I am a pastry chef at a kind of chi-chi restaurant. I make a wedding cake virtually every week that we charge beaucoup bucks for. I literally can't pipe a thing. Not a shell border, not a daisy...bumpkiss.

Luckily the Martha-stewarty style is very clean right now. and I'm really good with fondant.

I've been looking for a cake decorating class that's not Wilton, because, honestly, I will never need to make a clown cake or bunny cake or a baby bootie cake, but I would like to be able to work with buttercream flowers, a few borders etc..

Any ideas where to learn ? I am in the triangle in NC .

[moderator edited to remove solicitation]

Too bad you weren't closer to Maine. I teach an 8-week class for our local adult education. Don't know how much a Wilton class is or how long they last (there have never been any within a 3 hour radius of me), but my class is only $30 for the 8 weeks. Since I have a hard time selling fondant here, the class is based around buttercream and we do a lot of flowers.

Actually, the Wilton classes might fit your needs. I am getting ready to finish Course 2 and this is some of what I have learned so far in BC:

Flowers - roses, victorian roses, drop flowers, sweet pea and mum.
Borders - star, shell, reverse shell, and shell with sweet pea, and will be learning the rope border next week.

Also, will be doing a basketweave.

So, it might be worth looking into!!

Good luck!!!

I am in the middle of course 3, skipped course 1 because it is basically shells and stars, but course 2 is all buttercream flowers and borders! Course 3 is fondant flowers, buttercream (or royal) flowers and more borders. My instructor has tought us some things that aren't even in the book!

Sounds to me like what you are looking for is what is taught in course 1 by Wilton and course 2. Course 1 teaches buttercream borders and flowers and course 2 teaches royal icing flowers and tons of them. It also teaches more borders and basketweave.
Good Luck finding the right class for you.

If you are a visual learner and can handle just looking at stuff there are some basic directions on the wilton site on how to do stuff like that.

I have to agree that what you're looking to learn is all taught in the Wilton I,II,III classes. The classes are cheap and readily available. You'll learn borders, flowers, and what certain tips can do.

Just because you do a clown cake for class doesn't mean that you'll ever do one in real life, but the fact is, that cake teaches you how to pipe even pressure stars, pull out stars, etc.--over half of learning is learning how to adapt a technique to a new situation. The cakes and flowers that you do in II are directly useful for wedding cakes.

I think these classes are a wonderful use of both time and $. Nothing better than learning to do it right, especially for little $s.

Rae