Hello all! I am interested in learning to bake and decorate cakes but I am unsure where to start. Well I guess it's not so much the willingness to experiment with the baking part of things as much as the tools side of things. Does anyone have a list of basic tools that are required or suggested for decorating? I am specifically interested in fondant if that helps.
I am sure this has been asked before but I couldn't find anything by searching. Thank in advance for any advice you can provide this newbie! 
I just took a class and all we had were the following items to decorate with. Now Im not talking baking... just the decorating part.
Knife (darn thing wasnt even sharp)
Small spatula
Dresden Tool (sp?)
Fondant smoother
Bowl scraper
6 inch (im guessing) PVC pipe to rollout the fondant
Small paint brushes
Ruler
Cornstarch sprinkler thingy that they made by just popping holes into a disposable container
I think that was about it. And considering the mass amount of tools I have in a big craftsman roll away tool box in my own kitchen this was just incredible the things we did with just these few things, and some I didnt even use.
Well here is what I would recommend=) A piping bag or 2 with the most common tips. An angled spatula, a nice sharp serrated knife and a set of mixing bowls if you dont have them(glass or metal). Gel paste colors to color your icing/fondant. If doing fondant, you could get a fondant mat, a rolling pin, fondant cutters. And of course for something fun...luster dust! A couple to start out with. I started with old gold, nu silver, and a pearl dust. Ohh and of course cake pans, lol=) Almost forgot those. Get a couple different sizes, and if you have the extra cash, get 2 of each size to make baking that much easier=) That is all I can think of off the top of my head here. HTH some, Jen
PS...Welcome to CC!! I hope you find it as fun and informative as I have. Such wonderful and helpful members here=)
Try taking the Wilton Fondant class to get started. Or buy the book and class kit and do it yourself to get started with the basics.
I love my bench scraper for smoothing the sides of the cake. And a very large straight spatula for the top, and a good rotating cake stand. And I love my Wilton fondant rolling mat...it has little circles to tell you how big to roll out the fondant to cover various sizes of cake. Oh, and a small bakers' "pizza wheel" thingie to cut the edges without pulling and tearing. It gets expensive pretty quick, but all you really need to start is a box of fondant (buy it ready-made the first time to see the texture, then make your own MMF after that because the store-bought tastes like crap), some buttercream to cover a Sara Lee pound cake and a rolling pin. Practice with a cheap little pound cake, it's small and easy and you won't mess up anything you care about for your first time trying it. It's easier than it looks, just give it a try, dust everything with cornstarch or you'll stick!
Don't use cornstarch to dust with, use icing (powdered)sugar, or better still lightly grease your rolling mat with some white fat (crisco or white flora). The cornstarch can cause a reaction with the fondant (can't remember exactly what it does - only had 4 hours sleep, as I was up 'til 3am making daffodils! but several of my decorating books mention this).
I have only just started working with fondant, but I find that greasing is best, as you don't get a white powdery residue on your icing, which is especially noticable if your fondant is coloured.
HTH
Kelly
When I first started I started out with a great revolving cake stand, all the basic tips (you can find these in sets), a couple of boxes of #12 bags, couplers, smoothing tools- bench scraper, large angled icing spatula, parchment paper, lots of beautiful gel colors and A LOT of time to practice 
Happy Baking
Christi
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