I just got an email from my local AC Moore that they have re-vamped and re-launched the Wilton classes. Any instructors out there who can tell me if they are really that different?

I took the full set a few years ago and the descriptions look similar. But class 3 and 4 have more fondant techniques. I also don't remember doing any stringwork...

Oh, here are the "new" descriptions:

Course 1 Discover Cake Decorating
Discover Cake Decorating is the perfect place to start! Your Instructor will show you the right way to decorate, step by step. Youll learn basic cake decorating skills from preparing icing to simple borders and the Wilton rose. As you learn each new decorating skill, you will gain a sense of pride in your accomplishments. Plus, you will be able to share your delicious results with family and friends!

Course 2 Flowers & Borders
In the Flowers and Borders course, youll master elegant new borders featuring rosettes, reverse shells and rope designs. Give your cakes incredible dimension with the addition of bold color flow decorations. Create lovely new flowers like rosebuds, daisies, daffodils, mums and more. Use these flowers in your grand finale cake an impressive flower basket cake using the interwoven basketweave technique.

Course 3 Fondant & Tiered Cakes
In Fondant and Tiered Cake, youll begin with intricate accents such as embroidery and lace, stringwork, garland and ruffle borders. Discover the beauty of decorating with rolled fondant for covering cakes with an invitingly smooth surface and shaping elegant flowers. Add several new icing flowers to your repertoire, including lovely holiday blooms like poinsettias and Easter lilies. Complete your course by assembling and decorating a towering tiered cake with beautiful stringwork, flowers and borders.

4? -- Fondant & Gum Paste Course
In Fondant and Gum Paste, youll experience a variety of new fondant techniques and the beauty of decorating with gum paste. You will create flowers and accents with beautiful detail. You will see how to use tools to cut and shape amazing textured ribbons and borders. Each new technique will prepare you to decorate a final cake that could be the climax of your next celebration.

I recently took the basic wilton class and our instructor said they were basically the same except they will be more focused on certain areas. The new classes are the basic class, borders/flowers, and gumpaste/fondant. I just enrolled in the borders/flowers class.

the new classes are. decorating basics. will make a ribbon rose instead of regular wilton rose. ( that will be taught in flowers and cake design with royal icing. there is no course 1, 11, 111 and fondant and gumpaste anymore. just 3. decorating basics., flowers and cake design, and gumpaste and fondant. no more tiered cakes and easter lily and poinsettia , morning glory and petunia like we did in course 111. no more string work , swags,etc. will learn the fondant/gumpaste rose in gumpaste and fondant. also carnation , daisy, g/p mum and cala lily, and making a loopy bow. flowers and design , is, r/i, gumpaste pansy, fondant button flowers. that cutter has been out for several years. the leaf one also. learn large lily in r/i, daffodils, violets, rose in r/i and rsoe buds. again, in basic deco. it is learning how to make icing, decorate the cake . rosettes, drop flowers, shells . shaggy mums. and leaves. students decorate cookies the first night. (bring your own cookies.)hth

There are going to be some repeats of things that were in the last 4 courses as well as some new things they are bringing in. At Michaels WMIs will be at the store on May 22 doing a demo so that would be a good time to go up there and talk to them and see what all is offered in the new courses.

The refreshed course kits will be showing up in stores this month. I know Michaels were suppose to start their reset this last weekend.

Decorating Basics is the first suggested class to take. The first night is still like Course 1, where the WMI will demo how to make icing and how to ice a cake. In Lesson two students will actually bring their cakes un-iced and ice them in class, they will learn the piping gel transfer and do a cute cupcake or fish on their cakes that night. In stead of the regular buttercream rose we will teach the buttercream ribbon rose. There are a couple of flowers and borders that will be taught.

Flowers and Cake Design will be a cross between buttercream, gumpaste/fondant, and royal icing. We will still do a basket weave cake with flowers on it. There is also a section in this book where we talk about cake and color design, showing what colors look well together.

Gum Paste and Fondant will focus in on the uses of both, making the flowers the poster above me said, as well as the loop bow, and covering the cake in fondant. It will also talk about cake designing.

Flowers & Cake Design or Gum Paste & Fondant can be taken in either order. There would be some repeats but also some new things, so if someone has taken the classes in the past and you need some time away from the family you could always look into it.

They are leaving out the tiered cake in these three courses, but I believe they are introducing a project course in the fall that will focus on tiered cakes.

At Michaels the classes are staying the same price, so they are $45. We have monthly promotions ever month of 40% or 50% off. June and July's promotions are 50% off. If you sign up for a class in June at Michaels you will also get a slip to mail off to Wilton to recieve a new 2011 yearbook.

The course kits are running $34.99. They also have an Ultimate Decorating Set that will have the three course kits plus additional items in it. It will be running around $200, but with a coupon it may not be a bad deal.

Here is a link to it:
http://www.wilton.com/store/site/product.cfm?sku=2109-0200&OTC-fb2010&wallult

I am in the middle of taking the old course II class. I have been reading up on the new classes. Do you think I would benefit from taking the new class II also? I can do that in June here.

Thanks for the heads up on demos on May 22. I'll have to check here and see if my Michaels is offering that.

I notice in the new course II kit there is no more oval pans. How are they teaching the baskeweave technique then? My instructor said they included those because it is easier to learn this technique on an oval pan.

Thanks for your help.

Wilton updated their website to show the new descriptions.
http://www.wilton.com/classes/local_classes.cfm

Linda, I've had some students ask me about retaking. The courses aren't going to be number but the one you would compair C2 to would be the Flowers & Cake Design. It is hard for me to tell them yes they should or no they shouldn't because everyone takes the classes for different reasons. There will be some repeats, so it will not be all completely new material. Wilton is trying to update things and someone of the stuff in their 'old' courses were a bit outdated.

I would say if you have the money and the time and you enjoy some time away from 'the real world' to have some me time then it wouldn't hurt to take the classes again. The repeats can be looked at practice or reinforcement to what you learned before. If money is an issue, then because of the repeats you may decide it isn't worth it to take them again. I've already told my current students as soon as I get the books in I will let them look through it so they can decide for themself.

I don't have my book with me, but I'm pretty sure we will still be doing the rose bud, apple blossom, violet and daffodil. We will go through the rose orginally learned in C1, but using royal icing for it. We are going to be doing the Easter Lily (was in C3) with a larger tip, larger lily nail and have some new stamins. We are also doing a fondant/gumpaste violet (pictured on the front of the box in the above link) and then the button flower, using the press set. The basket weave is done on a round cake, I think, using a star tip.

I'm not sure why your WMI said it was easier to learn on the oval. I can't see how it would be any harder or easier to do based on the cake shape. My guess is they included the cake pans because that kit had less items than the other kits did. If the didn't include the pans it would have just been 11 tips, flower formers and a packet of color flow.

Thanks,
I think I'm going to take it again. Learning the basketweave with the star tip, that's interesting, especially when they offer so many basketweave only tips.

The classes are discounted in June, so the cost is not the issue. But you described enough new things and I want to know what is outdated that I think I'll take the second class again in June.

To me the more outdated things where actually in C3, the sotas, cornelli lace, string work, garland, that kind of stuff.

I liked all the flowers in Course 2, but the ones that were taken out, the violet, daisy and mum will be done in fondant/gumpaste in either the Flowers and Cake Design and the Gum Paste and Fondant.

I think in the long run the refreshed classes will be good. It will take a little while, espeically right now during the change over, for everyone to get use to the new stuff.

I shall miss the clown myself, though I know there are people out there that hated them.

Awesome- thanks everyone for the information.

I also thought the clowns were a little creepy. However, I totally keep the little heads in my cake kit. I just can't throw them out!

I don't know if it's all of them but my A.C Moore is offering the first round of the new courses for $10.00

You can switch to a tip 12 and make people or even a bear with the same steps you use to make the clown. You can either pipe a ball head or make a fondant head, piping details or using the edible markers on the fondant.

TexasSugar,

Thank you for all the information on the new Wilton classes. It was very helpful!

A follow-on question: I took the first two courses of the four course series approx. 6 years ago and signed up for the new ones as a refresher. In looking at the contents of new student kits, the kit for the first course is very similar to the old one except for a few tips, a cupcake nail, and perhaps flower templates (the box indicates "12 flower templates," but not which ones.) Will I be okay purchasing just the different tips and not the whole kit or are the flower templates ones I would not have already?

Thank you

The flower nail templates are new ones that are sticky on the back so they stick to the nail. I do believe they will be sold individually.

As far as I know, the only way to get the new practice board sheets (right now) is in the Decorating basic's kit. They do not have them in the back of the book this time around.

Sometimes, depending on what all you have to buy, buying the kit with a coupon comes out to a better buy. I don't have everything memorized yet that comes in the kit, so off the top of my head I can't be sure with the new stuff what is the better deal.

In my opinion, the tips that we get in the kits are tips we tend to use alot in decorating, so it doesn't hurt to have mutiples of them.