My Thoughts on the Wilton Cake Decorating Class
Hey everyone! When I posted on Facebook that I had signed up for the Wilton cake decorating class, I got ton of comments from people who wanted me to let them know what I thought of it. I just finished the 4 week class (taken at my local JoAnn Fabric store), and so I thought I would write a blog post giving you my thoughts. Hopefully this is helpful for anyone who is thinking about signing up for the class in the future. In short, I loved it. I had a ton of fun, made some friends, and even decorated a pretty good cake, if I do say so myself. 
Will this class immediately turn you into a master cake decorator? No. Especially if you start out as bad as I was! But you will definitely learn a lot, and probably have a lot of fun doing it. I thought I’d break my experience down week by week, including pictures of my decorating experiments. Please don’t laugh. *All pictures are from my ipad, so not the best quality!
Week 1: This was basically an introductory week. We learned things like how to bake a great cake, how to fill a piping bag, how to use couplers, and we practiced some basic stars. Our instructor put icing on a cake so quickly and smoothly that I will forever be impressed with her. I managed to come to class completely unprepared (seriously – I showed up without all of the things I was supposed to bring. Except cookies, I remembered the cookie), but thankfully I already knew my way around a piping bag, so I didn’t feel too behind. I didn’t take any pictures this week, sorry! But here is a picture of a cute little duck that I learned how to make in week 2
Week 2: This is where things got fun. We had to bring an undecorated cake, plus a ton of icing with us to class. We learned a few new techniques, and then set to decorating our cakes. I have to say, I am really bad about getting my icing on smooth. It always looks distinctly homemade. Regardless, at the end, I didn’t think my cake was that bad. It was a little lopsided, and very simple, but not too terrible. I wish I had taken a picture of my practice flowers before I started decorating the cake! I was cracking up at myself – they looked like little people with huge bellies! And before you think I’m being too hard on myself, I have to tell you that my classmates agreed. Oh well, at least we got a good laugh out of it.
My Week 2 Cake
Week 3: Things got a little more complicated this week. We started learning flowers. The drop flower and rosette are my favorites because they are the easiest. The pompom flower is my second favorite because it’s pretty. The shaggy mum is my least favorite because mine looked awful. What can I say, I like what I’m good at. All in all, it was a ton of fun to learn these new flowers, and not nearly as difficult as I expected. We also learned how to do swirls on top of a cupcake – finally something where I felt like I knew what I was doing! I’m in love with the idea of making flowers in advance, letting them dry, and transferring them on top of cupcakes. Seriously, how cute is that picture with the blue flower on top of the pink cupcake?? New cupcake idea for my cupake business right there!
Week 4: Easily the most intimidating week. We learned roses! Roses are hard, guys. My first one didn’t look so bad and then they progressively got worse. I think I’m going to practice these, because if you do them right, they look awesome. We also had to bring a cake to class that was already iced. We spent half the class decorating our cakes. I did a little better this week, but once again kept things really simple. I know my limits. No fancy flowers, just a few drop flowers and rosettes. Oh, and writing! It wasn’t anyone’s birthday, but writing is something I’m actually not bad at, so I wrote a nice little happy birthday message to nobody.
All in all, I loved this class. It was so nice having a small class (4 people!) because we got plenty of individual help, and we all got to talk and laugh at ourselves and become friends. And actually, we all signed up for the next Wilton class, so that tells you that everyone enjoyed it. I’ll leave you with some pictures of the cakes my classmates decorated – they are so good! There are only 2 cakes because the other girl wasn’t quite done with her cake yet. Let me know if you have any questions about the class in the comments, and I’ll do my best to answer them.
Cakes from my classmates - much better than mine!
Welcome! I'm Megan and it's my hope that here you'll find food that has been made with love and recipes that are shared with joy. Thanks for stopping by! 
Ashley @ Wishes and Dishes - I love this! The homemade crust sounds and looks delicious.
Linda - Oh, this looks so yummy! I like the fact that I can make my own c...
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JulieD — August 13, 2012 @ 8:25 am
I took all four Wilton courses almost five years ago. Loved them!! My teacher gave me the best advice, keep pushing yourself & constantly challenge yourself. I constantly tried new things every cake I made. I don’t do a lot of cakes now but loved the experience I gained.
Your cakes look awesome!! And ummm, I never mastered the buttercream rose but I could do a royal icing Victorian rose!
Lindsay {life and kitchen} — August 13, 2012 @ 9:40 am
That looks like so much fun! The monkey cake is too cute. I’ll have to find a class in my area.
Kim H — August 13, 2012 @ 10:09 am
As a former Wilton teacher, the best advice I would give you is to practice, practice, practice! Lots of students expect to spend a couple of weeks going to these classes and come out able to recreate what they see on websites and in professional bakeries, that’s just not reasonable. Have fun and learn as you go.
megan replied: — August 14th, 2012 @ 7:41 am
Thanks for the advice – I definitely could use some practice! I did some flowers the other day and they are just sitting on my counter looking pretty
Ashley @ Wishes and Dishes — August 13, 2012 @ 1:06 pm
This is a great post! I always thought about taking a class…thank you
Tina — August 13, 2012 @ 2:19 pm
I took all of the Wilton Classes and LOVED them! At that time, I lived in Illinois not too far from the Wilton Headquarters and I was planning on taking the Masters Class that they offer. I have a side business of making/selling cakes for children’s birthdays. I’m not good enough for a wedding, but kids cakes…ABSOLUTELY!
Erin @ Dinners, Dishes and Desserts — August 13, 2012 @ 4:50 pm
My husband took these classes 7 years ago. I am not enough of a perfectionist to make the decorations look good – so I baked the cake, and made the frosting he went to the classes. He enjoyed them too!
Julie @ Table for Two — August 13, 2012 @ 8:39 pm
I’m so glad you did a review on this! I’ve been eyeing these classes at my Michael’s and I haven’t taken the plunge. I just hope my classes are as small as yours are because i definitely don’t like being intimidated by others! What beautiful creations you made!!
Victoria — August 13, 2012 @ 9:13 pm
I’ve always been curious about this class (& have always wanted to enroll in it too!). Thanks so much for sharing your experience! & by the way, your cakes and flowers all look fantastic!
SnoWhite @ Finding Joy in My Kitchen — August 13, 2012 @ 10:12 pm
Looks like you had fun! I have always been envious of cake decorators — when Target used to have a cake department, I spent lots of time watching them decorate cakes — roses especially! So, kudos to you for giving it a go!
Rachel @ Baked by Rachel — August 14, 2012 @ 4:04 pm
So fun! I’ve known a few people who have taken these classes and they all loved them. I love your roses – SO pretty and that final cake on the right is so cool.
dressnl — August 30, 2012 @ 5:22 am
What beautiful creations you made!!
Kathy — November 6, 2012 @ 1:23 pm
I am on my second round of classes. I took them over 2 years ago and didn’t keep up my skills. I am now going into our 3rd class which is cupcakes. We didn’t do cookies or cupcakes the first time I took classes and also, we didn’t a wedding type cake with the fondant, which turned out very nice. I like the classes as well and am looking forward to learning more techniques. The bottom line is to practice, practice, practice, which I didn’t do the first time around. Have fun!
megan replied: — November 7th, 2012 @ 5:19 pm
Thanks so much for the comment – you’re so right on the practicing! I actually just started course 4 – gum paste and fondant flowers. So far it’s pretty fun!
catherine — February 14, 2013 @ 2:47 pm
Hi Megan,
My 14 year old daughter just began this course. Thank you so much for sharing your experience. I notice in the course one book, that you are supposed to buy a whole lot of Wilton supplies. Most of this was undisclosed when we signed up. The syllabus had just a few things. What do we truly need besides what is in the course 1 student kit? We don’t plan to be professional bakers. Is the leveler, turntable, and other stuff absolutely necessary or can she learn the basic tip using techniques without them? Thank you!
megan replied: — February 15th, 2013 @ 6:07 am
Hi Catherine, thanks for the comment. My teacher was really great and talked us through what we actually needed for the class. She let us borrow things like the leveler, etc if we wanted to use them. I did not buy any extra Wilton products for course 1, but I did already have a cake carrier, which was helpful for transporting cakes to and from class. You can use a knife instead of a leveler, and just turn your cake on a cake board instead of a turntable, so none of that stuff is necessary. To be honest, the Wilton products make it a lot easier, but you can do without. I’d check with your teacher too – mine was so nice and always let us use her stuff to level our cakes, extra tips, etc. Good luck!
Lizzy — April 2, 2013 @ 3:42 am
I also did Course Two in Ghana for FOUR DAYS, but didn’t enjoyed it bcos l’m a slow learner n everything was in a a rush for me, before l’ll start understanding it we were about to complete, so l just enjoy the basket piping alone.
priyanka — April 25, 2013 @ 2:09 am
hi ,
iam priyanka n would like to join in wilton course.1 will they tell about how to make cakes? or we have to learn on our own way?did u learn how to make buttercream ?
megan replied: — April 26th, 2013 @ 9:31 am
They talk a little about cakes, but it’s mostly about icing and decorating. Hope that helps!
naina — May 29, 2013 @ 7:56 am
Hi, I am too planning to do Wilton Course 1 coming month, heard that there are some Cake supplies they would ask us to buy can you tell me what are the other cake supplies we will need to buy for each course?
Your cake looks lovely specially monkey
Sarah — June 2, 2013 @ 10:06 pm
I signed up for the second course in cake decorating. Do I need to bring a cake to the first class?
Kristen — June 9, 2013 @ 8:37 pm
I have a 9 year old daughter who is dying to take this class. They said 14 or above only. Do you think she could handle this or not?
Cyn — June 11, 2013 @ 4:02 pm
You did a good job! I became a Wilton Instructor a couple of years ago, after taking the three classes (the 4th wasn’t out yet) and I love it! The classes are fun, you do make friends, and it’s so possible for people who say they aren’t creative, or artistic to learn to make beautiful things!! I advise everyone interested to look up their local Michael’s Crafts (I teach at two Michael’s in northeast CT), JoAnn Fabrics, and Hobby Lobby for classes. They start new ones every month, and there are four great classes, plus a number of interesting workshops like Tall Cakes, Cupcakes, Gingerbread houses. Wilton had done a great job creating classes that are so easy to learn, and teach!
Karene — June 16, 2013 @ 10:20 am
I am so glad that you posted this blog:) A friend and I want to take classes at a local art store and weren’t sure what we were in for. I love your cupcake flowers~looks professional!