Please Critique--First Time Ever Decorating.

Decorating By hopefulcakelady Updated 30 Mar 2017 , 5:26pm by hopefulcakelady

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hopefulcakelady Posted 28 Mar 2017 , 2:12am
post #1 of 9

I know this isn't professional level work--not there yet--but for my first time picking up a piping bag, how am I doing? I also want to say that I used crappy Pillsbury icing as well, so there's another thing in my defense.

I'm not crazy about how the cake turned out, but I like the cupcakes.


Please Critique--First Time Ever Decorating.Please Critique--First Time Ever Decorating.

8 replies
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GIGGLEBOX2014 Posted 28 Mar 2017 , 3:16am
post #2 of 9

Your own buttercream would have made a huge difference. It is very simple to make, give it a try! 

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hopefulcakelady Posted 28 Mar 2017 , 3:33am
post #3 of 9

Yeah, good point. I don't have an electric mixer at the moment, though.

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Apti Posted 28 Mar 2017 , 3:33am
post #4 of 9

Hello and welcome to CakeCentral!   I admire your courage to post a first attempt and ask for assistance in future cakes.     I went to your info page to see if you'd posted elsewhere and read your thread about possibly working in cake decorating at Walmart.

Although I have zero info about cake dec. work at Walmart, a close friend was a cashier at Walmart for 7 years and I know how hard y'all work at that job.   

As mentioned by kakeladi in the other thread, being trained by Walmart may actually work to your advantage since you won't have any expectations.   The biggest thing my cake friends who have worked in store bakeries have said is that you WILL need to become fast at whipping out decorated cakes.   Apparently, speed  and "good enough" decorating is the name of the game, not "perfectionist" fiddling to get it absolutely perfect.   Don't compare your work to what you see online--just do what Walmart expects to be good enough for their products.    

About your cake and cupcakes photos above:

First, working with Pillsbury frosting is WAY different than working with "professional" or bakery-grade frosting made by Dawn Foods or a similar grocery store provider.  Proper buttercream consistency is key to doing flowers and designs on cakes/cupcakes.

I can see you tried using different tips.  Your shell designs done with a star tip (#16-#21) actually came out pretty good.  You'll need to practice: When to start squeezing the bag, how long to sqeeze, how to move the bag while applying pressure, and when to release pressure and pull away to "finish" the shell.  You can see this in youtube videos.  Concentrate on the star tips (any size from #16 to 21) and practice while watching videos until you can do a shell border very, very well.    Then, purchase a 1M and/or 2D large tip (no coupler needed), and practice again using the larger version.  

You don't actually need to put on a cake or cupcake, just turn over your cake pan and use as a surface, scrape off the frosting, and re-use as your continue to practice.

Please send me a private message with your regular, non-cakecentral email address, and I'd be happy to send you a list of quick tutorials and how-to tips I provide to a beginning cake decorating course I teach at adult school.

Good luck!

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hopefulcakelady Posted 28 Mar 2017 , 3:37am
post #5 of 9

Thank you. :)

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remnant3333 Posted 28 Mar 2017 , 6:00pm
post #6 of 9

My first cakes looked similar. As you practice you will see improvements if you take pictures and will be able to see how far you have come!!! Keep practicing because you will get better and better with time and practice. Also, go to you tube and watch cake decorating videos, buttercream flower videos, buttercream borders, buttercream piping and many others which will show you which tubes to use how to use them how to hold them,  exactly how to make flowers, etc and then you can practice on wax paper. 

You will be amazed at how much better you will get with practice!!! Keep making cakes and pretty soon you will be a magician and artist at making and decorating cakes. I am proud of you because for your first time you did fine considering you are new to it. It can only get better in time!!! Keep the faith and continue!!!!

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hopefulcakelady Posted 29 Mar 2017 , 7:44am
post #7 of 9

Oh, thank you so much... I am humbled.

I am really hoping to get the cake decorating job I'm going for. I actually did everything I did purely from watching tutorials. :)

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thecakeartist2017 Posted 30 Mar 2017 , 2:03pm
post #8 of 9

It looks really good! I'm a cake decorator and i can tell you from experience that two of the MOST IMPORTANT keys in cake decorating is lots of patience and practice. I'm sure that you'll do great as a cake decorator! I'm trying to learn all I can and more, there is so much out there to learn that it will just blow your mind to see it all! YOUTUBE is your best friend when you're wanting  to learn stuff. Wilton  teaches a lot and is helpful, and they have great cake decorating tools, wilton is pretty much  all I use! If you are interested or become interested in working with fondant, wait to be amazed! When you work with fondant a whole new world opens up and there are so many possibilities! I love working with fondant and i am really starting to try to learn all I can about sculpting, painting, etc. There are lots of books out there that teach a wide range of cake decorating techniques and styles, you'll find a lot of them at Barnes and Noble for around $30.00 or so. I hope that this helps! Goodluck with your cake decorator job! Be blessed!

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hopefulcakelady Posted 30 Mar 2017 , 5:26pm
post #9 of 9

Thank you so much!

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