Wilton Decorating Class #2

I have decided to learn how to decorate cakes. The Wilton courses seemed like a good and inexpensive way to take the first step. Having finished Course #1 early this summer - I boldly went for #2 which wrapped up Monday night.

Being one of the two token males in the group (the other being a 14 year old young man who was very passionate and quite talented) we got lots of attention. You would think the others had never heard of Keegan Gerhard, Chef Duff or Buddy!

My moto for the class was "Come on - guys can decorate cakes too - right after we gut that armadillo found along the road" (my sense of humor wasn't always appreciated.....).

The end result (after qualifying that I really don't "do cute") was kind of - well - "cute". Since I was there to learn technique - I did the project but put my own spin on the colors.

• Royal frosting flowers but not in nice pastel colors - the brighter the better!
• Blue birds were going to be deep purple (another way of saying I added way too much coloring). They broke after falling out of the cabinet. I settled for this version made in an earlier class.
• Those orange things in the upper left corner are daffodils - they were a lot of fun to make!
• Gotta love classic white frosting - even if it is a little stiff and flaky!

• Basket weave! While it looks a little rough - I like the look and the process of putting this finish together.

• Rope border - the easy way! We did the "Wilton" way first - then learned a easy motion to speed up the process. The "easy" way gave me a much more consistent pattern.

• Clever trick for getting some extra height on a project. This puts it almost eye-level while seated and takes a lot of strain off the back. That really cool "tackle box" was a gift but I think it was intended more as a way of saying "get all this stuff off the counter and out of bowls in the cabinet".

I am debating whether or not to take Course #3 - fondant........