Cake Decorating

I've been taking the Wilton Cake Decorating class for the last few weeks and last night was the end of Course 1 where you actually have to decorate a cake.  Now you guys know that I am a cupcake decorator but I thought this course would help me be more creative with cupcakes and learn a few things. 

I missed the very first lesson so I was already behind the other students.  When I showed up for class for lesson 2, they all had their cakes ready to learn new decorating techniques.  I had all kinds of decorating tools but no cake, lol.  Not a good start.  But nevertheless I practiced on the practice board and at home.  I wish I knew how many cakes ended up in the trash, too many to count.  I started buying Kroger brand white cake mix for practice sessions since no one was going to be eating these cakes anyway. 

Last night we had to bring a 2 layer cake with a smooth icing technique.  OMG, who knew how much time that takes?  Cake decorators, that's who!! 3 Kroger brand white cake mixes later, a couple of you tube videos, reading my instructions at least 30 times,  I finally had a somewhat smooth cake.

Now to get it to class with the cake in the cake container without icing touching anything.  I'm driving soooo slow already when a deer darts out across the road.  My cake survived, who cares about the car?  Just kidding, no damage to the car or the deer!

My instructor tells me that I did an excellent job.  But right at the very end when I was putting the finishing touches on my cake, my arm brushed the side and messed up my cake, <sigh>.  No worries, my pantry is full of Kroger brand white cake mixes and I have 3 more courses to go!