that frosting is kinda repulsive to me. But the wafers and cheerios make it sound so good.
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Well I'm good at baking but I've never decorated a cake like that, beautiful! I would love to try a new cake soon though if anyone has a suggestion please go ahead.
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ira, you need buttercream under any fondant you use so make it adhere to the cake and the smoother the buttercream layer under, the smoother the fondant on top. if you have it lumpy, it'll show through the fondant.
on the cupcakes, the buttercream frosting is delicious! you can put a thick coat on or a thin one, depending on your preference :)
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So I made fondant today with the recipe on the link above.
Tastes pretty good.
SCG it doesnt say anything about layering the cake with butter cream first. But it does mention using simple syrup as a binding agent.
What do you think.
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i'd do the buttercream definitely. it will also create a moist underlayer to bite into when the cake is being eaten. also when covered with buttercream, the fondant goes on smoothly too and there are no bumps or ridges from crumbs.
simply syrup should be used to attach elements of fondant to the covered fondant cake... like, the eyes, nose, mouth, etc. in my robot cake above- i could have used syrup for those but in that case, i opted for royal icing instead as it sticks really well.
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Omg What a disaster it all was i took pics it was so funny!