HEY EVERYONE!!!!!!!!! I just wanted to know why many of you chose cake decoratiing as a business or hobby? What give you passion to keep doing?

I chose cake decorating as a hobby (hopefully maybe a business one day) because it sometime I always wanted to do. My aunt and grandmother did it for years. But what really got me going is when I called for a quote for a nintendo cake for my boyfriend bithday from charm city cakes (I know, crazy right). They quoted 600.00, this was before min 1000.00 order. So I register for a cake decorating class at a local bakery and after my 2nd class and learning from the cc'er I made it myself and it turned out great. I really have a passion for it now. And now I'm the Cake lady of the family. 3rd gen LOL

How I got started is totally different from why I stay in it.

My sister is a great canvas artist. My first husband was a graet canvas artist. As kids, it was always the comparison of how Debi was the clunky, knobby kneed skinny book reading dork, but Little Sis had TALENT!

So part of what fuels my passion is the satisfaction that I'm not "talent-less" and I also took my talent to a new level (business). Discovering you really do have a special skill is mind-blowing. And we believe that when God gives you a talent, he did not intend for it to sit dormant while you surf TV.

Psst! We no longer have that competition thing between us. We celebrate our mutual skills .... her canvas is "canvas" and my canvas is an iced cake surface!

Baking was/is a stress reliever for me. But, I could only pipe shells borders - that's it! After running into schedules for decorating classes for a couple of years, I finally jumped in head first and haven't really stopped. I would love to do this full time, but until then...it will remain a hobby with the occasional request.

I started for the same reason. Besides grocery stores, there was only one cake lady in my area and she charged alot of money for a not so good cake so I started making them myself. I have 5 siblings, 3 kids and 2 nephews and when you factor in girlfriends, wives, grandmothers, etc. It's alot of birthday cake so now I'm the cake lady in my family too.

I thought this was funny, I was going through my old hard drive the other day and found my very first decorated cake. I made it for my hubby's first father's day, box mix, canned frosting and squeeze cheese type accent frosting. I have no idea what I was thinking with my color choice but I was proud of it at the time. I must have been channeling some inner sandra lee!

I saw an ad at the local community college for a cake decorating class so I "encouraged" a coworker to go with me. It was the most fun. I have 4 daughters and a huge family with plenty of kids. So I too am now known as the Cake Lady. It started as just something new to do and It quickly turned to a big hobby! I have always loved making things and have always had a creative streak-- so cake decorating just fits!

I started because when when my husband and I were poor students we also had 2 children and the cheapest grocery store character cost about $18. I would have to work 3 - 4 hours to pay for that. I bought a few tips and disposable bags ( which you can reuse if careful) and taught myself some things. My daughter thought her cake was great. A couple of years later, I took the first wilton course and taught myself some more using instructions in the wilton yearbooks. Now (and I don't mean to brag) I am probably one of the best cake decorators I know of in my small town. I continue doing it because it makes me happy to see kids faces when I give them one of my birthday cakes.

I started at 18 when my Mom overheard a grocery store decorator say she was going on maternity leave and not coming back. I had taken the wilton classes and they agreed to train me for retail.

The first 5 years it was just a job while I was in college. Then I didne't really have a desire to continue college... I just diden't know what I wanted to do, so I kept doing cakes.

10 years went by adn I thought "it's an ok job adn pays better than most jobs" so I kept at it. I diden't see it as a career I would do for the rest of my life.

15 years came around and I admitted it was a career but was getting tired of the same grind. 100 + cakes a day can take the fun out of it.

After 20 years I decided it was for life. Three years of planning and I finally opened my home based business.

Guess I'm in it for life. I love it! I love the creative outlet and most improtantly the instant gratification when someone is happy with your work. .............. The phrase in our home for me is "instant gratification takes too long" ............ so I stick to my cakes.

I like reading these stories. Keep them coming.!!

I started doing cakes to try to bond with my mom. She always was friends with the Cake Lady and did the artsy thing. I was seeking approval. I tried for years to be as good as her friend. I gave up trying to please her the day I got married. I followed everyones advice and had a cake made for me. It was AWFUL and then some. They did not tort the cake, just 2 cakes together. At some places there was more icing than cake! The roses looked like blobs and the design was what I said I did NOT want. The cake decorator said she misunderstood at that was highlighted in her notes several times, just got confused. We did the cutting ceremony thing and the cake fell on me! I was covered in cake. My mom and her friend laughed and thought it was funny as my husband refused to smash cake in my face out of respect the cake did it all on it's own. I finally competed this last OSSAS and place with one entry. Another entry was photoed and published. I feel like I can do anything now if I only try. I please me and I even please customers and their party guests. It is cheaper than counseling and I love it!

I was asked to do a wedding cake for a friend of mine just because I made this chocolate cake with chocolate ganache that was very yummy, but not very pretty. I actually hated it. She wanted a 3 tier stacked cake covered in fondant. I muddled my way through and vowed to never do it again. I just recently found my sorry excuse for a cake.... Boy do I see the mistakes now. It's ugly and she loved it!

That was in 2007, and last summer I made a birthday cake for my cousin and accidently ended up with some gum paste. I love, love, love it now! Back then, I didn't know about this site or all the information you can find on the internet. Nothing is fun when you don't have a clue what you're doing.

I would really like to do this forever!! It's just a hobby for me now, but I am planning for the future.....

I started not too long ago! I wanted to learn so that I never have to buy any of those ugly store bought cakes again! The last two that I went to pick up at the local grocery store looked nothing like the picture was in their book. The last one looked NOTHING like it was suppose to. I really wanted to just be able to make cakes for my 3 children's birthdays!

My obsession started 9 years ago with my sons 2nd birthday cake I made him two blues clues pawprint cakes. That was the begining I just read up and go online reading constantly and taught myself from trial and error. I just love art, all forms of it, from tattoos, paintings, sculptures to the art of cake decorating. Get this I do not like or eat cake and when ppl find this out they ask Why? I tell them that this is my Art !! But my family are the taste testers and they love it that way

I am crafty by nature and am just getting into this hobby. I LOVE kids' cakes and now that I have 2 little ones of my own, I want to make them awesome cakes. I have always enjoyed making kiddie cakes and will often make them for adults too ... they always love to have them! I have to admit though that I don't know anyone that would pay for a professional cake for their child's birthday - an engagement or wedding yes but a birthday no. I'm loving learning to use all the equipment - my husband thinks it's funny that for Christmas and my birthday all I wanted was cake decorating equipment! This site is excellent for learning how to do things. I am also really looking forward to my first decorating class that my siblings bought me for my birthday!

I started because my middle child has a severe peanut/treenut allergy. I couldn't buy birthday cakes from a bakery, sio I started making em. With each cake I got more in to it and more ambitious. I've spent countless hours online learning everything I can, and have bought a tom of books. i am really enjoying it!

okay, first, gerripje, if that cake is ugly, then i'm in the wrong business!!

i never took any formal classes, i just kind of taught myself. i got started in 2007 when my aunt asked me to make a dessert for christmas dinner. i thought a red velvet cake would be cool. i've never made one before (truth be told, i've never even eaten one before!) i made it from scratch and frosted it white. i was thinking, 'gee, it's just too boring.' so i got out some old tips i had from making a birthday cake for my dh years ago and turned the cake into a wreath. everyone loved and and i thought, i bet people would pay me to do this! lo and behold, they now do!

i've always loved to bake and cook, ever since i can remember. i've always been in the kitchen!

Almost 30 yrs ago our oldest DD gave us 6 wks to the day to plan her wedding. It caught us off guard budget wise. W/less than 2 weeks before the big date we still didn't know what to do about a cake as the only one she saw/liked was going to cost something like $500. Her then to be MIL talked her into letting us make her a "homemade cake w/cream cheese icing". I had taught myself how to make Panorama Sugar Easter Eggs and always wanted to learn more but didn't know where/how. I had asked several people who made cakes if they would teach me but they said no. Well DD's wedding was the push I needed; MIL gave me her supplies that were (litterly) out in the barn for the last 10 yrs There was a Wilton yrbk......I picked out a cake I thought was nice and easy and just went for it.
3 days later I was asked to make another wedding cake; 3 weeks after that another one! By now I thought I'd better go learn what people must think I know. So I drove 50 miles (one way) once a week to take lessons.

What a great topic! I started baking believe it or not...when I was 8! That was just bixed stuff. Then my mom decided to go back to school when I was about 10 & we were really broke. She has an old Fannie Farmer cookbook & I made crossiants out of them & they were actually really good. I remember really taking my time with the kneading in of the butter, cause you gotta work fast, but carefully or else the butter will melt & the dough wont rise. So, I started baking our birthday cakes & figured out how to pipe buttercream roses (or should I say buttercream cabbages! ). Then I was about 12 & my mom had to put on some type of, I don't know, reception for some guest speaker. Of course she was on a VERY TIGHT budget, so my mom actually had me make everything from the quiches to the rolls. I thought it was great fun & her recption was a big hit. From then on my aunt had me make all the holliday desserts, where she usually requested oh about 6 different pies, 3 different cakes & 3 different cookies. All throught jr. high & high school I did the desserts. Then when I was 17 my cousin wanted the cake thatwas on the cover of Rose Levey Baranbaum's Cake Bible, you know the one covered in chocolate fondant with a sculpted red rose. That was the first time I worked with fondant & had to keep cooling the cake, working in the freezer so the chocolate fondant wouldn't melt or streak up (I have a much better time with fondant now, yeah! ). I got married at 18, stationed overseas & there were no good bakers for military families, so I ended up doing everything from wedding cakes to birthday cakes to retirement cakes for officers. Then I came back stateside and I stopped everything. Now here I am 10 years later doing special request for people I know & now have finally decided to make an actual career out of it. It was always my dream, but somehow never seemed feasible, don't ask me why. Wow, didn't mean to write so much, but I have been asked that question before & I have to admit, this is actually the first time I've actually answered it!

I started by making my daughter's 2nd birthday cake. It was a total disaster! The corners fell off of it and the filling was squeezing out, but somehow I managed to fix it and to this day it is one of my favorite cakes! No one even knew what that cake looked like just 5 hours before the party. I keep doing cakes, because I get excited about doing new designs and I love the look on people's faces when they see a cake I made for them.

By the way, my first cake is the ladybug cake in my photos.

My Mom ALWAYS made my bros and sisters (all 10 of us) cakes for our birthdays, and at the time I asked "How come I never get a store bought cake like my friends" (I know, I know I was an ungrateful kid). She always decorated the house and we baked and made treats for every holiday( Yes, even Presidents Day). Now I appreciate all her hard work. I continued to bake as an adult I still do candies, cookies, cupcakes and whatever and in the past few years have gotten into decorating cakes. I took a few Wilton classes last year, which I hated...my teachers were horrible!! Then I found a bakery about 40 miles from me that offered classes and I really found my "bliss". Now I am all about cakes and offer to make one for anyone who will let me. I need all the practice I can get.

Its very funny though, I am not a big cake person, not my fave dessert at all, but thats just makes it all the less tempting to eat everything I make!!(Now frosting...thats a different story )

I always loved to bake, my mom is an awesome cook but does not bake, always purchased cakes/pastry etc. Last year around this time I got laid off from my job and I was home and very bored. I went to Michael's and bought the biggest case of icing tips and some other odds and ends and went home to start playing. Then I signed up for Wilton classes, took two and that was it. I learned the basics from the Wilton classes (torte, fill, crumb coat) and then everything else is trial and error. I bake for fun, family and friends and I learn by my cake disasters and all of you lovely people answering my silly questions on CC!
I must say, I learned more from CC than Wilton classes...you guys are awesome and your cakes make me want to bake more and get better! Great thread!!

Hello everyone.

My mom used to make our cakes when we were younger and she took some Wilton classes. She's from the time of...'eww...never use fondant' era. I always was baking something growing up. Finally two years ago I decided that this was what I wanted to do. I took the Wilton courses offered at a local craft store and been going and going ever since. I love the look on the customer's face when they see the finished product, it gives me a sense of accomplishment. I love every minute of this....I have much to learn yet but learned alot already from here on CC.

I will admit this...as sad as it sounds..after everything I learned and have made over the years and from the classes...I still can't make a decent shell border or do the cornelli lace right yet.

For me it certainly wasn't because I hated the look of grocery store cakes (although they are quite boring and "cookie cutter"), because sadly I still strive to be able to do a shell border, a rosette or even a star as well as any of them can. I just kind of became obsessed with how pretty even the simplest of a well-decorated cake looked. I was always looking up bakery websites -because at the time I had no idea there were cake decorating forums such as CC, - buying books, magazines, etc., watching ALL of the cake decorating shows, and finally taking all of the Wilton Courses. Now if I could only find more time to practice.

It's really just a hobby for me...because at my skill level, people might pay me NOT to make a cake for them . Just kidding! At least my family appreciates them.

I'm such an artsy fartsy person to begin with. I love to draw, paint, do crafts, photograph etc and I love helping people...it's in my blood I swear it!!! I finally decided that I could do both with baking and decorating. All the artsy stuff was always a release for me whenever I was really stressed or wanted a "Calgon, take me away" moment. To be able to see the looks on people's faces when they receive something that they never expected or it went well beyond what they imagined is such a wonderful feeling. We don't have enough smiling, happy people and baking/decorating is one way to help that out. Right now it is just a hobby for me, but once I retire from the military it may become a second career. Who knows!?

Well, it all started about 44 years ago when I got an easy bake oven for Christmas....the rest is history!

I needed a hobby, my kids were starting to leave and go off to college. My husband works 2nd shift...so I signed up for a Wilton class for which the teacher rarely showed up. So I signed up for a course at the local vo-tech. Shortly after that I started making them for friends and family. Long story shorter...I was bucked off a horse and had neck surgery...my butt of a boss thought I would be a liability (Dentist) and we parted ways. 1 year later now I am opening my own shop, should be in by March 15th!! Never have I been so happy in all my life.

I have an unhealthy obsession with cupcakes and was so excited when I finally got access to a kitchen (my dorm didn't have a kitchen) I had to make cupcakes. My first batch was just really colorful but it reminded me how much I loved to bake. So then I started checking out cupcakes online and found a bunch of information on how to decorate cakes. I did cupcakes for a long time and then we needed a cake for my grandmother's birthday so I made my first cake. Since then my love for cake decorating has only grown.

I started baking cakes when I was a little girl. My mom is a fantastic cook but always asked me if I wanted to whip up a cake. I've always loved baking and I always volunteered to make the birthday cakes for my family. This past year I decidd to get serious about formal cakes with fondant, so I just bought books and took a Wilton class at a nearby Michael's. My first fondant cake was for a co=workers husband's birthday and I had such a good time doing it. Now I bake cakes for any reason or occassion. I love it and it is a real stress reliever for me. I would love to open my own business but dont think Im qualified yet...........I'll keep on making cakes until I think I am and we will see what the future holds. By the way I am so grateful for my Wilton instructor for telling me about this website. I have been addicted since the first time I entered!

I just want to make my kids cakes so I asked my friend how can I make it she told me how and I made it; after I took wilton courses but I wanted to know more recipes I start to look for scratch recipe then I found CC and here I'm a CC fanatic and making more cakes everyday

I am also one of those artsy fartsy people - however, I would classify myself more as "crafty" than artsy. Anyway - my mom and I used to go to craft shows and find the stuff we liked and figure out how they made it, then we would stop at the craft store on the way home and spend the rest of the day "crafting".

So in began my over confident desire to make things that I see on TV. I watched Ace of Cakes and the Food Network Challenges and thought - I bet if I had some training I could do that. then I found out that Michael's offered the classes, unfortunately, we didn't have a Michael's in my area.

I got transferred when i was 6 months pregnant, my husband was still working where we used to live and I was here, pregnant, with no friends or family - but I had a MICHAELS!! So, to get out of the house and hopefully meet some people I started taking the classes.

They were way harder than I thought, but I just LOVED it!! LOVE LOVE LOVE it!! i still can't do what they do on TV, but I am usually pretty happy with my cakes anyway!