I guess I could do the usual decorations for the Course 1 final, but thought it might be cool to put a twist on it. I am so new to decorating that I have no ideas. The only thing that I have done so far to the cake is emboss the frosting (see picture). Tonight is the class where we do the final decorations and I want to WOW my co-workers tomorrow when I bring the cake in for them to devour.

This is my mom's chocolate cake recipe (my co-workers requested it). It is a 10" double layer cake with raspberry filling (from ladycakes website) and Buttercream Dream icing.

Thanks for any ideas!

Your cake looks great so far - very smooth, nice icing job. If I remember correctly, the wilton 1 finale cake is very pretty. I think your co-workers will be impressed.

Is there one decorating skill that you have mastered? The rose buds or rose? I would suggest going with what you are comfortable with. Already it looks like a beautiful cake.

Ok, so I took the Wilton courses about 4 years ago, and at that time, you could not diverge from the final cake. It was sweet peas and roses with stems and a message.

Has that changed? Have they finally entered the 21st century, and now allow you to design your own cake?

I would border the top and bottom with rosebuds, stems (5 or 6 tip) and leaves, then put a cluster of 3 roses with leaves in the center. Skip the sweetpeas and the message.

Theresa

I think it depends on the instructor. I was able to do whatever design I wanted for my final cake, but have heard others that had to do the "final" cake.

Thanks Everyone!!

There were two cakes we could choose from. The cover and one on page such and such. It didn't need to be exact. We all made variations. The only things different from the cover cake that I did is I embossed the icing, used different color roses, used a few more roses, added edible glitter to the top and left off the dots. Here is my final:



See, I'm not that creative and since the site was down yesterday, I couldn't get back on to see your suggestions. BTW, we learned how to do the sweetpeas last night and didn't learn to do a rose bud yet. I stuck with the rose and drop flowers since I felt comfortable with those.

You did an amazing job on the cake! Every detail is just done wonderfully!!

Do you mind telling me how you did the embossing?? Your icing is also very very smooth!

In our courses we are able to deviate somewhat from what is in the book and are usually given a choice between which cake we would like to do! I don't think I would enjoy having to make everything exactly like it appears in the book sine i like incorporating my own "style" (or whatever it is... LOL).

Katherine -
I sent you a PM. The embossing was done with a paper towel. I used a fondant smoother to make the impression. Put the design of the towel on your frosting and lightly press down. I did back and forth and circular motions. If you don't like the way it came out, just get a different piece of paper towel with the design, lay that side against the icing and smooth out for a really smooth BC icing. That was my favorite part. I loved doing something so simple that looks like it took hours to do...hehehehe.

Great job, Trixy! I like how you used two different greens for the leaves- good attention to detail. BTW- I went to your paper mache site- LOVE the lion!!

trixyinaz your twist on the cake is very pretty i like that you stuck to the techniques that you learned in class for 4 weeks i am a wilton teacher and enjoy teaching students like you i tell the students for each class to bring in whatever flavor cake and icing they want but we as a class will work on the same techniques each weeks some people know some about cake decorating when they come in but i still have them go at the class pace so not to intimidate their peers i see it alot most listen once in a while for the last class they will do something all together that we have not even learned and you sould see the other students faces and comments i really feel embarrassed for the whole bit but i don,t say a thing like i said trixyinaz keep on putting a twist to your cake but try to do what the teacher suggests we do discuss this at the teachers meetings and love students like you some people don,t need to be a student but they should be teaching instead

Great job on your cake! I love the embossed frosting and how smart to use a paper towel!! You did great.

Thank you Sarah and Icer. I had so much fun taking this class. I went in with minimal decorating experience and no flower making experience. I'd say everyone in the class had equal experience, which made it nice.

Our instructor was great. She is the one who showed us how to do the embossing. I really wanted to try it and since it was something I learned in class, I had to apply it to my final cake.

Icer - I know what you mean. I am a perfectionist so I had to master the smoothing of the BC and try out the embossing trick she showed us. While it felt great to have the smoothest best iced cake in the class (okay, I'm an over acheiver, too), I felt like the others felt disappointed in their cakes b/c they weren't as smooth as mine. Someone even said something like, you've really been doing this for a long time, huh? I really felt bad since my experience wasn't anymore than theirs. They both ended up adding more frosting to their cakes (they didn't have enough on and you could see cake through their icing) and the instructor helped them smooth it out. They were pleased and their cakes turned out wonderful too. We all stuck with the techniques we were taught in Course 1. We are all moving on to Course II together so it will be fun!

hey cakepro i posted this message to trixyinaz and it looks like she understood everything i said i felt that way anyway with the nice message she sent back i didn,t know this was a typing class i see messages all the time with misspelled words lots of wrong things but i have never tried to hurt anyones feelings about it i never said i made the students do their cakes just alike or by the book and you know i didn,t say that i am sorry you have such anger in you today maybe tomorrow will be a better day for you

I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, icer101.

You're right ~ this isn't a typing class, but this is a forum where we speak to others through our writing. More people will read what you have to say if you take the time to separate your sentences with punctuation, because most readers will pass over long rambling run-together paragraphs of thought, as it takes 3x longer to make sense of what that person is saying. I'm sure you have many wonderful things to say and it would be a shame if people passed over your posts because they are so difficult to understand.

Thanks Cakepro! And to think I was hesitant on the colors that I made. At first I hated the hot pink color, but now it has grown on me...LOL

Icer - I don't think Cakepro was referring to you when she was speaking bout not having her students copy the book exactly. I think she was answering this person's question:

Punctuation would have made reading your post easier, but I did get through it. Don't take her comment as her trying to be mean. I'm on a lot of boards and when someone doesn't use punctuation, people usually comment on it b/c it takes way longer to read and can be frustrating. You had some really good comments and things to say, which is what Cakepro was trying to get at. Most people just skip over non punctuated posts. I know I do when I'm reading a thread, but will take the time to read them if it is in response to one of my threads (I don't want anyone to feel left out). I think she realizes you have great things to add to the conversation and just want people to read your posts. That's all.

Thanks again for all your wonderful comments! You have no idea how much they put a smile on my face yesterday. Okay, off to shower and get ready for work! Have a GREAT day all!

How do you get the design on the cake? Its beautiful

Brenda - Thank you! The design was simple. Are you sitting down?

drum roll......

It's a paper towel. I iced the cake and let it crust over slightly. Then I took the side of the paper towel that was imprinted and put it against the buttercream. I took a fondant smoother and rubbed the top of the paper towel to smooth out the icing. Then I flipped the paper towel over (the embossed side down) and took the fondant smoother and rubbed it on the BC icing again. When you pull back the paper towel, it will leave behind the paper towel design.

Super super easy!

lol, are you kidding???

Thanks, I'll have to give that a try. I'll have to find pretty Paper towels, lol.

Brenda - I need to proof my stuff better. Take the side that doesn't have the design and lay it on the icing first to give the icing a smooth finish. Then flip it over with the design against the icing and smooth again. Sorry, I didn't finish my contraction in my initial reponse.