(Apron from Ikea, "Etty". $5.99)
So for the past four weeks i have spent every Wednesday at my local Michael's craft store along with my dear friend Lupe, elbow deep in frosting.
I signed up because i wanted to learn the basics - not so much for cakes but for cupcakes. I kinda just randomly started baking/decorating one day so i have no solid foundation. I figured this would be an easy, fun and cheap way to do it.
I have really mixed feelings about my whole experience. I did feel like I learned things. Stuff I had no idea about. My biggest issue was the instructor, so it's really hard to separate what was "bad" -- the course itself or the teacher.
The teacher was a nice lady. I'm sure that under different circumstances i wouldn't have disliked her so much. But i hated her as a teacher. She was disorganized, a little ditzy. Talked way too much. Didn't explain things as well as she should have. All in all, she didn't teach well. In the end though, we had the book. And time to learn by trial and error.
What i did learn for sure though, is that i don't want to bake cakes. They are boring. Cupcakes is where it's at.
I also learned that i will never use Crisco ever. Ever. Butter all the way. The smell of the frosting that we used in class for two weeks (that was mainly Crisco) still lingers in my memory, and the greasy residue it leaves behind hasn't been properly washed out of my frosting tips. I want that stuff no where near my insides.
Real stuff i learned was a bit about frosting cakes, tips to use, flowers etc. Course 2 is on flowers and basketweaving. lol. I have no interest in that. Course 3 is fondant. I've always had mixed, if not negative feelings on that medium though. Seems like cheating? In any case, i don't think i will be taking that either since it is taught by the same teacher.
Last night was our "Graduation" class, and our final project was to bake a cake and then decorate it in class. It was fun enough, but i wasn't all the happy with how my cake came out. Or my frosting for that matter. It's not lopsided. At least, the cake is not. Just the decorative borders. It started slipping because the frosting was at first too hard, then too soft.
At least now i have my little certificate though! I can charge all my friends at a premium now ;) What's a good 20% increase on free?
xoxo,
Anna
P.S. In case you are wondering, what's next then? Real Baking. I hope to start experimenting in my small little kitchen soon. I have used the excuse that the kitchen is too small for much too long. I don't see my kitchen magically growing anytime soon. I'll just have to deal with it. I already kind of started, i made marshmallow frosting two weekends ago that came out pretty awesome. And then butter cream frosting for my class that was horrible and my mom refused to eat because it was much too sugary lol. But hey it's a start!
