Monday, December 28, 2009

Wilton Cake Decorating Course 1 - REvIeW


This entry will be a wrap up/summary of my 4-day Wilton Decor course. As some of you may have read from my previous entry that I have enrolled myself in a 4-day course to learn the proper techniques of cake decorating as my own self taught skill sucked big time! =p And so for the 4 Saturdays of the month of December, I spent 3hrs at BIY with a bunch of other baking enthusiast to learn decor skill from our very experience teacher Kathryn. She is really nice and patient with all of us. For those who are interested, below is the course outline. I did not really take pics for all the lesson so please bear with my limited pics of this course.. =)

1st Lesson:
Basically teacher will go through the student kit which is included in the course fee. Aside what is provided, student are also asked to buy a few more things that are being used, such as the clown head since 1 of the lesson teaches us on how to pipe clown body. You can share a pack of 6 clown heads with your classmates if you dun wan to spend too much.. that's what I did.. hiak hiak...
You will also be taught to make your own piping bag out of baking paper and also to fix the tip securly to your piping bag for easy application.
Homework will be given for you to prepare for Lesson 2 as all the hands-on will start from then.
You will be expected to bring an iced cake at least 6", you can either bake or buy ready ones from bakeries or Giant. 3 portion of buttercream icing with 3 different consistencies and colours. All icing recipes must follow the Wilton Icing recipe.

2nd Lesson:
Start practicing some patterns on the practice board. Then will be how to make a rose base. Rest of the time will be used to decorate the cake you brought with the Wilton rainbow pattern. You will be taught how to trace the pattern onto a cake before applying the icing.
Actually all the icing can be re-used and so you can save time and effort in icing prep since it can be quite tiring with all that washing... (-_-")

3rd Lesson:
This is the most relaxed day. You will be told to practice on more patterns and futher pipe the rose petal onto the base, which will eventually form a full bloom rose.. really pretty and nice. You will also learn how to pipe a clown for the lesson which are really cute and easy to make.

4th Lesson:
You will be expected to bring an 8" cake at least 3" in height for the final decoration which must include the rose pattern, shells and some other pattern at your own desire.

At the end of the lesson you will recieve a certificate! Here is Mine! hahaha...

overall i really enjoy the classes, really feels like going back to kindergarden everyone sitting at the table playing and testing out new stuffs. Although i really fread all the homeworks and washing up the ever oily buttercream icing.. which later on i found a new friend which can help me with this problem - Hot Boiling Water! Yes! super effective! Truth is the Wilton Icing is reallyyy sweet and i feel is only suitable for decorations and not ice the whole cake, which is good enough..

I have also come to know some new friends in the class with same common topic on baking and food. I have also taken pics of their creation..

* To all classmates in Wilton Course 1:
Hope we can stay in touch and join stage 2 together soon! Glad to know all of you through this course! Happy baking and hopw to see more creations in your blogs and FB soon! Yay! =) Wishing all of you a Happy New Year!

11 comments:

Chriel said...

Wow! You are certified!

Puffy's said...

Hehe... Wish to take up more course to make me even more certified.. =)Time being is contented with this one.. =)

Anonymous said...

so do they teach u how to make the butter cream icing? or u gotta learn it up urself?

Puffy's said...

Hi Anonymous,

They will give you the recipe and also show you how to make the buttercream. But personally, i find Wilton's recipe is very very sweet..

Hope this helps! =)

Anonymous said...

I'm signing up for a class in October and was wondering besides the clown head if there are any additional items that will need to be purchased.

Puffy's said...

Hi Anonymous,

Yes, aside the clown head you will have to purchase extra pippng bags and tips.

You will be given a shopping list on the first lesson. A lot will be covered on first lesson, so try not to be late for that lesson.

You can buy all your things at BIY or the place where you enroll your lesson. If at BIY, you will enjoy a student discount of 5% i think. I took the chance and bought other stuffs from them.. =)

Hope this helps and that you will enjoy the lesson! have fun! =)

Anonymous said...

Thanks Puffy for the review. I just signed up for the class in Nov. Did you make your own cake and frost it? I'm quite sure I'll be too tired to bake as we need to make our own buttercream.

:) christine

Puffy's said...

Hi Christine,

Great! DO have fun and hope you will benefit from it.. =)

Yes.. I bought the ready mix Devil's Chocolate cake. As you've said, too tired to bake, after all the buttercream making.. hahah =)

Puffy's said...

Hi Christine,

Great! DO have fun and hope you will benefit from it.. =)

Yes.. I bought the ready mix Devil's Chocolate cake. As you've said, too tired to bake, after all the buttercream making.. hahah =)

Anonymous said...

Is there a certain age you have to be to take the Wilton classes? I have been very interested but was just wondering for personal reasons...

Puffy's said...

Hi There,

This lesson I would say is more for teenage onwards. For kids, they do organize on off courses for them.
As for maximum age? There is no age limit to learning if you ask me. The sky is the limit.
Do apologize for the late late reply and hope it helps =)