I am self-taught too. I learned (still learning ) from books by Carol Deacon and Debbie Brown....and of course, from Cake Central! I started about a year ago.

I am also self-taught, but hope to take a course in culinary school when my daughter (1 year) is ready to let me out of the house for so long, LOL... :O)

I started cooking and baking when I was just a kid and lately have learned a lot from CC and books - I also learned from trial and error by applying other skills I picked up over the years (mehendi art, painting, embroidery, sewing, crafts, etc.) as they all are easily transferred over to cake decorating. I think it's more fun and gives you a unique edge to come up with your own special look.

I am self taught. I made my first wilton character/shape cake at age 12 from instructions and a pan that my grandmother had and have been hooked ever since. I have been decorating cakes for about 16 years now and didn't take wilton classes until about three years ago. I just wanted to see what I didn't know and to brush up on some of my flower techniques. The first class was very boring to me, but the others were ok. making different kinds of flowers and working with fondant. But like someone said on this post, it is good to have those certificates of completion hanging on your wall for people to see.

hi
ladies your cakes here are beautiful i checked them before senting this
its not cake but im also self-taught, in the jello gelatine art ...im still learning would like to someday be able to teach how to do this fun art
thank u

flowergel

i'm self-taught. my mom has always been the baker in the family and luckily i have her ways. most of what i have learned has come from cakecentral. wilton books have helped some, but this site is the most helpful i have ever seen. cakecentral folks rock!

My hat goes off to all of you that are self taught. I had one class 30 some odd years ago from the local decorator in the small town that I grew up in. I learned everything else myself.
You guys are great!!!!

I dabbled in cake decorating on/off over the last 20 years. I'm in the middle of my Wilton Course 2, and am glad to say I have a really good instructor. It has really helped me. I can now make a rose! Just have to work on getting the icing to right consistency. I just need to think outside the box and experiment a little more. I'm too much by the book. I admire you all for your creativity. Some day when I get a scanner and start my picture gallery, I'll share what I've done so far.
BAKE ON!!

I've never taken any classes (aside from one showing me how to cover a cake with fondant) and all my learning has been from books or on here - it can be done. Maybe it is an advantage in some ways as you develop your own style more?

If you have the desire and an ounce of creativity, you'll have no problem. There are so many resources out there and the best of which is experience, try new things!

I havd my first class a couple years ago just to learn some advanced techniques but with out that I've been doing okay...