I'm sure you all have told your stories a billion times, but I'm new(ish) and I want to know!

My great aunt started taking decorating classes through the local Community College, so I asked her to do my son's birthday cake. I changed his theme from Blues Clues to Baby Einstien and found an ADORABLE caterpillar cake. The lady who made it gave pretty detailed instructions, so I decided I could do it myself. I practiced with some cakes for fathers day (star tip using can frosting LOL) that came out pretty good. Then I found this site and have been hooked ever since. I just started taking the Wilton courses. Next week is the last class of course 1, then I'm taking course 3 because my instructor rotates 2 & 3. I think if I get pretty good and still love it after a few years, when my son starts school I may start taking classes to become a pastry chef.
So what's your story? Do you have any formal training, wilton (or similar) or are you self taught?

My mother had taken me to the PX. It happened to be my birthday. She told me to pick out anything I wanted. After browsing a while, I came upon the biggest cake pan I'd ever seen...it was a 14" round. Beside it was a stack of Wilton cake decorating starter kits complete with a little booklet that could teach anyone how to decorate. Well...that is what I picked out. I went home and eagerly made my own bd cake. I've been playing with icing ever since.
I've gotten all my information from books and the computer up until the beginning of 2005. That's when I finally got to take the Wilton Masters course in Illinois!

I had never decorated a cake before, but a new Michaels opened in my town. They offered the Wilton classes, and i found that i really love it. I took those with my mother-in-law for a reason to escape my house once a week. since then i have been learning all i can on this website, and now look for any opportunity to decorate a cake. There isn't really much in the way of classes other than the Wilton I, II, and III around here, but there are also no real bakeries that do good cakes. I am currently trying to build my portfolio and see what happens.

I agree! CakeCentral is, as the kids say now, "da bomb"

Many moons ago, maybe it was another lifetime, I was a commercial artist, but I hated it because it was so cut-throat. So I went back to school, to become a nurse. I did, however, continue to use art in my life. I scrapbooked back before they had all these special charms and scissors and all the great stuff available now. And I loved baking and making pretty desserts.

I had decorated a few cakes over the years, basic, ordinary stuff. But then a friend invited me join her for a 2-for-1 Wilton Course I. Two people could take the classes for one price, or half price each. Oh MY Gosh! I was in a new world!

I made cakes for dinner parties and then when my son came along, I made cakes for his birthdays. His friends parents would comment on the cakes, and ask if I could do one for them. And so it went. A few at first, and now, almost 20 years later, I do about 20 cakes per month. And now I have a house full of stuff... including about 700 character cake pans, wedding cake pan sets and stands, a gazillion tips and couplers, a website with over 1000 cake pictures, it all just keeps growing.

Several months ago, someone happened onto my website and sent me an email asking how I made a certain cake, mentioning that it was a topic of discussion here on CC. I came to have a look, and now I am one of the inmates in this crazy asylum. I love it here. It has something for everyone interested in cake decorating, and a lot more.

PS: I saw your Wiggles Cake...SO Cute! Good job after only 2 classes!

Btw, my DH is from W. Burlington, IA.

A lady in my ward/church taught us a simple Thursday night cake decorating class. Afterwards she said if anyone else wanted to know more, she would do little classes at her house once a week. We could brink our kids and let them all play together while she teaches us. She used to teach Wilton classes, but decided the money/time wasn't worth is. So, 6-8 weeks later we had been taught course 1-3 and a whole lot of tricks she has picked up along the way. I loved it and then for Christmas my sister gave me her grandmother-in-laws old cake stuff from the 50's (she was a cake decorator) so now I play - and I NEVER charge near enough. I have never charged more than $25, even though that is about what my costs are - or more.

I took a 4-night course after looking for a cake on the internet for my son's 1st birthday. I'm a nurse by trade, but have been a stay-at-home mom for the past 4 years. Friends started seeing some of my cakes and cookies and before I knew it, I had more business than I could handle. I finally quit making for people and for the past several months have done very little. I undercharged people, and I think it caused me to become burned out, even though I only did it for about a year. I haven't posted any pictures in a long time because my scanner has broken. I figure that I might make another go of it when my youngest gets out of toddlerhood.

I know the feeling. I am a reporter/editor/photographer by trade and I have more stress w/cakes an pricing that I ever had in the newspaper business. I also have a toddler who is constantly trying to "help" me with the cakes. I just do cakes for people I know and for fun.

Alot of my problem was doing the cakes for the people I know. I didn't have a problem charging people that I don't know, but most of my business was people that I know. So, alot of times I would charge $15-$25 for a cake or cookies that I had put hours into, and some people don't see a problem paying just that. I felt like I had SUCKER written across my forehead. If I ever go back to doing it, I will definitely have a definite price list, and maybe give friends a 10 or 20 percent discount.

I started at the age of 7 in my grandma's kitchen. I felt like i was in baking boot camp! I've learned a few tricks on my own throughout the years. Now I work a job that I hate and was decided to go back to school so I could get a better one. As I was trying to decided what courses to take,I realize this isn't for me. Baking is my passion!! It makes me happy and I just can't see myself doing anything else,so I'm going to culinary school in the fall. I start my first Wilton class on Aug 1(can't wait). I found this website a couple of weeks ago and I've been on it every single day!! The first thing I do at 4:30am is run to my computer to see what I missed overnight. To the person who started CC,thank you so much. My bf is jealous because I spend more time with CC than I do with him.

I went with my sister-in-law when she ordered her wedding cake and decided "this doesn't look so hard!" So I bought a Wilton book and some bags and tips and taught myself. I've never taken a class, but I've taught some girls for 4H (and they all got multiple blue ribbons I might add! ). I was doing sheet & shaped cakes for my office and family, starting out with "you buy the stuff and I'll make the cake". Then office workers started ordering birthday cakes. Everytime there was a pitch-in at work, I'd take a cake, which generated more interest and orders. I was so excited when friends of my parents asked me to make the wedding cake for their son. They were getting married in a rose garden so they wanted lots of roses on the cake. Good lord, I had to teach myself how to make roses asap but it worked!

I never thought of it as a business, until my husband wanted to buy a new truck and our income was just short of qualifying for the loan. The loan guy asked if there was any other income anywhere because we were so close. I shrugged my shoulders and said "well I make cakes on the side" and I just handed him my booking calendar. He ran the calculator and said the magic words: "you've built quite a business here!" So I obtained my sales tax license (wow! the doors THAT little piece of paper opens for ya!) and off I went. (BTW, we got the truck loan.....and he got the truck in the divorce! hahahaha!)

I love telling my story! When my husband and I were planning our wedding, we knew who would make our cake, a woman who had made wedding cakes for his family through the years. When I called her, she told me that her husband, who had always helped her with the cakes, had recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer's and now she wasn't doing many cakes.

I couldn't find anyone else in their rural community to make my cake. His aunt had done a few cakes, and she offered me the use of her pans and stuff. So I decided to spend my money on the Wilton classes, and I took course 1 & 3. I hit it off with a girl in class. Then, when we ran into her at Hobby Lobby, it turned out that she knew my dh from college, and we had mutual friends. She is now one of my best friends, and we talk cakes all the time. We dream of having our own shop someday.

I do cakes for family and friends, and I never charge enough. I usually charge what it would cost at Walmart or the grocery store. But I also try something new on every cake, like a recipe or a technique, so I always warn them ahead of time. I probably do 1-2 cakes a month. I would like to do one a week.

My story isn't very exciting lol. I started cake decorating because I wanted to make birthday cakes for my kids and I wanted them to look better than the still in the pan ones my Mom had always made lol. No offense to her at least she made them and they did taste good, just take em out of the pan lol. I bought the huaggable bear pan, some pastry bags and a few tips and away I went. It turned out so cute and I had a blast! I did a few more and then my Mom got me the big Wilton tackle box full of stuff for my birthday. I have taken the Wilton beginners course and loved it! I would LOVE to take the advanced classes one day or even take college courses but until then I do my learning here at CC. I am like a sponge here I have absorbed so much information, Thank you Thank you Thank you!!! By the time my 1 year old goes to school I may not need classes thanks to CC lol.

Hi,

Good topic.

I've always liked being in the kitchen and when I was much younger I used to do all the baking in the house. When I had the kids I decided to give their birthday cakes a bash. The first two cakes I did turned out okay and then with a little practice they got better. My DH looked at the cakes and then tasted them and then commented that they were better than the cakes from the local bakery.... looks wise and taste. He then suggested I try doing this for other people on a part time basis and 10 months later, here I am. I really enjoy it though sometimes I really wonder why I do this but most of the time it's great. It does get a little difficult at times with the girls being 5 and 3 and working a full time job but then DH is really helpful and understands fully and helps out a lot of the times.

I went to a wedding where the bride was almost in tears over her cake... first, the cake decorator wanted to cancel the cake 2 days before the wedding... the bride insisted she do the cake as she was paid $200 for it and would not accept a refund (small cake) ... the cake wasn't complicated; however it wasn't doweled and was leaning and just looked awful!!! I thought to myself, "ya know, you always wanted to learn this and you would never, ever do something like this to someone", so I found a leisure learning course at a local university and took that .. then I found some Wilton classes and took all three courses .. I've also taken some candy, petit fours and fondant classes .. to me, you learn something different in these classes that may make it easier or something you didn't even know.. so whenever a class is offered, I take it!! so that's the story of my decorating background... never to make a bride cry and do the cake of her dreams to the best of my ability

Mine is a boring story. My kids decided I can do it and order all these birthday cakes that they want. I love baking and decided to give it a try. Bake only for my family and am self taught.

ntertayneme~ I really like your story. You are making the world a better place...one cake at a time!


Growning up my mom always did our cakes and she was self taught. When I was about 18, my mom decided she wanted to take the Wilton classes and asked me to take them with her. The teacher we had was not very engaging and I just wasn't interested. Well last christmas my mom decided she wanted to take the classes again and wanted me to do the same. Our new teacher was the best and I totally fell in love with cake decorating. I would also love to go to school to become a pastry chef. I have to wait for all my kids to be in school too!

This is a neat topic!

My birthday was in March, and my DH was in a funk as to what to get me. He took me out to dinner, and presented me with the sales slip and item list of what I needed for course 1, along with a gift card so I could get what I needed. He said I am getting harder to buy for, and since I LOVE to cook and bake (especially at Christmas time) he thought this would be 'right up my alley". I am waaayyyy tooo addicted to this site. I show him and tell him literally every single day something I have seen, read, or learned on here. He just laughs at me. I have a really small kitchen, so needless to say I am strapped for space, but I try to do a cake every week, either for my family, or friends. I would LOVE to do this full time, but....I don't think I am "there" yet. I have alot of practice to do, and alot of other techniques that I have to attempt, but I'll get there one day soon.

And now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go attend another CCA meeting.

I learned my stuff at home, I can still remember my father putting together gingerbread houses in Germany. My mom was the one who did the cakes and stuff but she isn't good at building anything so my dad would have to help with that and my dad loves to make candy.
When I was about 10 I got a bunch of tips and stuff for my birthday and a couple years later my parents and us 3 oldest made all the easter candy at night after the little ones had gone to bed.
When I was a teenager my grandma would make me do gingerbread houses and stuff and I hated it because I had better things to do and I had to make tons of them.
When I had my own kids I refused to buy a grocery store cake and played with icing and stuff. About 2 years ago I decided that I liked decorating again so I started buying shaped pans and playing with them. Then my youngest decided that he wanted a 3d dump truck so I made my first carved cake.

This is fun! My interest started when I was very young and I saw a show on "Reading Rainbow" and Mike's Amazing Cakes was featured. They made a pig cake and a race car cake and possibly something else. They were carving cakes & decorating & even did some airbrushing!! I was AMAZED to say the least!!!

Years later, as a teenager, I took the Wilton courses. I was pretty stressed w/ school & trying to apply for college and everything and I didn't enjoy them much. This past year, I have taken all 3 classes again as a "private student' b/c no one else showed up for the class or they quit after the first class. This was great for me!!!

I happened across CC and have fallen in love. While I still don't seem to have a lot of time, I love to decorate and do so whenever I can. Right now I'm working on a My Little Pony Cake by Debbie Brown - not going as well as I had hoped - but I'm learning. My dream is to also go to pastry school - the absolute best possible scenario would be if I could go to the French Culinary Institute in New York - Ron Ben Israel teaches there sometimes & Jacques Torres is the dean!!!! But realistically I'm looking at a local school - Sullivan University, which is also supposed to be good - but so expensive!

I may take another class in October at a local university - an "adult education" class.... I hope it will be good. I'm so eager to learn and would LOVE to go to the Wilton school too - also expensive.... <sigh>. Oh well - for now I'll get all my tips from CC! LOVE YOU GUYS!

Thanks for replying! I love everyones stories!!
It's so neat to have a passion and be able to share it with so many other (VERY talented) people.