To Improve Your Skills - What's The First You Would Work On?
Decorating By LittleMom Updated 14 Feb 2007 , 5:43pm by MomLittr
I enjoy cake decorating, and I am thinking of turning this into a business someday. I live in PA where there's a no-pets rule, otherwise I'm set up for a home bakery. My beloved dog is 10 or 11 years old, so I have a few more years to hone my skills (God willing.)
I have sold 5 cakes - all of them to my coworkers - to buy myself a couple of pans, tips, etc... so I have those to work with.
The area of knowledge for cake decorating is overwhelming. Where does someone start? Going to culinary school is not an option for me at this point, the most I can afford right now is the Wilton classes at Michaels.
What is the best technique or skill to have when you're starting out? I only started in November, my only cake that tastes good is the WASC recipe and it's variations, and I would consider my piping skills to be modest at best. But I have a great time doing it!
If you were me, where would you start learning?
I am also a resident of PA, and I can tell you that the majority of the populus here still lives in a buttercream world. Work on your piping skills, get the Wilton Way of Cake Decorating, volumes 1-3 (only found on eBay, and often referred to as the Wilton Encyclopedias) and the figure piping book by Winbeckler (I think CC sells this one).
The Wilton books mentioned above, published back in the 1960's and 1970's, are the most comprehensive books on piping that were available in the US at that time. Many very unique techniques, and international techniques, are described and demonstrated in these books. These books are not cheap, but they are the most collected books here in the US. I have no regrets over buying my set. I was lucky enough at the time to happen onto the pattern books that accompany these volumes.
There is another book you want to invest in, but it is very expensive. It is the Lambeth Method of Cake Decorating and Practical Pastries. Joseph Lambeth developed his own techniques for cake decorating, and published the first version in 1939. This is another book has a supplement volume, which I own.
Another expensive book is Mary Ford's Writing in Icing. It offers very unique ways of writing on cakes, including many Gothic, Elizabethan, and Edwardian styles of writing. I have three copies of this book. I do not regret buying them when I did, because they have quadrupled in price since I bought them two years ago.
As far as gumpaste flowers go, any book by Alan Dunn or Nicholas Lodge works for me. Nick Lodge also sells videos at very reasonable prices. Others swear by Scott Clark Woolley.
Theresa 
What I tell my students is this: for those who can only afford the Wilton classes, make up a batch of decorator icing and flip the cake pan over and decorate it. I don't color the decorator icing, so I can use it over and over. I decorated my cake pan every night, sometimes two or three times a night (I set aside about a 1/2 hour to an hour) every night. Then scrape the icing off, wash your pan and start over the next day. This is an inexpensive way to practice what you have already learned. Wilton has two good videos, Cake Decorating Basics and How to make Flowers which provide a good visual reference for everything (except fondant) that you learned in the three Wilton classes.
If you want to invest in a good book and you are at the starter stages, I suggest getting Toba Garrett's "professional cake decorating" book. It goes from starter to professional techniques. It is quite pricey, but if you were only going to invest in one book, that's the book I recommend. Ask your local bookstore to order it and look it over before making that kind of an investment, but I think it's well worth it.
And remember, no matter what books you have or where you learned something, the key to getting good at anything is PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!! Hope that helps some! 
I think from Wilton to Lambeth is a huge jump. Lambeth is a very detailed method of piping, and not for a beginner or weak of heart. I would go with something inbetween to start with. Once you have completed your Wilton classes I think you will know what area or style of decorating holds the most interest for you and then you can narrow down the books to those areas. If it is childrens cakes you would probably love Debbie Brown, Lindy Smith, or The Whimsical Bakehouse.
If it is over the top wonky kind of cakes it might be Colette Peters or even Margaret Braun. Gumpaste flowers, Nicholas Lodge, Scott Woolley, or my personal favorite, Alan Dunn. Fondant cakes plus lovely designs, Kerry Vincent. A subscription to American Cake Decorating magazine will give you lots of ideas and step by step tutorials in each issue.
And there couldn't possibly be a question you might have that someone on this forum couldn't answer for you. It is a pretty sharing place, sometimes gets a little wild in discussions but most people behave and then it calms down again. Spend time looking through the gallery, you will be amazed and the variety of styles and the talent here.
What I tell my students is this: for those who can only afford the Wilton classes, make up a batch of decorator icing and flip the cake pan over and decorate it. I don't color the decorator icing, so I can use it over and over. I decorated my cake pan every night, sometimes two or three times a night (I set aside about a 1/2 hour to an hour) every night. Then scrape the icing off, wash your pan and start over the next day. This is an inexpensive way to practice what you have already learned. the key to getting good at anything is PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!! Hope that helps some!
i would have never thought of that! i didn't want to have to bake a cake each time i wanted to practice and i don't have any cake dummies right now...what a great idea 
would you recommend using the cake pan for fondant designs as well?
i've been practicing on the back of my cake pan and it works great! i also used it to practice putting fondant on a cake. it worked well for that too, but once you decorate the fondant on the pan, you can't use it again, so i only did that once after i had practiced putting the fondant on several times.
go to your library and check out as many cake decorating books as you can. sit down with your icing and pan or practice board and go over the techniques in the books. every author does things differently and its helped me to see all the ways to decorate cakes and all the different styles. i've got my first tiered cake due in 2 weeks, so i've been practicing my chosen design every night! i want it to look perfect.
If you're interested in Toba Garrett's new book Proffessional Cake decorating which sells at most places for about $65. I found it on www.cooking.com for $40.00.
Jacqui
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