Cake Decorating- I'm Learning!

Icing/decorating deserts is one area I've struggled with most in the kitchen, along with rolling out pie crust. I spend all this time and energy making sure what I'm baking will turn out delicious, but usually when it comes time to make it look pretty with icing, frosting, etc., I give up after about 3 minutes in, convinced I will never, ever, be able to make my dessert look great. Drizzling frosting on has helped in the past with this (see Gingerbread Cookies), but that method just doesn't work for everything. Besides, I'm trying to improve my skills, right? Right.

Enter Give Me Some Sugar. I'm signed up for a few of those daily deals through my e-mail, and when I saw a cake decorating class on Living Social, I knew I had to take it. You're here to read my recipes, and you deserve the best, right? Right again.

This class really helped me with the basics that I wasn't aware of (who knew there was more involved than a spatula and a cake?) and taught me tricks on how to make it look pretty. I wasn't perfect, but from what Chef Alekka says, it takes years to master cake decorating (understandably). Still, I think I did a pretty good job considering just last week I was a "get that icing to stick no matter what it takes" kind of baker. As I told the girl next to me in class, my cakes were made with love and iced with anger. No longer!

Here are some pics I took, along with some great tips she gave us!

The base cake (which tasted phenomenal!)

The "Crumb layer" is a thin layer of icing applied to help hold in crumbs and allow for an even and consistat layer of frosting. Refridgerate for at least 30 minutes before frosting, after you do this step!

Rosettes

Shells

Reverse Shells

These were my favorite to do!

Frosted and ready for some action...

All done!

I know it isn't perfect, far from it really, but I decorated that! I have to say... I'm super proud of myself and can't wait to make another cake OR make some cupcakes.

At last, I can focus all my rage on pie crust. Hurrah!

Happy Eating!