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Sunday, 6 May 2012

Cupcake Decorating Masterclass!

I've had a really fun day today, decorating cupcakes!  When Jac from Tinned Tomatoes spied this class at 3D Cakes in Edinburgh, being offered on Groupon, she contacted me to see if I wanted to go too.  We finally found a date which suited us and Claire of A Kiss of Cookies joined us too.

It's a good two hours drive to Edinburgh for me,  I had planned on getting the train which is only an hour but with the Bank Holiday, the trains were disrupted by work on the line.  Luckily my SIL lives just outside Edinburgh, so Brian drove up and took his Mum over to see her after dropping me off at Roseburn Terrace.

Our Cupcake decorating tutor was called Sue and she started by telling us about 3D cakes and some of the unusual cakes they have made, like a lion and lioness for a wedding anniversary cake.

Sue started us off with flowerpaste which we learned to roll very thinly and use cutters to cut out butterflies and daisies.


The dusting and decorating came later, but I was surprised how easy it was to make an effective flower with the cutters.  We then moved on to the trickier rose, again helped by a special cutter for the petals.



Mine is slightly dodgy but it looks rose-like enough for a first try.  The leaf is cut from green flower paste,  the veining is part of the cutter.



We left our flowerpaste efforts to dry and moved on to working with fondant.  I love the little parcels with fondant bows and can see that I will be using these quite a lot.




Again I could probably do this better with more practice, but learning the technique by 'show and tell' followed by making them yourself and getting personal attention from Sue, really made the difference.


We also made some chunky hearts, I didn't use mine on my cakes as I had enough other things to use, they also look a bit rude ;-)


Here are few of the decorations before they were dusted and glittered.  I think I like the parcels better without the glitter.




We then learned how to make ladybirds.  They are rather large but that was how we were shown.  I'd like to try making them smaller, now I  know how.




I also cut out some little hearts with some cutters that were at our work stations.


We then made fondant roses, they took a bit of getting the hang of, but I think I may be making more of them. 




Now it was time to dust and glitter, dry brush for dust, so all that had to be done first, then damp edges and dip in glitter.

Here is Claire, working hard making something, look how fast her hands are moving!!!

And here is Jac, relaxing with her finished decorations.

The next step was to pipe the butter cream onto the 12 cupcakes provided for us to decorate and then place our fondant and flowerpaste on top of the swirls.
I haven't actually eaten any of the cupcakes yet, but  they do look pretty and I am definitely going to have a go at making more. 

Many thanks to Jac for organising the day out and to Sue for creating such a relaxed atmosphere.

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18 Comments:

At 6 May 2012 at 21:17 , Anonymous Laura@howtocookgoodfood said...

What a good day out and you get to take home an amazing collection of cakes too!
I do love that dark ink rose the best but actually you did so wel. I did a short course ages ago and really struggled with how intricate cake decorating can be. In fact,it almost put me off!

 
At 6 May 2012 at 21:22 , Blogger Please Do Not Feed The Animals. said...

They look amazing, Janice. What a great idea for you to go to the class together - must have been brilliant fun.
Love your giant ladybirds but your bows and flowers are beautiful too.

 
At 6 May 2012 at 21:24 , Blogger Janice said...

Thanks Laura, everyone managed pretty well, our tutor was very good at helping when asked, which helped a lot.

 
At 6 May 2012 at 21:36 , Blogger Sue said...

What a lovely day out for you Janice. Your decorations look super, I agree the ladybirds are a touch on the large side but your roses are lovely.
Sue x

 
At 6 May 2012 at 22:07 , Anonymous Fiona Maclean said...

lmao I love your 'rude' hearts!!!! what fun...one day I might learn how to decorate cakes!

 
At 6 May 2012 at 22:19 , Blogger Jacqueline Meldrum said...

You are quick of the mark Janice. I am just in the door. They wee boy has been left behind with my parents for the bank holiday. He loved his racing car set. Your cakes look great. It really was fun and a lot of good tips too. And of course, it was lovely to see you again :)

 
At 6 May 2012 at 22:30 , Blogger Caroline said...

They're all really pretty! It sounds like you had a lovely day out together!

 
At 6 May 2012 at 22:56 , Blogger Baking Addict said...

what a fun day out. I'm sure it was worth the journey :) Your decorations look lovely - I like the glittery rose and the flower.

 
At 7 May 2012 at 07:27 , Blogger Unknown said...

I do badly need this kind of teaching! They look fabulous. Your roses are so very pretty!

 
At 7 May 2012 at 11:56 , Anonymous Esther said...

The look so pretty! =D

 
At 7 May 2012 at 11:57 , Blogger Selena Ze Arteest said...

I like all of the decorations! They look cute :)

 
At 7 May 2012 at 19:49 , Anonymous Cakeboule said...

It looks as if you enjoyed the course - the decorations look very good there will be not stoppping you now!

 
At 7 May 2012 at 21:48 , Blogger Traceyr said...

Wow they look beautiful Janice and very professional looking. Glad you said the hearts look rude because that is what I was going to say. A bum on a cupcake not quite the look you were going for! hahaha :)

 
At 7 May 2012 at 22:06 , Blogger Unknown said...

They look great! I love classes like this since they have all the right equipment and tools with icings ready waiting in the right colours - leaving you free to get on with the fun stuff!

 
At 8 May 2012 at 07:58 , Blogger tracy said...

that looks like a fun class janice and your finished cakes look lovely.....lady bugs need a diet though hehe-love their little faces :)

 
At 9 May 2012 at 21:26 , Blogger Kate@whatkatebaked said...

What a fun day out! I'd love to do such a class- I'm sure you must have picked up lots of tips!

 
At 10 May 2012 at 18:16 , Blogger Karen S Booth said...

LOVELY to see Jac and LOVELY to see you fabulous cakes too! What a GREAT course!

 
At 12 May 2012 at 09:02 , Blogger Caroline said...

It all looks really good, and it sounds like you had a great day out together.

 

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I love to read your comments and try to reply when I can. I have had to enable comment moderation due to high levels of spam, so it may take a little time before your comment is visible. Please let me know if you make one of my recipes or if you have any questions I will try to answer them. Janice

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