Hi all!

I am COMPLETELY NEW to the cake making concepts!! Can anyone steer me in the right direction? What reading materials should i get? What pans and tips are a MUST HAVE for any cake maker? I'd like to make my daughter's 3rd birthday cake myself, so i have 2 months to practice I dont even know what MMF is!! or how exactly to do a FBCT? All things i know will come in time. Any advice, tips, or words of wisdom would be appreciated!! Thanks in advance!

Jespooky

I prefer square pans to sheet pans because they look more professional. I love round pans too. Probably start with a 10 in round and 12 in square. I love those sizes. I would try and take a Wilton course at your local hobby lobby or michaels to get started. You can just take the 1st class and learn borders and basics. That would be the first thing to do. hope this helps

Welcome to CC!! I am also pretty new to cake decorating but I love it! And this site is addictive! I took the 3 Wilton classes offered at Michael's and loved them. You get a lot of the basic decorating tips with the class kits.

my first pans were the 10 inch and 12 inch round pans. Then I went to e-bay and just bought tips. I had no idea what tips they were when I bought them. But I am glad that I have a wide variety. Also look in the paper for the 40 percent off coupons for the local craft store. I get Hobby Lobby, Micheals and Jo Anne's coupons in the paper. Then when I need something, I can use the coupon.

WELCOME! This site is very addictive. All I recommend is stay on the site, and you will learn more than any class! I took course 1 and none since. I learned how to smooth cakes, stack them, flavor them, figure out my price guide, make MMF and numerous methods just from here. Oh yeah and cookies too! Good Luck, there are some very amazing and talened people on here ready to share there knowledge!

I myself, always been baking, trying to "perfect" (LOL) decorating... I have a set of 8" round and 6" round. So one day when I get the guts to stack, I can make a smaller cake as I have NO business making a giant cake right now!

Take a Wilton class or a class at a local cake supply store.
Or just pick up some plastic disposable bags, and a few tips to start playing around with, maybe one of the wilton tip sets. You'll get all the basic tips in one case then. You can also buy the Wilton class books on their own without buying the whole class kit if you aren't able to make it to a class. They're pretty helpful, and have practice sheets in the back of each.

And start playing around. Keep playing with icing. On cake boards, so you don't have to keep baking cakes. You can scrape off the cake boards and start over practicing again.

Once you play around a little bit, you'll have a ton of specific questions that can be answered here on CC!

Good luck and have fun!

I agree, start with 6" rounds. You'll get more cakes and have more to practice with, and the smaller size isn't as intimidating.

You could also get a book from one of the big cake decorators. Colette Peters is a good on. Try your library for some books too!

Welcome Jespooky,

I started off with the 9 inch pans. After that I started buying different pan sizes. I took all three of the classes at Michaels. They often offer discounts on either the classes or the kits. Also, at my Michael's, Hobby Lobby, and a place called Garden Ridge if you tell them that you are taking the class then you get a 10% discount for the times that they don't have coupons.

MMF is Marshmallow Fondant. I really like this better than the store bought fondant. Not only for taste but it is much cheaper. The recipe is here at CC. As far as practicing you could also use the cake pan and turn it upside down. That way you don't waste anything but the icing.

There are so many talented people here at CC and everyone is willing to help everyone. So ask away.

Lil

Thank you all so much for the good advice! Just wanted to let you know that i posted a picture of my very first cake! It's a pumpkin cake Thanks again!!

I just statred cake decorating in July. I took the 3 Wilton Courses at my local Michales. They are always running specials and each time you complete a course, they give you $5 off the next course. It doesn't end up costing that much with all of the specials and discounts.

I learned alot from the classes and got the hands on experience I needed. Now I learn everything from CC. There are so many ideas, tips and tricks.

My advice is to take the Wilton courses, you learn a little bit of everything, and keep coming to CC for more ideas and information

everyone here said what I was going to post already but I just wanted to say welcome to cc.