Hey everyone!! My name is Samantha and I am a total cake newbie (I can bake some things bur never decorated or used any sort of fondant or gum paste type things).

Could anyone send me in the right direction to get started learning about how to use fondant and such! I need cake 101.

Thanks in advance!

HI... welcome to caking and welcome to cake central... here you will find a wide range of cakesters from beginers to advance and pro... and they are all willing to help... I suggest starting with our HOW TO forum and going over everything you need to know about buttercream... a good cake starts with a great foundaton and that is a good start...

hth (hope that helps)
Good Luck!

Hello & welcome to CC!

I would suggest doing searches on youtube, there are hundreds of cake videos with very helpful tutorials (from stacking a cake, to crumb-coating, covering with fondant, etc).

For figure making, here is a compilation of tutorials that you should definitely save:

http://www.artandappetite.com/tutorials/

Good luck and have fun! Even if it takes a lot of practice, it'll all come to you with time

Welcome to Cake Central. Caking is a wonderful hobby/profession. The best part is you can eat your mistakes. The worst thing is you can eat your mistakes. (My waistline will tell you that.) You will quickly find these are very helpful and friendly people. The best place to start is in the forums.

Just a welcome, as you've gotten some great suggestions as where to start!

BTW, where in Tennessee?

Thanks so much everyone!! I am really excited to get started so I will go check out your suggestions. I have A LOT to learn LOL

I was just admiring some of the cakes in the gallery. Y'all are amazing!!

I live in Oak Ridge, TN (right next to Knoxville) Are you in TN?

I'm in Jefferson City...other side of Knoxville.

Welcome Samantha! Have you looked around your area to see if there are any cake decorating classes you could take? I don't know if thats sounds appealing to you, but its not a bad place to start.

Maybe look into community classes or a Wilton class(es) at Hobby Lobby/Michaels

You can always try it without classes as there are plenty of people on here that self-taught, but to get started it might be a lot less stressful taking a class to have someone help you and answer questions you might have.

Tee hee, I did see that warning! That is funny!

I have wanted to learn cake decorating for a LONG time and I finally decided to do it. I am going to try to skip the classes and just try to teach myself. Maybe later I will try the classes, I just have to dive in and see how it goes.

Wow small world!!

Just want to say welcome to cc. You'll love it here.

You might want to consider getting a couple dummy cakes to practice on. Just remember to learn from your mistakes as everyone has made them and thats the way you get better, well that and lots of practice.

Also remember to take pictures of all your cakes along the way. You will be amazed how your cakes progress, even over a short amount of time.

Happy Decorating!!

Ok does anyone know where I can find a good buttercream recipe so I can use the paper towel technique? It has to harden to the touch I think? I don't know.

Thank you!! I got it printed out so I can play around this weekend

Welcome to CC! You will love it here. Everyone is so helpful. After a while, you will find yourself talking about these ladies like you live next door! LOL
Feel free to PM me with any questions.......anytime!

THank you all so much! I am excited to be here. I went and got some supplies today and I am going to try my hand at baking a couple of cakes to practice with tonight LOL I hope I can get the hang of this.

Good luck! Let us know how it goes

Good Luck! Everyone on here is amazing...I swear I learn something new each time i log in! Feel free to PM if you ever have questions!

Have fun!