Hi Everyone!
My name is Shelley and I'm a rookie to this site and to decorating. I'm from Memphis, TN. I'm enjoying my classes in the wilton method, and can already see alot of things I'm going to want to do when I get some experience under my belt. BUT, before I get toooo far down the road...I'd love to ask you wonderfully talented and expereienced people a question.

If there was a main thing you would tell me like..."I wish I knew that from the beginning!" or "wow, that made this project so much easier!" or "why did I buy that?"...what wisdom would you pass on to me?

I really enjoy this site and I know I'll continue to learn more every time I come here and read everyone's posting, and I look forward to making some new friendships.

Thanks again in advance for your input...it is greatly appreciated!
Bye for now!
Shelley

Welcome to Cake Central. Probably your best learning opportunity is reading the threads in the cake disaster forum.

A direct answer to your question could take pages.

The most general advice I could offer is "don't be afraid to experiment". Failure is a wonderful teacher and you will always be able to find someone who will take a practice cake off your hands, no matter how ugly or off-kilter or slanted, especially if you have kids or coworkers

Welcome to CC scubassquirrel!! I agree with the above. There is so much information on this site, it is unreal what you can learn and what other CC members are so kind to share=) Definately take the time to read through as much as you can! Also, if you are looking for something specific, just use the search engine up top. More then likely, if you have a question, it has been answered at one point lol! Jen

I'm so glad you asked these questions, I'm a rookie also. Good luck!

Welcome newbies!!!

Your first smart thing was to join CC! i can tell you from experience that I have learned the most reading threads and cruising the galleries here than anywhere else. Need to know something? Just ask, and within an hour or so, half a dozen answers will come your way. These gals (and guys) are great! And not just for advice on deco skills. You will see lots of threads on bridezillas and how to handle them as well as tips on starting your business and other things. When you need a pick me up, this is the place to be! Been there!

One of the best decorating tips I found on this site was a thread for the Melvira Method. It is a quick tutorial on how to get your base coat of icing to look as smooth as glass by using a paint roller. Yup, you read that right--a paint roller! I think there's a link on the homepage or search for Melvira.

As MiaT said, don't be afraid to experiment. If you fail, do it again until you get it right. NEVER give up!!!! This takes lots of patience, but I teach cake deco to 7th graders in our church every spring, and even they can do this. If you go into a project not realizing that failure is an option, then it won't be. (If you get Food Network and have ever watched Duff, even he has disasters, but he won't give up, he just asks himself how he's going to fix it and make it better.)

CC is a great community, and we're glad to have you here!

I think one tip (by the way WELCOME) Is ALWAYS look in hardware stores for tools of the caking trade LOL Yep .....to get nice edges on sheetcakes or square cakes use a spackeler (sp?) In the paint isle. Don't buy everything Wilton...a lot of great other suppliers around like www.intotheoven.com and www.cakesbysam.com a great amount of others ALSO buy from here CC!!! Keep our great forum going

Welcome!!!

And try not to use Wiltons Fondant to eat blahhhh

As a newbie, one of the first things I learned and found to be invaluable in making beautiful cakes was the upside down method. I could NEVER get my cakes to have those crisp edges and level tops before. And another good tip is that smoothing icing is about taking icing OFF. Put lots on and then scrape away with a bench scraper. Here's the upside down method tutorial:

http://www.cakecentral.com/article6-Upside-Down-Icing-Technique-for-Perfectly-Smooth-Icing.html

Good Luck!

Practice before doing the real deal. Whether you're trying a new recipe, new technique, whatever, do it on a practice cake first. Just to give you an example-I've never been very good with corners, which is why nearly all my cakes are round Anyway, someone had asked me to make a rectangle choc. cake with choc bc. Well, at that time I didn't have a tried and true choc bc recipe and as I was trying to frost the cake I noticed that top was dry and ready to smooth and I hadn't even gotten all the frosting on the sides yet! Also since it was a really moist cake I ended up tearing the corners off when I frosted them. I was nearly in tears that night! If you look in my pics it's the bowling cake-the frosting looked terrible and when it came time to do the decorations my heart just wasn't in it. The customer was happy though and gave me a $10 tip