Cake Decoration - Beginners

Cake Decoration - Beginners: This beginners course will give you all the skills, techniques, ideas, tips and confidence needed to create coverings and decorations to make successful novelty and celebration cakes. This course is very practical and will consist mainly of demonstrations by the tutor, followed by an opportunity for you to practice, with as much individual support as necessary, to achieve success. You will have the opportunity to try out a large range of techniques and equipment. You will be learning how to use sugar paste, marzipan, butter-cream, modelling paste, petal paste and royal icing. You will be able to produce decorated cakes and other sugar items in both contemporary and traditional styles.

Weekly Plan
1. Introductions to materials and pastes. Making piping bags. Colouring sugar paste.
2. Cover and crimp a cake card. Piping with royal icing. Plunger blossoms and butterfly.
3. Sugarpaste roses and leaves. Piped embroidery. Complete floral plaque.
4. Petal paste and modelling paste. Basic modelling techniques, effects and tools.
5. Covering a sponge cake with buttercream and sugarpaste. Decorate with floral or novelty items and a simple bass border.
6. Piped bells and birds. Piped and cut out lettering. Piping swirls and rosettes on cupcakes. Quick rose bud and leaf decoration.
7. Moulded Christening baby with garrett frill shawl. Complete baby plaque using items made last week.
8. Carved Novelty cake with jam and butter-cream. Covered in sugarpaste. Coat board in sugarpaste at home.
9. Top decoration ideas for a seasonal themed cake. Cover a fruit cake in marzipan. Shell and snails trail piping.
10. Sugar paste and decorate a fruit cake with a seasonal theme.

This weekly plan can be adapted as necessary after discussion with students
NB: seasonal cakes include Christmas/Winter, Wedding/Summer, Easter/Spring