As I mentioned in my last post, Lane surprised me with decorating classes for Christmas. I could hardly wait to get registered for the class...after a few phone calls, I was informed the next available start date wasn't until the end of MARCH! I can be very inpatient when excited about something, but I signed up for then and got the (numerous!) supplies needed. The classes were held at Cake Crafts on South Broadway, about a 45 minutes drive from my house in traffic. Every Monday. For 12 weeks. The curriculum is from Wilton, the company that sells cake decorating product in most of your everyday art and craft stores like Michaels and Hobby Lobby. But the prize winning mention of why I CHERISHED my Christmas gift - the classes were taught by Helen Sembra, world renowned cake decorator, judge, author, innovator and instructor.
Copied from the Cake Crafts website: Helen Sembra is well known and respected for her vast decorating expertise in the cake decorating industry. She has been teaching cake decorating for 60 years and has taught classes in countries around the world including England, Germany and Japan. She is a national and international judge for Cake Decorating and Culinary Arts shows and was inducted into the International Cake Explorations Societé Hall of Fame.
Let me tell you what, this spunky 80-something year old is seriously the most humorous, talented and accredited little lady I have ever had chance to meet! Her skill, steady hand and knowledge is far above any of the Food Network stars and judges, and other known masters in the cake field! She should be, she basically created the Wilton class plan by TEACHING the student(s) who eventually wrote the Wilton class books! (Side note: In class, Helen sometimes scolded that particular student for bad instruction in the Wilton books, haha! ) Did I mention she is around 300 students shy of having taught 10,000????? Helen had a saying in class she used when someone made a mistake and needed her help - 'Mommy fix!' We just loved that about her, she really wanted everyone to succeed! I am so thankful to have had the pleasure to study under Helen, and I so look forward to continuing classes with her!
I took all 3 of the Wilton classes, which were 'Decorating Basics', 'Flowers and Cake Design', and 'Gum Paste and Fondant'. Additionally, Helen teaches several specialized courses of her own, which I plan to take in the fall (Helen gives herself the much needed summer off). I became good friends with all of the gals over the 12 weeks, as majority of us took back to back classes. It was so much fun having their own baking and decorating experiences to talk about, to get their suggestions about certain recipes and techniques, and of course hear about the inevitable blunders of the cake decorating world :) I really learned so much in such a short period of time, and the quality of it all gave me the confidence I needed to venture out on my own. Good thing I took lots of notes!
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