So, I've made a total of 4 cakes EVER and just for my daughter's birthdays. I decided to try my hand at baking them for a more personal touch instead of buying, which was fun and no pressure since it was just for family.
STUPID me decided to volunteer myself to make a B-day cake for a friend (the under the sea cake on my photos) and I was so nervous and worried and well I don't think the cake turned out that great, but everyone did compliment it. Maybe they were just being nice.
Anyway, after this ordeal I have a few general questions:

1. What is a good, light and moist cake recipe that can be used for everything especially stacking and carving and can easily be adapted to vanilla or chocolate cake or is there even such a recipe? For my friends cake I used a box cake, added a package of pudding and it tasted great, but seemed very heavy and when I moved it to my cake board it cracked and when it was cut into at the party it was VERY CRUMBLY.

2. I used indydebi's BC icing, but I could not get it to smooth nicely. I used Crisco shortening and it crusted nicely, but it looked too grainy. Her recipe said the longer you let it mix, the smoother it will be. How long is longer? I mixed it it for about 5 minutes at the very end after everything was mixed well. Was that too long or not long enough? Should I have crumb coated it and then put another layer over it?

Well, I could probably come up with another 20 or so questions, but I will save those for my class. I plan on taking a Wilton class in August, Lord knows I need it. I look at all the beautiful cakes on here and I am so envious. I really hope to one day be as good as you ladies.

1.- I looooove this recipe it is easy, delicious and you can make any flavor you want with this recipe

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-7445-The-Original-WASC-cake-recipe.html

2.- I looove Indideby's BC but some times that happen to me what I do is that I add a less of the whipp dream or add coffe creamer instead.

Very Important! When you're making the butter cream you want to mix the crisco, vanilla and water for a long time 5 minutes at least. It will get really light and fluffy. Kind of looks like marshmallow fluff. But once you add the powdered sugar, you only want to mix until it is combined. If you over mix after you have added the sugar, it messes up the texture of the icing.

You always want to crumb coat, let it set and then put your final layer of icing on. I use the regular buttercream that is printed in the wilton books. You will learn when you take the wilton class.

Good luck with your cake decorating. I've been doing cakes for 9 years now and I'm still not half as good as a lot of the people on here. Just keep practicing!