As you may have noticed, I have started to do a lot more baking since the New Year. I decided that this year, I want to get better at it & try my hand at a lot of different things like birthday cakes, cupcakes, sweets & so on. One of my Christmas presents, that I had arranged, was tickets to cupcake decorating classes with the lovely Sydney at Bella’s Cakes in January. For those who don’t know, Bella’s Cakes were our wedding baker of choice & created an amazing custom dessert table for us on our big day.
The 2 classes were aimed at being a beginner & intermediate cupcake decorating class, with the second class expanding on what was learned in the first. They took place in Little Botanica in the southside. Little Botanica is a lovely little cafe, full of quirky decorations (most of which you can buy) & a real homely feel to it. A perfect setting for a creative class!
The first class focussed on learning how to pipe buttercream onto a cupcake (something I have really struggled with) & as it was near Burn’s night, if you wanted to, attempt to create a thistle decoration. We were each given 6 cupcakes each & there was an array of decorations & equipment. From stampers (to create fondant decorations) to coloured fondant to candy decorations & edible glitter.
I thoroughly enjoyed the first class, allowing me to try out a couple of things such as creating edible decorations that I had not been able to try previously. I also attempted a thistle which I thought was not too bad, even if I do say so myself!
The next class was a couple of weeks later & as some people who were not able to attend the first had come along, it meant a lot of what I had learned in the first class was repeated. It actually didn’t bother me as it was good to get a refresher & there was a new skill to learn – piping a rose design. Of course I jumped straight in & attempted to recreate the rose design. It turns out the trick to this is that the buttercream has to be cold & so my first attempt was a bit of a disaster. After a wee chill in the fridge, I was quite pleased with my second attempt.
In this class, we also had edible paints to use. I struggled with these! My only attempt (which I’m too ashamed to show) ended up with a wish-washy dishwater colour looking swallow as the blue food dye I attempted to use was far too think to use. I’ll admit I was struggling with inspiration for decorating ideas that night but it’s amazing how quickly the time passed & it was soon time to take our cupcakes home.
I’ll admit, these classes have given me the bug & I have invested in some new decorating equipment to help practice the skills I learned. The thing I enjoyed about the classes was the laidback atmosphere & also that Sydney aims to have a theme for each class. The next class naturally being for Valentine’s. Bella’s Cakes have classes lined up for the next couple of months & I would encourage anyone who has an interest in baking to check them out!
Get Stuffed! 