I was asked to do a cake decorating workshop with around thirty-forty to participants. Basically they would watch me decorate a cake and then practice it on their own mini-cakes.

Anyone have any ideas what to do with this? what kind of supplies I would need?

Thanks!

Funny you should post this. I was asked to do the same this April. My demo is for non-cake decorators, so I was thinking of starting from the beginning... a quick over view on types of icing and icing consistency, decorating with buttercream and the most common tips used for boarders, flowers and writing on cakes. I know everyone has a strong interest in fondant now (due to all the cake TV shows), so I was going to focus the second half of the demo on fondant. It is a lot to cover in a short time ( I will have 2 1/2 hours broken into two segments). But if you or anyone else have suggestions, I'm open to all ideas. Thanks.

yikes! I only have forty five minutes to do everything - including having them do a hands on part of it as well.

Chances are they are complete newbies, so instead of trying to pack alot of things in to a small time frame go back to the basics. I'd show them how to ice a cake, and give any tips you have for smoothing it. I'd also show them some basic piping things - stars, dots, zig zags, swirls, and writing. They can use a cookie cutter to imprint a design or designs on the cake and fill it in.

Forty-five mins really isn't long at all, so you have to make use of your time. Is there any way you can get longer? If not I'd time yourself, not just icing, but talking through the icing of the cake, as well as giving some pauses for answering questions. Same thing with the piping techinques and see how long that leaves them to decorate.

Are you supplying all the supplies, are they bringing them or is someone else? If you are that is quite a bit of money you will have tied up in 34 sets of things. You could have them decorate a few cookies in place of the cakes.

Thank you so much! It is for a group of newbies, and the person who asked me to do the group wanted me to show them how to cover a cake in fondant as well! I'm trying to talk her out of that one.

I was thinking that maybe I will get like 15-20 sets of stuff (the organizer is getting everything) and then everyone can share.

Thanks and any more advice/tips (no pun intended) welcome.

I'd tell her there is no way total beginners would be able to cover a cake in fondant and decorate it in under 45 mins. Plus just imagine the space needed and all those supplies.

I'd really push the buttercream cake, and then tell her if everyone really enjoys this maybe ya'll can do it again when there is more time and do something more advanced like fondant.

Like everything else, we have to crawl before we can walk.

I agree. We discussed doing a hands-on class for the people involved but that would (a) take more time and (b) cost a lot, especially with fondant. With just 45 minutes, could you suggest doing just a demo but then send each person home with a small starter kit of decorating bags and tips, so they can practice when they get home? I thought about doing that. It might still be cheaper than buying supplies for both buttercream and fondant, plus the cakes and icings. It adds up quickly, not to mention, then everyone has a lot to carry home afterward. My demo is part of a larger convention, so we decided it would be too much to ask people to carry their cake around with them.

34 people is alot. 34 sets of items, is alot.

If you do fondant you will need 34 sets of mats to roll the fondant out on and 34 sets of rolling pins. Sure you could do half that and pair people. But then you have 17 people standing around doing nothing and it takes twice as long for everyone to do everything. Plus you will have those that are slower than others, so that will put you behind even more.

With buttercream, I'd have her purchase the 100 box of plastic bags, and some basic 3 and 16/18 tips. You wouldn't even have to have couplers. I'd give everyone two bags of different colored icing, one with the 3 and one with the 16/18. The person sitting beside them can have two different colors and if they want to they could share when decorating.

No matter which way you go, she is looking at spending alot of money. I think you really need to give her a list of exactly what all supplies are needed and the cost of them.

I agree with you all. We are supposed to be the experts, but the organizer is like, well try to squeeze it in. And then to top it all off, she called me and asked me if she can borrow some of my tips! This way it will be a bit cheaper...

45 mins sounds like a lot of time and it really isn't.

Maybe you could spell it out for her. 5 mins for intro, 10 mins to prepare bags, 30 mins to ice the cake, opps we are already over the 45 mins, 15 mins to show decorating techinques, and time for them to decorate. That doesn't include the 10 minutes for the late start with those that get their late, or aren't prepared to get started or are talking to their neighbors.

I'd be curious how long it takes the average cake decorate to ice a cake, I'd mutiply that by two for a newbie. Same with fondant, if you can roll out your fondant and cover a small cake in 20 mins, then I'd figure atleast 40 for people that have never handled it.