I just finished the Wilton Fondant and Gumpaste course this week. I had taken the other 3 courses back to back before that and I was really excited about the last course. But I was really really disappointed in it. Don't get me wrong, I had a lot of fun, but that was only because I really adored my instructor, she was truly awesome, and we just had a really fun group of girls in our class. But had that not been the case I would have been really cheesed that I even spent money on that class! I think Wilton could have done a MUCH better job. Heck, they could have spent a day on CC and written a better course from what they learned in that 24hr period.

Am I missing something here or have some of you been disappointed with the new course as well? Maybe my CC addiction has just shown me all the amazing things you can do with fondant and gumpaste and my expectations were too high. I dunno. But I'd love to hear some other opinions.

Anya

i would love to hear if others are dissappointed also because i was thinking about taking this course. I am pretty good with bc but could use some work on fondant techniques!

I felt the same way, I had fun with my instructor and classmates I took courses with before, but it was not what I expected.

You know I hear this alot. I am a WIlton Instructor, and my students are saying the same thing. I have passed it on the "Wilton Officials" a couple of time, and they say it was ment to be a class that anyoe could take or it is a work in progress. So maybe in the next few years they will wise up and give something a little more challenging.

While teaching the class I go over everything in the book, and then teach a thing or two I've picked up. Mostly flowers though. That is after all what most of my students are coming for.

I took the first three classes and thought they were pretty good. Our instructure gave us a copy of the book for the fondant and gumpaste class ahead of time and as I looked through it there was nothing in it that I couldn't teach myself. It was the one class that I was really looking forward to, but I was very disapointed when I found out what it covered. I wish it would have gone into some more of the elaborate stuff. I have learned a lot from CC about fondant and just playing around with it myself.

You know I hear this alot. I am a WIlton Instructor, and my students are saying the same thing. I have passed it on the "Wilton Officials" a couple of time, and they say it was ment to be a class that anyoe could take or it is a work in progress. So maybe in the next few years they will wise up and give something a little more challenging.

While teaching the class I go over everything in the book, and then teach a thing or two I've picked up. Mostly flowers though. That is after all what most of my students are coming for.

My daughter and I took all the Wilton classes and I would do it again, but I was disappointed with the fondant/gumpaste class. I don't know if it was our instructor (who never brought her own stuff) or what was included in the class. We did get all the basics of decorating and if we could have gone to another Wilton instructor we would have, but we live in a rural area and there just aren't any choices. Long story short, if I had to do it over, I would take the classes again because we did get a lot out of them. From this point forward I think it's just practice, practice, practice, and then if you have any questions go to your fellow CC members.

This class is meant as a basics class. Anyone can take it after course 1, so that is why they cover all the fondant information the way they do. It is also meant to be an introduction into gumpaste and not a advance course.

As a WMI, of course I can see things I would change in the class, but then agian I see that with other classes as well. We don't all like the same things, and sometimes my least favorite parts of the classes are my students most favorite parts.

I've taught this class almost every month since Feb and none of my students have said anything to me personally about not liking the class as a whole. Yes, there may be parts they weren't fond of, but over all they have enjoyed the classes, the information, and hopefully the instructor.

At a meeting this summer they told us they are working on another class, but it will be several years, at least, before it is introduced. Maybe when it is it will be more what people 'expected'.

And I do think expectations is why people are not liking the course as much. Many people thought it would be an advance course for fondant and gumpaste. It was never meant to be.

I also think when you are a member of message boards like this or have some of the more advanced books that you do have higher expections. Wilton classes are more geared to the home baker, the mom's who want to do cakes for their kids and the people that can't afford to go spend $300 for a weekend with Nic Lodge.

If you are really intersted in learning more advanced gumpaste, then I would save up your money and invest in a course with one of the 'cake greats'. It will be worth the cost I am sure.

Another thing that many people do not consider is the other side of this coin. Yes this is a new class, which means that even some of the instructors are learning about gumpaste as they go.

Did you know there are over 3,000 active instructors? Wilton just does not have the means to train the ALL WMIs extensively for new courses at the same time. Coming out with an advance gumpaste course will take a little more training than just trail and error and a quick day of training.

If you do have complaints or comments about the new class, be sure to pass on your thoughts to Wilton. But I wouldn't expect them to pull this course and change it now. Hopefully they will use the information for future courses they hope to offer.

I too was disappointed in the class content. I wrote to Wilton to let them know my disappointment. I realize that it was a basic class, but I thought that with it being advertised with gumpaste that more would be shown with that, more flowers.

I hear you that class totally sucked lol. I also took the other 3 classes back to back and the time would fly by in class, but with the fondant class I couldn't stop looking at the clock. Basically b/c at the end of course 3 they teach you the same thing as the entire course 4 except the borders with fondant , which i think anyone could figure out. Maybe if they taught how to make more flowers and figures such as babies, etc. then it might've been a bit better. If i knew it was going to be that bad I could've saved my $$$$.

Ok, yah, this is a rant, sorry

I've said it before and I'll say it again I too was disappointed with the class. I hadn't taken any of the wilton courses (did some others through a local cake store) and had only ever working once with fondant before and never with gumpaste.... and it was a waste of my time, IMHO, because of the instructor and the very basic material. I had an instructor who wasn't in the classroom half the time (gossiping with other staff in the staff room), wasn't willing to help on anything else (one lady asked about gumpaste roses - teacher said she wouldn't show it since it wasn't in the course outline and she didn't have time ) and had no clue there was fondant out there other than Wilton stuff (even homemade!).

Every week the class ended in an hour, if that - that is as long as it took for all of us to finish the stuff. Every one in class had troubles ruffling our carnations and the teacher didn't care to help (knew how, just didn't want to be bothered).... Oh, and we didn't learn how to cover a cake because *most* of the class had covered a cake in fondant before. *sigh*

I know it was aimed for a beginner, but I'm a beginner and still was bored by it. If you are interested, get the book and you can easily teach yourself!

I am however excited that a new Micheals is being built closer to me!! I know that most of the WMIs are really great and I'm hoping one of them is hired there - even after this I'm willing to give them one more shot at a different class.

After taking course 3 I refuse to take another wilton class. We didn't do 1/2 the things in the book and didn't even do a tiered cake. The insturctor (IMO) wasn't qualified to be teaching the course and skipped over anything she didn't want (or maybe didn't know how) to do. Each class was cut short so she could get home to her kids so they were never a full 2 hours. I guess my question is what kind of training do the instructors actually get???

I really enjoyed the class. But, it was the first I took. I am in course 2 right now (1st class last night) and not liking it so much. I have a new instructor and don't like her as well. I also hate the finale cake, Wilton really needs to come up with a new design for that. I am excited to learn all the flowers though. Thank goodness I can take course 3 next month with my old instructor.

I got to look throught the book before signing up, and I opted not to take the class. There was nothing in there that looked interesting enough to spend the time or money.

I too, am a Wilton Method Instructor. I taught the Fondant and Gumpaste Class this month for the first time as I am a fairly new instructor. The folks in my class said they enjoyed the class, but they also said they thought it would be a little more advanced.
When they made their finale cakes, we did not stick to the book cakes. The chose their own designs and we used the techniques from class and a few more things that they learned on their own from other Wilton Books. Their cakes were beautiful.
As the other instructors said, it is a work in progress with Wilton. I believe they will "tweak" this class based on comments from the students as well as instructors.

Gosh every day I read more and more helpful things on CC. This is one of those subjects that is relevant to my "now".

I just signed up for this class a few weeks ago and got a call from the instructor the day before it was supposed to start, telling me it would be delayed a month due to low attendance. I think this was a blessing from what it sounds!

I am going to ask Michaels for credit back and not take this course after all. I did take all 3 other courses and found some of course 2 & 3 to be mediocre, however I had a great instructor who went above and beyond to make it worthwhile to come back every week. She taught me all 3 courses.

Thank you ladies and gents for the advice. I hope I can contribute to our community since I seem to be taking away so much