A Newbie Needs To Learn Fast!! Questions, New Job
Decorating By committed2cake Updated 16 Jan 2007 , 7:42pm by committed2cake
Oh wow I have an opportunity to upgrade at my job by getting to a closer store better hours etc. Iam a backery counter clerk partime at one of the groc store chains, love my job (retired young and got bored plus the benefits come in handy) I have been introduced to cake decorating by our decorator and can cover a cake and do basic things, mastered roses, leaves very basic stuff. Anyway, I have my eye on a closer store with morning hours and I am just in the talking stage now. BUT....they want me one day per week to fill in for the decorator when she is off. In short, I have about 2 months to learn as MUCH as Possible!! If and when I interview, I want to represent (without fibbing) that I can do quite a bit, as it will up my value as a potential employee.
So heres the questions....what do you suggest I study, read etc to expedite this? Any videos, books, sites etc? I have tips bags etc I got on ebay, more like commercial stuff. I dont want them to know at work that I may plan to leave until I give notice,,, its a delema. I am practicing at home with some library books but when I got on this site there was so much terminology I did not understand, its just a bigger field than I had predicted. The basics are easy for me, I have tole painted for years and luckily find it to be quite similar like brush strokes so I thnk I can get ahead of the game. That creative side of me is just antsy. But do I have time to get going before I have to make a move? I would sure appreciate any feedback one can give. I am relentless when I want to do something!! Sorry I am so wordy but this is my story ...and Im stickin to it. No pun kids. Thanks robyn
I would suggest taking a Wilton course. They teach the basics. The most important thing to learn for grocery stores is the shell border and the rose. They most likely do roses differnt though. Look at Wiltons site on how to pipe differnt things theres alot of info there.
Good luck!
I think the best thing you could do is jump right in. Maybe try making a cake each week to practice a new tecnique. Look up stuff that you think is neat and just try to do it. Everyone on here is WONDERFUL about helping w/ question anytime and even giving advice, explaining, etc. Take pics of everything you do too. Good luck and make sure to keep us updated!
I would have to agree with psurrette and advise you to take the Wilton Courses.
sounds like you are naturally talented. don't worry. look at the cakes the grocery store sells and see if you can do those decorations. if you don't have time for the wilton classes i suggest going to there web site go to techniques and practice them. you will do fine go for it good luck
each store has different tecniques and they should be willing to teach you as long as you can base ice do boarders and make roses the rest is up to them Maybe you can watch and sit in at the store your in now that might be your best bet and you will have a good idea of how they decorate it takes time and if I were you just let them know you are still learning and could they help so you can learn the way they do it. When I was hired a decorator at Costco I had never done cakes the way they do and they new that so I was trained which is what they expect to do so you do it there way. I retired from Costco in June 06.
Welcome to the club.... LOL... I work in a grocery store bakery as well, and i'm in my tenth year. Let's see, I was a PT decorater, a FT dec, a FT Bakery manager, pt dec, ft dec, pt dec and again, I'm a Full time Dec. All for the same company. Each time I thought I had my ducks in a row to go out on my own, the ducks flew away or were cooked for dinner. 
Anyway......
If you can base ice and write on a cake, we will hire you. If ya can cut and board a cake, we promote you to manager... LOL.... It's that simple. But, you have to be fast, and I mean, FAST. I have to hold an average of 80 cakes a day for the cases, and 60 for orders. That's Daily, not weekly. My personal best on standard sheet cakes was 108 in 8 hours, and my personal best on holiday crap was 
260. (I hate easter egg cakes. ) Now, that's not to say that each and every dec. has to do what I do. For instance, we have a fancy pastry case that gets topped off daily, one of these and one of those and so on... and I despise that particular part of the bakery. My coworker has no problem with that-- she likes that I can stand in one spot and make 4 cakes at a time over and over again, for she can't stand that.... you see, we complement each other very well. On my days off, she only has to do the orders, maybe a few for the cases, and on her days off, heck... I hardly have to touch the gourmet case, for she sets it up for me! I am at the busiest store in the area, and I wouldn't have it any other way! I was at a store once PT.... where they actually said to me "Stop decorating, and go wrap or something, you've made enough for the week already." 
I also work in a grocery store bakery as a decorator. I was thrown head first into full time decorating with no training!! One of the first cakes I had to do was a Tweety Bird. I found I had to practice my writing because I was very very very bad. My use of time was another issue because I also had to pump out massive amounts of cake each day. I always always (and this is great thing to say at interviews) remember that each cake is special to the customer, whether it be a standard round birthday cake for a 5 year old or a 50th Wedding Anniversary Cake. Apply that principal to each cake and they will get the attention they deserve. Supermarkets are all about profit. Sell yourself let them know your time management and artistic skills are a benefit to their company. We dont have Wiltons courses here (I wish 
) but I found I very quickly learnt the tricks of the trade and I also learnt to listen to constructive critism and advice. Hope this helps
Yes, definitely take the Wilton courses. Many, many professional decorators started their careers by taking these courses. They are a great teaching program for beginners. If you do not have a course program available to you, they sell videos in the Wilton Website online store.
I know that store bakeries here offer cakes with seasonal themes, daisies, chrysanthemums, poinsettias. Drop flowers.
Do they offer character cakes? Do they have a Kopykake projector? If not then you should learn fozen buttercream transfers and airbrushing. There is an FBCT tutorial in the Articles section here at CC. Piping gel transfers. Sports themes. Lots of writing on store cakes, so you want to get some font templates and practice. Piped stars for American Flags during summer holidays. Figure piping, babies, etc. - there are some good tutorials for these on the Wilton website. Do they do doll cakes? Maybe you could convince them to offer them. They're not hard to do, but you need to know ruffle borders, and perhaps cornelli lace and sotas.
Cake tiers and stacking for wedding cakes.
Anyway, that's what most of the superstore bakeries offer around here. Hope it helps.
Theresa
I was also a bakery manager for a grocery store, then and even now from what I can see most of what is done is very standard and boring. What I mean by that is standard flowers, a few types of borders, some air-brushing, edible images and kit cakes, nothing real elaborate on wedding cakes. Because most of the grocery bakeries are more interested in volume you do not have time to do very intricate and refined methods. Many do not do fondant, just buttercream or whipped icing. I will say that the biggest thing you need to work on is speed. They need alot of back stock in layer cakes and sheet cakes, they need to keep the front cases full and also do requested orders from customers. Learn to do the roses on sticks, to me it is faster then the nail method, which is Wiltons way to do the roses. You probably will not have to do too much in Royal, if any. Learn to ice 2 layer and sheet cakes. Have some good borders, most of what I see now, they use larger tips to create larger borders, takes less time. Find a way to do some air-brushing. The edible images are easy and quick. You will probably not have to do any baking, as most of the cakes come in frozen, you will not have to wrap boards as most of the places already have either waxed boards, or you just put on what they call a glassine doilly on the board, or they have the catering tray with a lid. Just a little advice, buy good shoes, as you will be on your feet alot. You will probably not have to make icing, all that comes in already done. Good Luck.
Thanks so much for all the replys, and fast at that. I guess I am already halfway there!! Piping easy and fast, roses done on sticks, yes much easier. Leaves, additional flowers. I guess I am just intimidated from so much verbage I dont understand but just reading your answers helps alot. OUr cake decorator flat hauls...so I know speed is important. But I just want to be able to fill in, I love my counter job as I have so much excess energy and was so bored being retired . I dont want them to know I plan on going to a closer store, but it may be to my advantage to somehow let the decorator know I want to learn.
FYI its so much like painting its unreal,,,,poinsettias sunflowers....just like brushstrokes.
Thanks again for all the help, I will learn here and off to the Wilton site I go....
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