Firstly, I want to thank everybody on this website. I'm still nowhere close to how good everyone decorates but you guys have helped me tremendously!
I'm a high school student living in Saudi Arabia and have recently discovered my love for cake decorating. I found out that they offer Wilton courses here. They cost 700 SR (~$200) per course! My brother is willing to pay but I just want to be sure if it's really worth it. I've already taught myself to do the basketweave, various borders, roses, and fondant.
Should I go for it?

I have discovered that almost everything you can learn through the wilton classes you can look up on youtube and learn yourself. It seems like you already have most of the basics down. I think the only class that I am debating on taking is the gumpaste course so I can learn how to do my flowers a little better.

Ohh and I forgot to mention. The shop offering the courses has a rule that you can't take course 4 without taking course 1,2, & 3 . So that would cost me around $800!

classes are great for many reasons. I would seriously love to take more. I have however found that the web is a greater source of learning for a far less cost. Edna has awesome tutorials on flowers. The have some on this site as well. I would recommend that you invest your time on the web, library books, etc. 3 classes that you have to pay for that you don't need is a bit much. Perhaps you can talk with the instructor and get the rule bent for you as you have prior knowledge?

I saw your first cake and it's very nice! If you can do that without going to classes, I would say spend the money on getting yourself the best books you can find, on watching lots of videos on YouTube. Bypass the Wilton courses. You can do it on your own just by reading a lot and practicing a lot. Most of the masters never took Wilton classes. Round up a list of the best cake decorating blogs and tutorials and take it from there.

Almost everything I learned in the Wilton Courses I don't even use, I learned just about everything from here and youtube like others. I actually recommend just going to sugared productions.com and ordering her dvd's then you can learn in the comfort of your own home. I know there are other videos out there too for flowers as well.
HTH

I guess you all are right. I would rather invest in books and DVDs. Thanks for your opinion! Any suggestions for a good book?

The Planet Cake book. They're in Australia. It's great.

It's called just "Planet Cake"

http://theplanetcakeapprentice.blogspot.com/

http://planetcakeupdate.blogspot.com/

There are a few blogs that are my favorite:

www.cakejournal.com
http://sugarsweetcakesandtreats.blogspot.com/
http://sweetopia.net/

http://www.pastryna.com/
(free professional pastry magazines, there's also cake decorating if you look inside)

Yes to Sharon Zambito DVDs. They're wonderful.

And then for beautiful designs and inspiration any of the Peggy Porschen books and May Clee-Cadman from Maisie Fantaisie (her books are great by the way).

http://www.maisiefantaisie.co.uk/

If you think you will miss something by not taking the Wilton classes, go online and buy the instructional books and they aren't that expensive.

If it's $25, I say take the course.
At $200? No, sorry it isn't worth that. Even if you had my wonderful instructor Lily.

It seems to me by the time you invest in courses you don't have any $$ left to invest in "playthings": tips, stencils, extruders, molds, etc. I, personally, have gotten more help from the knowledgable people on this website than anything. Your cakes look like you already have talent on your side so IMHO I would go for it without the beginning classes. Good luck!

I'm with everyone else. If it was inexpensive like it is here take it. But for $200 bucks, I'd invest in good tools. Make yourself a little piggy bank fund for supplies and buy things that are worth it: Good pans, a set of tips, a good spatula, a good stand alone mixer, etc. Probably in that order!

Okay... I just looked at the blogs mentioned and saved a few as my favorites. I know it is off topic but a LOT of blogs have tutorials on them. I even have some on mine.

And the tutorials are really helpful. I learned how to do a pillow cake from an online tutorial, I learned how to make a loopy bow through a tutorial, how to sculpt figures, how to cover a cake in fondant, how to make icing without air bubbles, how to make hibiscus, icing roses, etc. etc. etc.


So I'd like to know what your favorite cake/cookie blogs are? Can you guys share? I love browsing through them for inspiration, ideas, tutorials, and because I like pretty pictures of cakes.

Of course we can share. I have a few, but they're all over the place since I'm interested in a million things!

Here's a random list. One of these days I'll get it all together.

Thank you so much for the encouragement and suggestions!
So far everything I have learned is from tutorials around the net. I found youtube to be very helpful as well as cakejournal.com But I learned the most from the one and only Cake Central! It's almost unbelievable how helpful the forums are!
And now I'm going to get myself some books and cake toys! So excited!