Wilton Cake Decorating - Course 3, Class 1

Course 3 is fondant and tiered cakes, and I'm excited to learn how to work with fondant! To start the class tonight, we reviewed all of the basic techniques we learned in Course 1 (the icing recipe, filling the bags, etc.). Since we didn't decorate a cake tonight, I don't have pictures of the decorating techniques we learned, but I'll post links to the Wilton website that shows them.

We started by learning Cornelli Lace and Sotas. Both are pretty random, but with the Lace you sort of make your own pattern/design. Sotas are the easiest thing to do...just squeeze the decorating bag and however the icing falls is your design! We also learned the Bead Border (essentially a border of dots), Brush Embroidery (using a brush to pull in some of the piped icing), Drop Strings (single, multiple, and overlapping -- which are all much easier than they look!), Ruffle Border (I found this difficult to get the spacing for the "ruffles" just right), and Ruffle Garland (same as the border, but draped around the cake like the drop strings).

We also learned the first step of the Fondant Rose. Our instructor showed us how and we are supposed to make a whole bunch ahead of time so that we can make roses for our tiered cake on the final night of class. It is basically just a teardrop shaped ball of fondant stuck on top of a toothpick.

Next week we are combining Classes 2 & 3 because our instructor has another commitment on the night we are supposed to have our 3rd class. So we will be bringing an 8" square cake already thinly iced (we're going to cover it with fondant), as well as Royal Icing to make some fancier flowers.