Anyone Try A Class From A Tv/famous Baker?

Lounge By kaybray3 Updated 20 Jul 2017 , 12:04am by kcp2264

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kaybray3 Posted 19 Jul 2017 , 12:36pm
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I have taken the cupcake decorating class from Buddy Valastro, aka The Cake Boss. It was taught in his warehouse in NJ, about a mile from his Hoboken store. They take you on a small tour and tell you about the building/equipment. While we were looking at the cake storage room (it was HUGE!), we got to see Cousin Frankie working. He was moving the cakes around and seemed to be like a laid-back guy. He was in a separate room so we couldn't talk to him. They said that their ovens can make 96,000 cupcakes and they are all standing ovens that a person can even walk into. They were neat. Our class was held in the same room that they filmed The Next Great Baker and I believe I've seen it on Food Network recently...I believe it's where they film Baker vs. Faker. The class was taught by a couple of girls, they were nice and we got 6 cupcakes, the tools needed (we didn't get to keep them), an apron (we did keep that), fondant and frosting. They taught us how to cover a cupcake in fondant, make a fondant bow, make a flower and how to make the quilting effect on the fondant. The class was neat, definitely more for beginners but I highly enjoyed it. It was neat to see the equipment and the huge amounts of frosting (they keep frosting stored in those super big garbage cans, made food-safe of course). At the end, we got to keep our cupcakes and I bought Buddy's dessert cook book that he signed. I tried almost everything from his bakery (only fellow bakers will know that it's almost required that we try EVERYTHING, gotta compare to our goods!) and his stuff doesn't taste all that great, I do love his lobster tails though, but it was an experience that I will never forget. I got the class on Groupon for $36 and even though I went by myself, a lot of people brought their kids and everyone was very nice.


My ultimate goal is to take a flower class by Ron Ben-Israel (he is my IDOL) but I can't bring myself to spend $1500 on it! I would also love to take a class by Milk Bar but haven't made it their yet. Has anyone ever taken a class that was offered by someone famous? Was it worth the money/time you spent? I would love to know what's out there and maybe find another to-do to add to my wish list!

5 replies
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Coffeelover77 Posted 19 Jul 2017 , 1:23pm
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That sounds really fun! I would love to take a class too, but I haven't really seen any that are reasonably priced. I should check groupon!

An amazing cookie decorator near me does classes but I think it's $200 for the class and that's just too much for me right now.

If I could just pay somebody say, $50 to spend an hour or two teaching me to properly cover a cake in fondant I would love it. I've watched youtube videos but it's just something I struggle with.


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SandraSmiley Posted 19 Jul 2017 , 2:26pm
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@Coffeelover77 ‍ , honestly, I don't think you need a class on how to cover a cake.  Your cakes already look pretty good and I think you just need a little more practice.  

I can't really afford classes with the giants in the industry, however, my flower goddess is Christine Craig in the UK.  She is not famous (but has recently won all the major awards), but her flowers are so real, it is impossible to tell her live, inspiration bloom from her sugar creation!  I have been threatening to sell my husband and cats so I can fly to the UK and study under her!

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kaybray3 Posted 19 Jul 2017 , 4:34pm
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The Cake Boss offers fondant cake classes, check out his website, it lists all of the classes, the dates, the times and the cost. I think the most expensive class I've seen of his was $148 but I can't remember what it was for. I thought the $36 was one heck of a deal! I would've paid that just to have the tour! Hahaha!!

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kakeladi Posted 19 Jul 2017 , 9:04pm
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My class days go W - A - Y back to the 1980-90s and there weren't cake TV stars then :)  But I have taken classes from several 'big names' in the business......like Frances Kuyper; Roland Winbeckler and others who's names I cannot remember right now:)  Frances was known for coming up- with many techniques including the use of the airbrush for caking and for decorating cakes in the window at Knott's Berry Farm back in about the 1960-'70s.  Then she put together a Cake Museum in her home.  I was priviledged to have a couple of cakes featured in that.  The caking world sure lost  great knowledge when she passed on...... 

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kcp2264 Posted 20 Jul 2017 , 12:04am
post #6 of 6

I took a class with James Rosselle years ago.  It was so much fun and really the best part was meeting and networking with others.  James was great and there were several tips and trick he taught us that I use all the time.


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