Hi I just got hired from Micheals to be thier new wmi, I have so many questions to ask from you all.. I am suppose to do an open house this weekend and I have never done this or been to one. Can you please tell me what I should be doing for the open house. When I did my courses the instructor made buttercream in class, but the new books looks like the students are either suppose to purchase wilton buttercream or make it from home and bring.. is this correct? I also have to have 3 demo cakes so they can display at Michaels all they want is the top part of the cake, Should I do one design from each course... any ideas? Also did you all have to buy your own tools for the classes or did Michaels provide you with a kit? I also tried to go to wmi website but it's asking for username/password and I cannot get it. How do I obtain a login? If anyone can let me know your thoughts on these questions please let me know. I will greatly appreciate it.

I took the classes at Michaels and you are required to purchase the tools for all of the classes. We also had to make and bring our own cake and buttercream to class. Hope this helps!

Your best thing to do is to contact your Wilton Supervisor for information. Usually at the Open Houses nothing is demonstrated but it is nice to have something displayed.
During the first class in course 1 you do ice a cake and you will make icing to show them the different consistencies. The purchased Wilton icing is used on the cookies and can not be used, in my opinion, to ice their cake for the following wee as the parchment paper with the transfer on it will stick to the icing.
Your Wilton supervisor is very helpful with any questions and this way you will not get incorrect answers as to what to do, although I did state about course 1.

Thanks, I was surprised when the store manager said you don't need to make icing in class.. that they don't! I guess I will ask from my wilton coordinator about this. Thanks

Hey there, just took course 1 over the summer.

Course 1
In the first lesson, students bring their kit, cookies, and frosting to class. You teach them all about how to use a piping bag and all that. You also display how you should make buttercream frosting using the class recipe.

In the following lessons, students are required to make their own frosting at home using the class recipe. It says you need to tint it at home but usually we just do that in class in plastic cups so they can be thrown away at the end of class.

Oh and in one of the lessons in course 1, it says to bring 1 layer of cake to class and use the rest of the batter for cupcakes. We didn't do that in my class, we just did a 2-layer cake for one lesson and then later on we did a bunch of cupcakes. I think this is more helpful because you get comfortable with frosting a cake and all that before you have to do your final cake.

Also... my instructor says she hates the Wilton open houses because she just decorates a cake and then sits there for the rest of the time. People usually don't want to sign up for the class. If it was me, I would bake 4-inch cakes so I have a few cakes to do, rather than just one big one.

Good luck!

jamesay, your instructor is different then from what Wilton says to do. I have been told by our Wilton supervisor and at our yearly meetings that we are to make a recipe of the class buttercream during the first class. By doing so it allows the students to see the mixing, to show them it is not mixed just until it comes together.
We have also been told to take about a cup out and insert a straight spatula in so they can mix it and see the different consistencies. To me this helps them determine if theirs is too stiff or thin the following week. I hope this helps

Please pm me your email address so you can join the WMI only message board on yahoo groups You'll find it very helpful.