I am teaching a class to a youth group of 16 yr old girls tomarrow. I need some ideas of what I could show them. I only have 1 hour so I don't have much time. What is something that they could learn and have something to take home and show for it? Thanks for any suggestions. Keli

HI Keli,

I learned to decorate when I was 11....but over the course of several weeks. I would say to show them the shell border, and maybe rosettes. those are both easy to learn. Maybe also show how to smooth icing, that's a big thing that most people don't know.

HTH,
Angela

I would use cupcakes since you have so little time...

show them a shell border have them work on a cookie sheet.... and stars and maybe drop flowers... Then have them use those to make their cupcake.

Cupcakes are a great idea, show them some borders and drop flowers...

This is what I did with young girls 10, 11, 12. I went ahead and iced mini cakes (because of the time limitation) and had different colors of fondant mixed and ready to roll out; with various cutters for them to play with. I also had buttercream ready to go in bags with the shell border tip; twist ties to keep the icing from coming out the top. They tried shells and star borders, and had a good time making various designs with the fondant cut outs.

Unfortunately, 1 hour is not a lot of time to get much in; so my best advice is to have as much done ahead of time so that they have time to play with the techniques; which is the part they will really enjoy. (Unless you plan on having more lessons!)

I think Drop flowersand leaves As those are pretty easy and look so nice.
And even though the shell border is usefull I always have had a hard time with it. Thats just my two cents though. I don't know if any one else has that problem.

My daughter ( 16) picked up the leaves very quickly. So I have to agree with the drop flowers and leaves. She had a hard time with the boarders.

Good luck with the class.

Yeah, the shell border was hard for my girls but they were more successful doing star borders. That's why I think the fondant is so fun if it's just a one time deal. It provides an easy way to be creative without a lot of frustration in a short period of time.