Paper Roses Don't Taste this Good

I signed up in December for a cake decorating class at my local library. The original date [in January] had to be rescheduled to this past Wednesday. One of the local decorators at our Publix grocery store volunteered her time and Publix graciously donated lots of supplies for this free class.

I've dabbled in icing techniques here and there for the annual birthday cakes we produce, but nothing ever really fancy, so I was up for a challenge.

This is what we saw when we entered the meeting room:
After we piped on some icing swags and a top and bottom border, we were ready to tackle the prettiest of all....roses:

Now, don't be fooled.....that giant beauty in the back was the decorator's example...see how perfect it is! My first attempt is the rose in the front with the slightly wavy petals. More like an artificial rose if you asked me. And, the icing was beginning to get warm, so I tried to work quickly.

Next up, I moved to a red icing to try my hand at more roses, and then we learned a technique for rose buds, which you can see are a reddish-whitish because the decorator added fresh icing and didn't mix it in completely. I decided to make mine look as if they were "falling" over the edge.

I also made leaves (my first time) which I thought resembled ivy and came up with a small sentiment with a simple tip. I was thinking at the time that "Valentines" was too long to pipe. I guess it was a pretty good idea because the lady behind me asked if she could use the same wording on her cake.

Here's the final result: And here's me in all my glory with Loretta, the decorator. [I needed this picture for my 40th scrapbook album.] I had a fun time and it sure is good to eat!

Hugs & kisses to you....Happy Valentine's Day!