Wilton's Newest Convert

I thought that while battling a vicious case of hiccups (do you know how hard it is to type with the hiccups?) and catching up on the Britney Spears episode of Glee, I would fill you in on the Wilton cake decorating class I took. A few months back (okay, it was in Spring), my good friend the Frugal Homemaker asked if I would be interested in taking the class. Umm...let me think about it...YEAH!!! So, after an hour long phone call later, I found out that we'd already missed the first class. So disappointed. When I found out that they were doing the classes at Hobby Lobby (a.k.a. my second home) for 50% off, I squealed like a 12 year old at a Beiber concert.
Here's why:

Go ahead. Laugh. I've gotten over the trauma already. That was my daughter's 2nd birthday cake and it was an enormous disappointment. To me. She's 2. She didn't care. And, if you can't tell, that's the Wonder Pets logo done in fondant. The W in this case stands for wonky. I am so determined that her 3rd birthday cake will be nothing less than spectacular. Hence the need for the class.

So, once I had finished all the squealing, I got on the phone to my Mom and the Frugal Homemaker and got them on board. And I am soooo glad we did it. I had a blast! I learned tons and girls' night out was desperately needed by all of us.

This was the first cute cake I've ever done. I am so proud of it.

Getting ready for class each week was a bit of work. I'm finally over my butter cream frosting obsession and I'm pretty sure my lungs are coated with confectioner's sugar but it was totally worth it. For our final project we were told to design a two layer cake. Here's what I came up with:

And here's a few of the steps I took to get there:

A plain white cake. Turned out a bit dry.

A forest of toothpicks.

Much mixing had to be done.

Crumb coated dry white cake.

The final layer of frosting.

A million and one leaves. And, yes, my hand was cramping.

My Autumn is Awesome cake!

Top view of my shaggy mums...and more leaves.

I am so looking forward to taking the flowers class in January. In the meantime, I have 24 cupcakes to bake and frost for Saturday's picnic. Stay tuned for that excitement!