Why Did you Start?

My mom did some cakes when I was little. I'd play with the tips and bags and try to make things. After I had my first little boy I went to a Michael's grand opening where they had signs about the class starting up. I thought it would be great to get some time by myself and I fell in love with it! Now my boys love it and my oldest says one day he'll be "a world famous chef!"

I went to my stepson's wedding and at the reception, I almost wanted to cry when I saw their cake... but then so did the DIL the bride! she had paid this lady to do her cake and 2 days before the wedding, the lady told her she couldn't do her cake .. she got really angry and told the lady she'd been paid for over 3 months and she'd better have a cake at her wedding or else... well, she got the cake.. which was 3-tier cake with absolutely no support under the tiers.. the cake was leaning so bad, it was about to fall .. they literally diassembled it to cut the cake .. it was terrible!! So, that inspired me to get into cake decorating and I haven't looked back since.. I'm always learning or trying something new .. I am constantly reading to learn new stuff.. my cake room is LOADED with books lol ... My sister and I said for years we wanted to take cake decorating classes so I heard about a leisure learning course being given at a local university so I enrolled us both, then told my sister she was going with me She loved it and we've taken the 3 Wilton courses also... We both do cake decorating.. my sister mainly does it for her office where she works and I do for my office and outside orders too

I STARTED ON AN ICE CREAM CAKE AND DID THAT FOR 14 YEARS. THEN I HAD KIDS AND BAKED MY CAKES FOR FAMILY AND FRIENDS. MY HUSBAND HAS A BIG FAMILY AND I DO FOR THEM WHENEVER IT IS A BIRTHDAY OR ANY OCCASION ANYMORE. I ALSO DO CAKES FOR MY FIREHOUSE WHENEVER THERE IS A PARTY OR BIRTHDAY. I LIKE THE PEACE AND QUIET OF IT WHEN NOBODY IS AROUND. I ENJOY THAT TIME!

I am not good at any thing and believe me i have tried a lot of different hobbies, anyway i wanted to give my mom something nice for her birthday last year that she didnt have. you have to understand that my mom has money. not money like the rest of us, i mean money like most of us dream of hitting the lottery to get. so you have to understand that just buying her a gift was not happening. anyway, i had bought a cake decorating book from Avon and i flipped through it and decided on making a cake for her out of a box cake and canned icing. it came out pretty good so i thought hey maybe i can be good at this. so after i did a few cakes i got brave and made my own cake batter. it has been a year and i finally made my own icing. i have been an addict since 7-7-04. i dont want a 12 step either.

I started out of frustration in that I couldn't find anyone to make a character cake for my son's birthday.
I finally did find someone to make the cake I wanted and then started thinking...... as a little girl my grandmother was always baking and there was me standing on a chair watching and trying to help (yes, licking the beaters when your really little is helping ), my mother always made us kids the cutout type birthday cakes and I was always trying to bake things (my mom can attest to the batter on the curtains and walls in the kitchen after I was done AND I always loved doing crafty things so....with that in mind I knew I could combine my love of baking and creativity to do this and, as they say..............the rest is history, I'm hooked on decorating cakes.

Good topic.

I started about 3 years ago exactly when I got out of a bad relationship with an ex. We were together for awhile and I completely lsot myself and once I was "free" I didn't know what to do. It was just a relief to be able to do things for me and only worry about me.

A friend of mine was going to take a class at a store called Cake Art here and she told me about it and asked me if I wanted to sign up too. So we took it and only one of us kept with it and took more. Guess who?

I can thank that idiot ex for allowing me to find one of my passions.

It's all Tammy's (tcrema) fault!!! I remember her bringing this cake to a birthday party. I was like wow that she made it and it wasn't store bought(This is before any classes).Then my son had his 2nd birthday. Me and my husband made his cake. Made Woody's bed off of Toy Story and put a bunch of characters of TS on it. It turned out pretty cute. A lot of fun. Then me and Tammy started talking about taking the Wilton classes at Michaels. We took all 3(I,II,III) classes together. I had a blast. It was a lot of fun. When I was younger, I never imagined that I would ever be decorating cakes. Now its one of my favorite hobbies. Thanks, Tammy!!!!! Miss ya, girl!!!!!

What a great Topic! I took a class at a local high school about 15 years ago. I really enjoyed it, but never did anything with it. I went on to college and had 3 children. I worked years as a floral designer and then nursing. I was injured on the job about 3 years ago and diognosed last year with rhumatiod athritis. I am now a stay at home Mom and felt like I needed something to do with my time that 'I' enjoyed. My sons birthday was coming up and I had no money for a cake and said heck I am gonna try to do my own. I refuse to pay $30 for a yucky ole' store bought cake. To make a long story short I spent $85 in Micheals and its history from there. I am on Class 2, skipped class one because it was full. I am so amazed at how much I love doing this now, it is also great exercise for my hands. God blessed me with a talent and this time around I am gonna enjoy myself and keep at it!
Denise

i went to culinary arts school and i loved that. after i met my hubbie and i got preg i kind of let things go. when we found out my hubbie was sick and it looked like he wasnt going to be able to work again.. i needed to do something. i cant handle a 9-5 job. i like being by myself and being my own boss.

kind of the funny part. but i was sitting in the bathroom thinking how our life was going down the drain.. it came to me that i should have my own business doing something that i loved. i started doing chocolates and they were a big hit. i hit up ebay and everything bc we have nothing close to us.. then last year during halloween i got asked if i could do cookies. ive never done cookies except chocolate chip or w/e so i figured id give it a try.. i had so much fun doing those i started doing cookies.

i had friends that worked with eric if i did birthday cakes bc the places around here they cost so much..and thats how i got into cakes.. my hubbie is fine now and can go back to work. but i love doing this so ive just kept doing it..

and thats my little story

I work in a bakery when I was 15 and enjoyed it. Then I love to bake and cook, so a few later I took the wilton courses to learn more. I really have been doing more since my daughter was born six years ago. I think one of my best cake is a 3D blues clues cake I did a few months ago for my son's birthday. So, I do it for fun, it is relaxing for me to do all the details. I love when I design a cake. My daughter birthday is in Oct. and she put in what she wants for it, but after she starts school she will probably change her mind.

Have enjoyed reading everybody's posts on this topic. I did the wilton homestudy course almost 30 years ago when the children started coming. I did cakes for them and school needs for about 15-18 years. Then got into decorative painting and am now combining the two of my favorite things to do. No orders yet and don't plan to be an official business due to too many legalities so will do friends and family.

I've always loved baking. Everytime we had a family dinner, I would make a cake, from the box that is and with no decorations...Just plain dessert. As I grew older, I decided I wanted to take an Australian Wedding Cake class that was being offered somewhere in town...But that didn't happen...Instead, I ended up going to college for a BA in Business Admin/Accounting. Years later, while planning my wedding and hiring the baker, I fell inlove with the art, especially rolled fondant. I had a lovely cake, yet it was not what I expected. Not what I dreamed of. So...given that I loved the art, and wanted to give brides the cake of their dreams, 10 years after the conception of the idea, I finally took the Wilton Courses. Sad to say, my "teacher", WAS HORRIBLE... He himself is a good artist, but a bad bad teacher who seemed to be miserable all the time. He was not sharing his knowledge...he was not even correcting us when we were wrong, nor offered commendation when we did something right! He didn't even compliment my Wilton Course grad cake! Anyways...I really focused alot on the fondant class, as I knew that's what I wanted to do. Made a few cakes early that year and then in April took a 1 week class at an institute...Basically went over the basic Wilton the correct way, and learned how to make marzipan fruit and chocolate clay and roses.

And here I am... 1 1/2 yrs after I took that Wilton course. Learning as I go. My name says it all...It's what cake decorating is to me. I go to bed thinking cake, dream cakes, wake up thinking cakes...I see patterns, people, clothes and think cake! I strive to learn on my own as it gives me a sense of achievement. I can say "I learned this on my own" I even tought myself how to bake from scratch...Have yet to learn good piping!

My mom dabbled a bit in cake decorating when I was a kid, probably late grade school age. She had a little thing that looked like a cookie press with tips that she used to do borders and things and she let me play too. We also had a neighbor who decorated cakes. I took 4H cooking and sewing and the neighbor was the 4H leader and she showed us some basic techniques. We all entered a cake in the county fair.

In high school and my early twenties I made cakes for family birthdays and even helped with the cake at my sister's wedding.

I stopped decorating until I took the Wilton fondant class about seven years ago and then stopped again when I started having babies and went to grad school. I just started again a few months ago and am having a great time! I even made my niece's wedding cake a couple of weeks ago.

All of you and this site are better than any class I have ever taken.

My story is a tad similar to Godivas. As far as the dreaming, living sleeping, cake thoughts and designs! I was very artistic as a child and teen , and everyone thought that I would wind up at the very least an art teacher or something similar.

However I married young and began to raise a family and went into real estate. Then some years later , just sick to death of my job. I finally became financially able to just quit and try my hand at this. I cater and also sell wedding dresses and have a small shop, but my true love is cake decorating. I hope to soon phase out the rest of the shop and someday do NOTHING except cakes.And maybe when I am good enough... teach classes. I am completely self taught and have had no formal decorating training.