I was just thinking the other day, what lead everyone here to start cake decorating? Did you previously do arty/design stuff that helped you just try cake decorating which you liked as another outlet or did you just start from scratch because one day you made a cake and decided you like doing it as a hobby and wanted to learn?

Or any other stories you may have

For my daughters 4th birthday we wanted a Cinderella cake and none of the bakeries in our town would make one for us, so I decided to do one myself. The cake turned out great, I received lots of compliments so I decided to try other cakes for family. I have really enjoyed it, so now I am doing it to make some cash on the side.

I hated my wedding cake because the cake lady (sorry if anyone finds that term offensive, I find it endearing) didn't do what I asked for. I started thinking...I could have done better than that!! Hubby and I are still talking about that gross, ugly cake...now I love caking, making my growing customer base happy with JUST what they ordered

(that and 80 bucks for a 2 dozen cookie bouquet makes my day!!!!)

As for me I come from a family that loves to cook...and so I started cooking and then baking...and so it all started from there.

i started going to school in texas to be a graphic designer. didnt care for my instructors so i dropped out. i always worked in restaurants through high school and really enjoyed it. presentation in food was always a forefront to my cooking. if it doesn't look good, no one will eat it. so i got into watching the cake challenges on the food network and immediately liked duff. when his show came out, i started thinking, "why cant I do that?" i knew how to do design structures that were stable enough not to collapse on themselves. so, i decided to give it a try. now i love it. and i hope to own my own cake shop one day. ok...that's my story. who's next?

I started into cake decorating because I decided to do my daughters wedding cake this July 11th.(For which I will post the pictures.) But, I have always loved to bake and have been baking from scratch since the age of 8 years old. For me it's always been a dream to have a bakery - that maybe someday will happen. I do enjoy cake decorating because I like to see how I can improve the looks of my cakes with each one that I do.

Two years ago, when my daughter and son-in-law announced their engagement, my son-in-law insisted I make their wedding cake. I have to say I was a little overwhelmed! I love baking but had not yet entered the world of cake decorating. I went to Michaels and signed up for classes and I was hooked!
I found this site and I am always inspired to try new techniques. I believe I will be decorating my cakes for the rest of my life, I am obsessed!

I loved watching my grandma decorate wedding cakes when I was a little girl, and I loved the way her house smelled of cake and frosting. When she passed away, one of my aunts gave me some of her decorating supplies, I had a three year old daughter at the time. It was a natural combination of events!

I come from a finance background turned SAHM and I decided once my first daughter was born that I wanted to do a really special cake for her first birthday. Everyone in my family loved it and couldn't believe that I did it (I'm not really know for my artistic abilities - couldn't draw a stick man to save my life! ) Then my girlfriend announced her engagement so I asked if she'd let me do the cake - I don't know what possessed me to do that since I only had one cake under my belt but she agreed and I was committed Now I love doing them and jump at any opportunity that comes my way to do one.

I have a graphics illustration background and my sister has a degree from Parsons School of Design. Together is works beautifully. We just opened our business in Ardmore, OK called Very Clever Cakes. We are getting alot of calls and we are sooo excited!

when I was in first grade we had to draw a picture of what we wanted to be when we grew up, and I wrote 'a cake decorator or a caterer' I laughed about that for 25+years and decided to try it after all, after seeing all the shows on food network, cake challenges and ace of cakes, took a couple small decorating classes, and although im still new and learning its been fun so far, and the only thing that I can sit down and do and loose track of time

I am a teacher turned SAHM. I wanted to make a special cake for my daughter's second birthday. It came out great and I love using my creative side again. I enjoy the challenge and who knows what the future holds

My daughter and I planned a circus party for my grandaughter's first birthday. I don't really know why but I wanted to make her cake. It turned out really good and after that I was hooked.

I made my parents an anniversary cake when I was in middle school. Using my mom's 1968 Betty Crocker cookbook's directions, I made an icing tube out of a (paper) envelope and wrote "Happy Anniversary" in baby blue letters on the cake. It was AWFUL. But they loved it I wanted to decorate cakes from that point on.

I couldn't afford to even buy a grocery store cake for my son (now 18 ) for birthdays when he was little. I couldn't afford cake pans or decorating tips. I used bowls and baking dishes and my cakes were sloppy but inventive for many years. When my oldest daughter (10) was 2 I finally got 2 pans and a few tips! I was so excited! I tried a few new things, but still couldn't afford many supplies until my youngest daughter (5) was about 1 - I was able to get a stand mixer and many more supplies! I haven't stopped since!

I was going for the "cool mom" effect.

Mission accomplished!

I was a commercial artist many years ago (before computers, if you can imagine ) and hated the competitiveness, so I went to nursing school. I was an ER nurse for 10 years, and then a chemotherapy nurse in a cancer clinic for several years. I had always enjoyed baking and had done a little unskilled decorating. A friend asked me to join her in using a coupon she had, a 2-for-1 for Wilton Course I. I loved it from the first minute and learned better ways to use the tools. It allowed me to do some art and also create something beautiful to eat.

When my son was born I became a SAHM, and at that point really just wanted to be able to make fun birthday cakes for my child. But when his friends parents' saw the cakes at his parties, I'd receive requests to create a cake for their occasion. My business just grew from that.

Over 2100 cakes later, and over 20 years, and I am still a buttercream-only decorator. I've bought a bunch of fondant tools in the past few years but have never had enough desire to actually do anything with them. Maybe someday...

I have always dreamed of having a bakery! My cake decorating started about 36 yrs ago, my first decorator was a metal plunger type it was terrible when you wanted to do different colors you had to stop, empty it out and wash it out. I had been in 4-H and my project was cake decorating, got a blue ribbon for my cake and then that was it for years and years. The first time I did a cake after that was about 5 yrs ago and it was a doll cake for a niece, then again no more until here last fall when I had lost my job to down sizing and thought this maybe a opprotunity to maybe try my hand at cake decorating and baking. So I signed up for some Wilton courses, and that has lead to learning more from the internet like this great site and watching you tube videos. So I keep busy making cookies and cakes. Still eager to learn more and more so all I have to say is I LOVE CAKE CENTRAL where I get more ideas everyday.

dinie

I needed continuation hours for my ASFSA/MnSFSA certification and since where I worked at the time did catering on the side and we had to decorate sheet cakes, I asked if taking cake decorating classes would count as hours toward recertification and they said yes. Now I am hooked....

I got pulled in kicking and screaming . My best friend and next door neighbor of 16years called one day and said her close friend wants us to take a class. This lady was a serial hobbyist and loves trying everything creative and was dragging my friend to the wilton class. In turn my friend dragged me to the class...claiming it would be fun and quality time...since neither of us were known for baking or being artistic. She wouldnt take no for an answer...I finally caved. Well it turned out to be the best thing I was ever forced to do because I fell in love with baking and decorating. Its only been a little over a year, but her and I both love it and over the past 3 or 4 months have been doing a cake a week. Even with the blood sweat and tears, almost nothing makes me happier than seeing a cake Im proud of.

I wanted a cake for my son's birthday last year and called local baker who has come highly recommended. She was.... well, rude, I felt like I was bothering her and I had absolutely no choice of what flavor the cake will be or how she will decorate it within my theme. After that conversation, I decided that I'll do the cake myself. Since I've baked for years, I could at least guarantee it will taste good. It turned out quite well, and since I got the bug. Just love caking! Wish I had more time to play around wth it.

My sister in law asked me to take a Wilton class with her. Something I always wanted to do, but never thought to take on my own. Glad she asked because now I'm in love

I love any form of creative outlet and this is at least one that almost any other person can enjoy when I'm done. For now I'm keeping it mostly a hobby, but the more I'm on here and the more I make cakes the more I want to start researching the possibility of opening my own shop.

My freshman year of college I lived in the dorms and didn't have a kitchen. I had such an intense desire to make cupcakes that I was constantly looking at pictures of them. I thought "hey, I could do that" when I saw one of the designs. Eventually, I tried it out and I enjoyed it so I started doing other stuff and collecting tools and learning. I discovered that it's one of few art forms I can actually make that comes out looking like it did in my head. I've always loved to bake, so that helped get me into it too.

I have been baking most of my life, but after the children I only baked for holidays. Now that the children are out of the way I was just being nice and took a couple of poundcakes to work. I had been at my job for years and no one knew I could bake. They loved the cakes and the guy that sits next to me came over and gave me $ to make him a whole one. After that my co-workers started ordering cakes and cookies from me. Then they started asking for birthday cakes (I always thought to myself "I'm not getting into all that icing and stuff", I just wanted to do poundcakes, cheesecakes and cookies ). I soon changed my tune and took all 4 Wilton courses and here I am 4 years later still into all that icing and stuff.

I have always been a little artistic but never really had an outlet for it. i didnt have time to scrapbook or sit down and sketch or paint like I wanted to....then:

I looked for a certain type of cake for my first child when she was turning 1 and no one could do it so I did it myself. It didn't turn out perfect, but I eventually began making all of the kids cakes instead of buying them from Walmart!

A few short years ago I made a really great Spongebob cake and several people commented that I should be selling cakes. Well, I started researching on the web and came across CC, learned alot and became a legal cake lady

Since then my skills have and continue to grow with every cake!

I like baking since I was a little girl, my first cake was made in my easy bake oven, as I grew up I started taking cooking classes and stop baking, got a career in social communication, got married and after my 2nd baby I became a SAHM. One day I saw an advertisement for Wilton classes and from there I caught the cake decorating bug.

I was an abstract artist before cake decorating. I sold a few paintings here and there from photographers to teachers. I've always wanted to become an interior designer but I was unsure if that's what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. We also had a coffee shop/restaurant back in the days. My mom is a great cook and an awesome baker. I guess I had adapted her passion and gave it an artistic twist. Since then, I've always loved decorating pastries. Just a few months ago I just discovered cake decorating from Youtube and here I am now.

my mom was quite an accomplished baker, so I started baking alongside her as soon as I could stand! I've been a scratch baker without mommy's help since I was about 7 or so (that was a long long long time ago). I love the chemistry of baking.

I didn't take Wilton classes, however, until about a year ago. I started with the fondant and gumpaste class, realized that while I wasn't sold on fondant, I loved playing with gumpaste. Took the rest of the classes, and was hooked. I'd been playing around with tips and stuff for 20 years, but finally I knew the "right" way to use them!

I like it because I am utterly and completely devoid of creativity - I have no artistic abilities whatsoever, and I am totally left-brained (why, yes...I am an accountant). I like to make things, but I'm a practical girl, and demand that the things I make be totally utilitarian as well as attractive and fun...which explains the years of soapmaking and the garment sewing...

While there are lots of very creative decorators out there, I like the fact that I can turn out an attractive and tasty cake without being artistic or creative.

I've always loved baking and had a natural talent for it. I went to school for nursing and decided it wasn't for me so I dropped out and got a job at walmart (ha ha) right next to the bakery. A year after I started I transfered to be a cake decorator and got hooked. Now i'm looking to start my own buisness.

I've always loved to bake since I was a little girl. My best friends grandmother taught me how. I loved baking, but never decorated until my middle child was turning 1. I "attempted" to decorate her cake. It was horrible looking. Tasted great, but looked like a 2 year old made it. Then I decided I was going to make my youngest child's first birthday cake and it turned out really well. Ever since then I've made all of my kids birthday cakes and now I make cakes for my relatives as well. My skills have gotten extremely better and I've even now made a fondant cake. (The barbie cake in my pictures) What's funny is my mother used to be a professional cake decorator, but that's not what got me in to wanting to do it. She has long retired from decorating and has now passed all of her caking supplies to me. Woohoo!