What I Learned From Buttercream 101

Saturday morning I took a Buttercream 101 cake decorating class with Carol. It was a lot of fun and I learned a lot, but I wish that I wouldn't have been COMPLETELY new to decorating. Sure, I had baked and cake and frosted it before, but I had never "decorated" one. Saturday morning was the first time that I had ever layered cakes, done a crumb coat, iced the cake and decorated it with bags, tips and colored buttercream icing.
Friday night I baked my cakes and put them in the freezer like our instructor, Kathy, told us to do. I gathered all of my supplies, put them in a bag, and started to really get excited about class the next morning.

These are my cakes that I baked Friday afternoon. So far, so good...

Class started at 10:30 Saturday morning, and Carol and I had front row seats, so I was super excited that I would have a great view and be able to follow along fairly easily. First, Kathy had us level our cakes with a serrated bread knife...this is where my problems began. It didn't take long, huh? haha. As I slowly pushed the first cake into the knife like she instructed us to do, my cake began to crumble....on all sides. This was not good!! The second cake followed suit of course. So, my "level" cakes were not so level, but I worked with what I had. We couldn't really figure out why my cakes did that. She thought that maybe I mixed the batter for too long and dried it out, but the cake was really moist...who knows?? Either way I had a crumbly mess.

I slapped some icing on one of cakes and stacked the second on top. Then, I applied my crumb coat and iced my lopsided cake. As we moved on to learning how to use the bags and tips, I realized that this was definitely just a practice cake for me. I didn't wind up getting to do a lot of decorating. I practiced a lot on my wax paper that I brought to class, and I tried a few techniques on the cake. This is what I brought home...

My sad little cake, it's even crooked on the plate. LOL. And those little things on the cake are flowers, I just didnt' have enough icing left to add the stems at the end.

All in all, I am glad that I went to the class. I had a great time with Carol, and I learned techniques that I can practice at home. I also learned that I should have done this a few times at home before I went to class. Oh well, now I know. I really can't wait to try another buttercream cake now that I know what to do. Hopefully each one will get better and better. I will keep you posted!!