Cake Decorating Class

On a whim I signed up to take a cake decorating class at Michael's. I was going there to get some cute St. Patrick's Day cupcake liners for my carbomb cupcakes I was planning to make, while I was there they had signs up about the classes they offer there. I'd always been interested in taking these classes but never got around to signing up for them. I was also hoping I'd have someone to go with me, if only I lived closer to Bridget we could've gone together. When I found out the class was only $22.50 I decided to go for it and sign up. It was being offered on Monday nights which is perfect for me since I usually don't have anything and don't like the classes at the gym on Monday nights.

Last Monday was the first of the four classes. The first class was only "lecture" and informational about what we'd be learning and we watched the instructor demonstrate some of the techniques. For the remaining weeks we'd be doing hands on work. During the first class they went over the list of supplies we'd be needing for the class. Now, I know why the class was so cheap, they get you on all the supplies you need. I chose to go the basic minimum route and even that added up quickly. There was an ultimate cake decorating set that was like $200 (less a 40% off coupon but I refrained on that aside from the cost, where the heck would I keep that thing and how often would I use it). Once I purchased my kit, a turntable, cake circles, food color (I still need more of those), meringue powder, piping gel and who knows what else I was somewhat set to go. I think I still need to get more supplies when I go tonight. All of that alone added up to another $44. That also doesn't include the supermarket bill, you will need a boatload of crisco, butter, confectioner sugar and other materials. 

In preparation of the class you also need to make and bring your own icing and cakes to work with. This morning I proceeded to prepare a cake (I made the Guinness Chocolate Cake, since I'm going to decorate my cake for St. Patricks Day, thought it was only fitting). Then you need two types of icing, and filling for the layer cake. Although having a kitchen aid mixer is not a requirement I am very happy I had one to make all this icing with, with beating all the crisco, butter and sugar it would have been quite an arm workout to use the hand mixer. All in all, I'd say this took me at least an hour to prepare all my materials. Plus my cake seems to have collapsed in and went flat in the middle, I hope it's ok. But I have almost all my materials ready to go for class tonight, now let's see how my cake decorating turns out!