Wilton Course Three Completed!

During the month of April I took the third Wilton cake decorating course.  This course is all about gum paste and fondant.  Well mostly gum paste. I learned a lot.  I like to watch those cooking shows like Ace of Cakes or Cake Boss and I always wanted to know how they made their flowers.  They looked so real!  Well now I know how to make some of them and have the knowledge to learn how to make others.  This class was really exciting for me.

I have only used fondant a couple of times and had never used gum paste.  Usually I just ice the cake and do some piping.  After this course I feel that I can expand my cake decorating!  Here are some of the techniques and flowers I learned.

 

Let me just say, buying the course three kit was such a good investment for me.  I already had most of the tools, but there were a couple I didn’t have.  Like the ribbon cutter.  Now I have one, along with some hard to find shape/cookie cutters!

My favorite of these roses is the most right rose.  I like how open it is.  I think it is the most real looking flower of the bunch.  The only problem I had with using gum paste is that you can’t eat it.  I know a lot of people who like to eat the decorations on their cake.  It’s a bit awkward I think to tell someone they can’t eat the flowers on the cake, when most commercial cakes you can eat the flowers (usually they are icing).

I really liked how my carnations came out.  They were so pretty!  Too bad I didn’t have something to put them on.  The lily came out pretty well too, but I need to practice pulling the edges.  I think I made the edges a little to thin and they didn’t really ripple like I had hoped.

So I learned how to make Mums.  What the heck are Mums?  I don’t think I have ever seen them in real life.  I struggled a bit with these flowers because I kept snapping the stick (spaghetti can be so fragile).  I did like how they came out, but I am not sure I will ever actually use this flower on a cake.

I loved the daisies!  I really got the hang of pulling the gum paste to make the edges curl up and to indent the petals making them look more real.  Plus these flowers were the most simple to complete out of all the flowers we learned.  I just feel in love with these daisies!  That is why I used them on my final cake! ;P

Here is my Wilton course three master piece!  I love how it turned out.  Especially since I came up with a rough plan right before class.  Google can be your best friend.  I looked up other daisy cakes and found inspiration for this cake.  I really liked how it was all Spring feeling, just as the weather was turning nice here.  I also think that this cake would make a great mother’s day cake, which you know is on May 12th.  It’s just around the corner!  I’m glad I took this course and know to make time for the fourth course: advanced gum paste flowers!  I can’t wait to learn more!