Cincinnati Nesties
daves_sweetpea
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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If you took a Wilton cake class...
Can you give me an idea of your costs beyond the registration fee?
As for the cakes, do you use mixes, from scratch, or is it your choice?
Did you do the class alone or with a bud? What about the other people in the class?
Lastly, do they spend an entire class on the freaky clowns or is that just a little bit of one class? B/c I do not like clowns!!
Re: If you took a Wilton cake class...
Costs depend on what you already have. You have to buy a kit and book for the class as well, and they run around $30 in the stores. You can sometimes find them cheaper online. If you're thinking decorating might be something you would like, go ahead and buy the tool kit. Get it from Michaels and use the 50% off coupon you get from signing up for email. Get the 60 (or so) one, the 110 isn't worth it. You will also have some random costs, like icing (you bring your own), pans you may not have, and some other little things you need.
Bring your own cake, it doesn't matter what kind. Although you want to stay away from anything moist while you're getting the hang of it or you get a crumby cake.
I did the class alone. Some other girls came alone, some came together, one was mother/daughter. By the end of it, I had made friends with some of the other ladies, so I'm glad I went that way. If I had brought a friend, I don't think I would have been as open to talking. The clown thing is only done in level one, a four week class. HTH!
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I think I spent close to $200 between the tools, cake, and frosting. It was expensive and really time consuming. It would take a whole afternoon to bake the cake, let it cool and then frost it for class. Not to mention my kitchen looked like powdered sugar exploded. No matter how hard I tried it was a disaster.
Fun class but decide how much time you want to commit.
I just took the first two courses at Michael's in November and December. I really enjoyed the classes and I can't wait for my schedule to open up again so I can take the last two.
1. Before I took the first course I didn't know how much I would like it, so I decided to be minimalist about it. I only bought the kit (when I signed up for the class they printed me off a 40% off coupon so I used that to save money) which was about $15 after the coupon. The class books are included in the cost of the class and the instructor handed them out at the first class. You do have to purchase some supplies for the cakes and the icing which are pricey. I think for the baking supplies from Micheal's I spent about $40 this included things like icing color, meringue powder, piping gel, etc. Once I got started I decided I really liked decorating and bought more supplies (a box to organize all my tools, etc.). It can get pricey if you're like me and buy everything, but a lot of girls in my class bought the bare bones and didn't spend more than $60. You do have buy the ingredients for the icing and cakes and that can add up. I think I made 10 batches of icing for the first course! But I also messed up my consistency and had to remake a couple of batches.
2. For the classes I used cake mix for all of my cakes. Our instructor suggested it. Her reasoning was that the class was about decorating the cakes, not about the best homemade recipe. And since you have to prep all of your icings before class using a mix for the cake gives you more time to make all the icing.
3. I took the class alone. I'm pretty shy so this was a big step for me but I'm really glad that I did it. I got to know the other ladies in the class and it was fun talking to everyone during the classes.
4. The clowns are just one part of one class in the first course. In fact you don't even have to make clowns unless you want to. I didn't!
I took class 1 and 2 and lie PP I am just waiting for my schedule to allow for me to take 3 and 4. Let me start off by saying it's worth every penny!!
The class is pretty cheap at Michaels and the kit is under $20 as long as you use a coupon. As far as additional items, really all you HAVE to buy is some meringue powder, bags, and 1 food coloring. That is all I bought other than the ingredients for the cake and icing but as long as you don't go and buy top of the line everything without using coupons etc.. you can definately do the first 2 classes for less than $100 including the kit and the course fee. I don't think I spent more than $150-$200 and I have bought a TON of extras!! The only suggestion I have is to buy extra couplers, I can never have enough of them. Other than that, it's just a preference. You may even have some things in your kitchen now that will help you.
I took course 1 with my cousin, but then she ditched me for class 2 so I did that alone. In my class there weren't many groups so I didn't feel out of place at all.
I use cake mixes. I personally use Pillsbury for .88 cents a box. Plus I like the taste the best.
The clowns are only a very small part of course 1. You learn to make them during one class and they aren't bad. If you are absolutely against the clowns then I would suggest just not buying the little clown heads and only making the bodies. You could always borrow one of the heads from someone else just to stick in for a minute to see how yours looks. My cousin and I did this because we both thought the clowns were a bit stupid so we just shared a pack of clown heads ha.
The kitchen being a mess is TOTALLY true!! And it is very time consuming, but I really enjoyed it. I always made my cakes the night before so they could just cool overnight, plus it helps to not consume the entire day!
I took my classes at the Michael's across from the Fairfield Commons mall. I really liked the instructor there.
A trick I learned to keeping the mess in the kitchen down is to put a kitchen towel over my mixer while making the icing. It keeps the sugar from flying every which way. Of course this trick only works if you have a stand mixer!