Your next new skill: Learning how to frost and decorate a cake

I am British (on my mum’s side) — a heritage that gave the world hot cross buns, spotted dick, jammie dodgers and “The Great British Bakeoff.”

So, of course, baking comes as naturally to me as making the perfect cup of tea or knowing the instant you open your mouth whether I’m more or less posh than you.

Jokes aside, the last time I made a cake, my raspberry-flavored icing had the consistency of cough syrup and tasted about the same. So don’t ask me why my kids still insist I make their birthday cakes.

For some guidance, I headed off to Wilton Sweet Studio in Naperville for a “basics” vintage cake-decorating class. The Wilton cake decorators have been around for close to 100 years.

“I have a clinical case of over-decorate-itis,” joked Casey Puehler, my friendly instructor, shortly after I arrived.

Casey Puehler, instructor at Wilton Sweet Studio, introduces herself to those attending an introductory class on decorating cakes in a vintage style, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025, in Naperville, Ill. | Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times

Casey Puehler, the instructor at Wilton Sweet Studio, introduces herself to those attending a recent beginner’s class on decorating cakes in a vintage style.

Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times

I was handed a sunburst yellow apron and joined a couple of dozen other folks in Wilton’s studio, a gleaming white space — the air perfumed with a sugary sweetness.

Puehler explained that the three-hour class is all about “creative freedom” and that it’s best not to compare your efforts to other people’s in the class. (Note to self: Next time, avoid being sandwiched between the aspiring Rembrandt and Michelangelo of cake decorating.)

The class comes with everything you need to decorate your pre-made, six-inch rounds of yellow cake, including a big tub of white buttercream frosting, which you slather (my word) on the outside with a spatula and smooth out with another tool.

  Big second half pushes CU Buffs men’s basketball past Baylor

This is when I started to feel a bit like Mr. Bean stuffing a turkey or Lucille Ball manning a conveyor belt in the candy factory. The more I tried to smooth out my frosting (the base for the decoration), the more messy it got. There were a couple of times when my Terrible Twos self surfaced and I had to remind myself that I am a middle-aged man and that it would be completely inappropriate to stomp on my cake.

Alyssa Misiak and her fiancé Noah Elms finish up decorating their cakes using the different piping techniques they learned during an introductory class on decorating cakes in a vintage style at Wilton Sweet Studio, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025, in Naperville, Ill. | Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times

Alyssa Misiak and her fiancé Noah Elms apply newly learned piping and frosting skills to their cake.

Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times

Thankfully, Puehler was always nearby to offer a helping hand.

“Everything is fixable and all your mistakes are edible,” she said.

Done with the frosting base, our cakes went into the fridge to cool. Then, onto learning how to decorate in the Lambeth style, popular in 1930s America. In architectural terms, it’s the Rococo of cake decorating. So if minimalism is your thing, you might not favor the garlands, ruffles and shell motifs festooning your cake.

Whatever your preference, here’s where the magic happens. It starts with picking colors for the decorative icing; Puehler recommends no more than three. I settled on teal and hot pink piping for my cake. The amazing thing is that a tiny dab of color is enough to turn a tub of white icing bubble-gum pink, electric green or a dazzling blue.

It’s a bit tricky stuffing the frosting into the plastic piping bags, twisting the bag almost mercilessly to force the frosting all the way into the tip. (Hold on tightly or, as happened to me, a glob of frosting might fly out of the bag and across the room.)

  Horoscope for Tuesday, December 10, 2024

More advice: It’s a good idea to have at least some idea what you want your cake to look like BEFORE you start to apply the finishing touches.

“I will guide you through it, but then you’re on your own,” Puehler had said a few minutes before.

Chicago Sun-Times reporter Stefano Esposito decorates his cake using an assortment of piping techniques he learned during an introductory class on decorating cakes in a vintage style at Wilton Sweet Studio, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025, in Naperville, Ill.

Chicago Sun-Times reporter Stefano Esposito is determined to successfully decorate his cake using newly acquired piping techniques learned during an introductory class at Wilton Sweet Studio in Naperville.

Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Time

I actually didn’t struggle too much with piping the frosting, but the longer I did it, the more goo I had on my hands and especially my apron, which I heard some compare to a “Monet” painting.

And for me, all of the rules about how much and when to squeeze out the frosting were a bit confining. I just wanted to do my own thing, to which no one actually objected.

I found kindred spirits in Katie Fortune, 26, and her friend, Maura McTighe, 27, school teachers who both live in the Edison Park neighborhood.

Katie Fortune decorates her cake using a unique piping technique, during an introductory class on decorating cakes in a vintage style at Wilton Sweet Studio, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025, in Naperville, Ill. | Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times

Katie Fortune frosts and adorns her cake during an introductory class on decorating cakes.

Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times

Fortune, who said she typically buys her cakes at Whole Foods Market, was smearing icing onto a cake that resembled a Caribbean Sea squall.

“I’m gonna go rogue,” McTighe declared at one point during the class. The friends erupted into fits of uncontrolled laughter.

As I was watching Fortune making, forgive me, as much of a mess I was, I thought how wonderful it would have been had Puehler announce at some point: “For those of you too embarrassed to take your cake home, we’ll be gathering in the room with plastic sheeting on the walls for a cake fight.”

  Princess of Wales takes another step in return to public life after chemotherapy with carol service

Alas, no cake fight. So about three hours after I’d arrived, I carefully loaded my finished cake into a white cardboard box.

Reporter Stefano Esposito's cake (left). Not Reporter Stefano Esposito's cake (right).

Reporter Stefano Esposito’s cake (left). Not Reporter Stefano Esposito’s cake (right).

Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times

Once home, I presented the cake to my V.I.P. critics — my sons, Matteo, 7, and Lucca, 13.

What did they make of my labors?

“It looks good. It smells good,” Lucca said.

I should have left well enough alone.

“Does it look professional?” I asked.

“Not really. There are gaps between the frosting,” Lucca said. “It’s a bit uneven on the sides.”

“The little stack — that’s the part that looks weird — on the top,” Matteo added.

From the mouths of babes.

To learn more about the classes available at Wilton, visit wilton.com.

This story is part of a series highlighting new and exciting skills you might want to explore.

(Visited 1 times, 1 visits today)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *