Thursday, July 31, 2008

Graduation Cake II

It's over. Monday was my last class for Wilton's Course II. I am taking the month of August off and will not continue on to Course III until September at which time I will be taking the third course with a new instructor. I feel bad but as I mentioned in previous posts my instructor leaves something to be desired. In Course II it became obvious that her cake decorating skills were shaky and what skills she did have she could not pass along to me or my classmate, Wendy. Both Wendy and I agree while we "like" her we were not learning what we needed to get to the next level. Don't get me wrong neither one of us is looking to decorate cakes for a living but we were not leaving the class confident in what we learning. I took the courses to improve the overall look of the cakes I was baking for my friends and family. While I did get better and learn some it was due in large part to the reading and practicing I did at home. In looking at blogs online which took the same courses I would see cakes that were decorated in their class none of which we did in our class. The Wilton's courses are VERY structured no matter where you take it all the same materials and (supposedly) learning techniques are used. With that said here's my graduation cake. My instructor left before I was actually done placing all of my flowers.

grad cake I grad cake II

8 comments:

My Sweet & Saucy said...

Darling little bird! Also to answer your question the icing for the cookies is thinned royal icing.

Julia from Dozen Flours said...

Ingrid!!! It's so awesome! Good job!! (Hooray for your new camera!)

How To Eat A Cupcake said...

Aww I love the little birdy!

Thanks for the goodluck wishes. I got the job! I start training Monday at 7am!

Ingrid_3Bs said...

My Sweet & Saucy - Thank you. My little birdie's the reason I asked about your cookie icing. I made him using Wilton's Color Flow. Outlining him was easy but filling in the color was a bit more challenging. Could I have done the same with royal icing? I made the flowers with the royal icing.

Julia- Thanks!! I still have a lot to learn. Practice, practice, practice!

How to Eat a Cupcake - You're very welcome. That's great, you got the job! With your foot in the kitchen door you'll get to learn so much. Good Luck!!

Cakebrain said...

hey...I remember having to make that cute little birdie in my Wilton course too! ahh, the memories! We had a pretty big class at the Cookshop in Vancouver where I took my course. My instructor was fantastic and she taught all 3 courses (and more!) so there's quite a bit of consistency there. There's definitely a lot of homework and practice involved with cake decorating. Not everyone in our course came out with fantabulous cakes. A bit of it is aptitude too. Yours turned out great and with more practice it'll be a lot easier and less frustrating! Keep it up! Great blog! thanks for visiting mine!

Ingrid_3Bs said...

Cakebrain-
Thank you for your kind words of encouragement! I still have a lot to learn with both cake decorating and blogging. Both are more difficult than they look!

It was my pleasure reading your blog!

Elle said...

What a beautiful cake! I've always wanted to take the decorating classes--have to get my butt in gear, I guess.

Thanks for visiting my blog!

Ingrid_3Bs said...

Elle-
Thank you! I still have A LOT of practicing to do! If you find time in between the kids and all their things take a class. The best part is the relationship you build with your classmate/s. My one bit of advice is to make certain that the instructor knows her "stuff" and can teach it to you. Good luck!

I've been reading your blog for a couple of months and have enjoyed your posts. Keep 'em coming :-)

Ingrid