I have made cakes before you know the simple mix,bake,can frosting ,done sorta thing but have never had any training what so ever. My question is how do you begin? is there some way or techniques that you need to know first? Where do I go for this? I have looked at so many cakes on here and well frankly Im a little mad that I have to pay my brother in law tons of money to make all my cakes. My granddaughters birthday party is January 8th and im hoping to make her cupcakes and cake. Ok guys say hello to your newbie and I mean really new person to this cake place and lets just hope that one day you guys will be the ones commenting on some of my things)) Thanks alot for looking and I would appreciate all the help I can get.

Judy

I think you want to find a picture that you want to make--load it into the photo thing on here and just say this is not my work I just want to make one like this --or give us the link so we can see what you wanna make and we'll talk you through the rest.

Go easy on yourself. No topsy turvies or 3 foot sculptures.

Also, I checked a fairly recent Wilton Yearbook magazine--they still have great basic how to's in there.

Hey I got one too..brb...

This is the link to the first picture in the pictorial--just click on it to go there--each photo has a caption to read and then you just click Next (located on the right of the page under a thumbnail of the next photo--kinda hidden there) to go to the next. It's just some basic cake deco 101 stuff I put together once for my sister.

http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/1338661626054976741KvQfzM?vhost=home-and-garden

I am nothing if I'm not all about sticking it to
a brother or brother-in-law!!!! Game on!

You don't really need any formal training.. Just lots of practice. I would suggest starting with basic buttercream decorating (borders, roses, writing, etc on layer cakes) You don't even need to have a cake to practice- you can use wax paper. Find a book or get Wilton's practice boards. This will give ou a good base to start with and then you can expand from there.

I dont' have any formal training either. Don't let that stop you. There are lots of great tutorials for free here on CC and on you tube. I agree with K8, let us see a pic of what you are aiming at and we'll walk you through it.

Hey!

If you want to make cupcakes - look into doing the 1M Swirl (Wilton tip 1M)
-Try the yummy 'Indydebi's buttercream' recipe - it crusts and holds it's shape, and tastes delicious.
-For your cake you could make a round 6" or 8" cake iced the same color....
-Make a simple border with the star tip.
You could make little cut out fondant flowers from the mini cookie cutters and place them on the cake. Sometimes less is more - and can be very classy with the right colors!
-Add matching sprinkles to your cupcakes!


Youtube has a ton of tutorials - what you want to look into first is...
-How to ice it properly, you want a thin consistency when icing the cake...
If your icing is too thick - it can pull your cake making too many crumbs.
Practice practice! lol
-And how you want to build a dam in the middle of your layers where your icing/fillings go (to avoid bulging)
-Try using 'indydebi's buttercream' it's and works great.

Do you have any cake decorating classes in your area? I took a couple and I don't regret one of them! They we're the Wilton courses at Michaels.. Maybe look into them after xmas!

I was in the same boat. I had a baby earlier this year and decided I didn't want to pay my friend for her expensive cakes for all the upcoming birthdays and any other events requiring cake so I started taking the Wilton classes. It's really been a huge help, especially the decorating basics. I couldn't even ice a cake and make it look pretty before I took the class.