Wilton Course I, Class 3

We had to bake another cake and bring in more frosting for the third class. Class 3 is when you're supposed to make the dreaded clown cake, but since my instructor is so lax, nobody actually ended up doing it. Everyone ended up working with the drop flowers and shell border we learned instead.

During this class, we practiced figure piping. We made a few heads, faces, etc. and then we did the clown bodies. We also practiced grapes (there is a grapes and vines cake pictured in the Course I book and she was showing us how to do it).

We also spent a good deal of time on the Wilton rose. Last week, she taught us how to build the base with icing, and how to do the center petal. This week, we moved on and learned how to do the 3-petal, 5-petal, and 7-petal layers, completing the rose. The first few I did were a joke, but I did get the hang of it pretty quickly. I was so proud of myself, I actually brought one of my roses home to show my husband. :) Next class, we're actually using roses on our cakes, so we'll certainly be doing more of them.

We learned and practiced the shell border. For some reason, this gave me some trouble. But after a little extra one-on-one with the instructor, I finally figured it out (I think). I ended up using it as a border around my Class 3 cake, and I think it turned out pretty well for a beginner.

Then we learned how to do a couple different kinds of drop flowers. The drop flowers on my cake actually ended up being a cross between the two we learned. Whoops. I didn't realize I was doing the swirl flowers wrong until I got home later and was looking more closely at the book. Oh well.

Anyway, here are a few pictures of my finished Class 3 cake. I apologize in advance for the crappy quality (the color and lighting is off), but it was dark by the time I got home and had opportunities to take pictures of it:


Overall, I wasn't impressed with my finished result. Certainly better than cakes I've made prior to the class, but nothing to write home about. But then I brought the cake to work (had to get it out of the house!) and everyone raved about how fantastic it was, so maybe I'm too critical. Or they're good liars.

I'm most unhappy with the smoothness of my icing. I have had major issues with my first two cakes, with the icing cracking on the cake. I asked my instructor about it at class--she thinks I may be moving around my cake too much, or the cake is "settling" after I ice it.

I am trying a few different methods for my Class 4 cake, so we'll see how it goes. I baked the cake last night and am waiting until tonight to ice it. Hopefully the cake will be all settled by then. I'm also going to do a "hot water spatula" thing that my instructor suggested.

I have my final Course I class tomorrow!