I have been wanting to learn the art of cake making for quite sometime now. I have been asked to make a friend a baby shower cake here in a few months and am going to do some test cakes until then but, I'm not sure where to start.

What should I practice first, what kind of cake would be best to try first, icing.. and etc

i'd like to use fondant on my ending product.. so where should i start with that as well!

Let me know guys, thanks!!!

Oh my!

1. Always bake at 325
2. Try the white almond sour cream cake (in the recipes section!)
3. Stay away from Wilton fondant!
4. Try Satin Ice fondant
5. I highly recommend all sugarshack's videos. She has one on fondant! sugaredproductions.com
6. Use a crusting buttercream. I use Buttercream Dream (also in recipes)
7. Use gel food colors to color your icing, not the liquid.
8. Decide on the design (stick with a single tier for now!)
9. Practice, practice, practice! Especially covering a cake with fondant!
10. If you see something you like on here, PM the creator and most will be happy to help!
11. Make sure to level your cakes. Easy way: overfill pans and hold serrated knife flush with sides and trim off the top.
12. Practice smoothing your bc too. Use Viva paper towels or Melvira Method (on home page). If bc isn't smooth, fondant won't be.
13. If you do say a 9" cake that is 4" tall, that is 13 inches, so roll your fondant out to 14 inches at least, to make sure it's big enough to cover the cake.

Thats all I can think of off the top of my head.

thanks for the tips! i will definitely try them all out! if anyone else has tips or suggestions let me know for i'll be practicing lots! =)