Hello everyone! How is your summer going? Mine has been busy as heck and it is flying by.
And since it's hot as Hades down here where I live, I took the opportunity to stay in the A/C and did some deep de-cluttering of my house.
While going through boxes, I found these very old photos of cakes I made about 23 years ago , at the time of my first classes. What a fun surprise to have found them, and to look back at the old days!
These are the actual class cakes. My brother Michael took the class with me. He is such a cool guy. You have met him before here and here. I think mine are the two on the right. The class was given at a local cake supply shop, and would be the equivalent of Wilton 1 and 2 , I would guess.
A sheet cake I did shortly after. The flower basket is made like those panoramic eggs with a mold and granulated sugar. I think that started my infatuation with molds.
Proof that at one time I could make a buttercream rose that was halfway decent.
Ah, my famous rough icing that I use when I do not want to bother with smoothing the cake. Freehand writing could use a little work, LOL.
I remember bringing this baby shower cake to work at the hospital where I worked at the time. All plastic decorations..... haha
A baby rattle......
Notice that you can see the cake through the icing. I had not perfected my icing technique yet. :)
I seem to have been fascinated by plastic decorations. Tried my hand at block writing since my script left something to be desired.It tickles me to look back and see how my skills have progressed. There are a lot of good memories tied to these cakes as well, as I did them all for friends and family.
Do you guys have old cake pictures you look at from time to time?
To celebrate all of our humble beginnings, and because it has been way too long.......
TIME FOR A GIVE-AWAY!
Everyone who posts a comment below will be entered into a drawing for fabulous prizes:
Wedding Bouquet Flavoring (5 bottles will be given away)
and a beautiful item from the CONFECTION COLLECTION!
Winners will be announced next week, so enter now!
Good luck!
Sharon
316 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 316 of 316OMG, my baby sister has come a long way! What a hoot looking at those old photos. Sharon, I barely remember when you and Mike took that cake decorating course, but I remember when you and I took the candy making course at that same local shop. Was Barbara with us when we did that?
Thanks for sharing you cakes. I would love to be as good as you one day.
Thanks,
Amy
I love it when I find things haven't seen for a while!! So much fun!
Thank you so much for sharing your beginnings with us. I can recall my first class, better yet I can recall the first cake I tried to frost. It was from my Easy Bake Oven.
I love, love, love, your icing. Thanks for taking all the time (years) and perfecting it for us.
Thanks
You have come a long way! Ha! Ha! I remember one of my first times using royal icing, I made my grandmother's 80th birthday cake and made a trellis and covered it with daisys and roses and vines and thought it looked just beautiful. The party was at a restaurant and one of the guests tried to bite into a daisy and proceeded to tell EVERYONE what a horrible cake it was and the flowers were awful! I was mortified! Truth be told, I still don't like to do royal icing flowers!!! :)
My first cakes were, in my opinion, the beginning of a nonstop decorating addiction! And I've loved every minute of it! Thanks for sharing your first cake photos. I look back at mine and can see the star tip was used passionately, LOL! Ahh...thank God for time!
Marcela
it makes me laugh to look back at my first cake pictures,but i was so proud of them at the time!
You have really grown from a newbie to a pro! Thanks for sharing your first cakes with us Sharon.
Sharon it is so funny you posted this cuz I kid you not just yesterday I ran across a picture book that I have of all my early cakes and was looking at it. Its nice to see that some one of your talent started out like we did, thanks for sharing them with us. You want to know the most amazing thing of all I can show you in pictures the exact moment when I bought the perfecting the art of buttercream. Thank you so much for sharing your talent, you took my cakes to the next level.
Shannon
I love looking back through 'first' pictures. It's super encouraging that you shared yours...thanks!
It's neat to see how cake decorating has changed throughout the years! Thanks for sharing always!
It's great to see everyone starts somewhere!
I am so glad you shared...it is very inspiring to see how far you have come. Maybe there's hope for me, too! ;0)
Thank you so much for sharing with us! I also have wonderful memories of each cake when I make them. Food always binds us all together!
You're a natural. It's nice to see your beginnings. I know looking back at my first cakes, I have improved my skills. That improvement is thanks to you and your dvds. Thanks for sharing your skills.
~Cindy Lockemer
My first cakes are funny too! Can't believe I've been doing this for 4 years now!! Thanks for posting your first pictures...if you can go from that to what you do now!! Then there is hope for me too! :-)
I absolutely cringe when I think back on some of my first anythings.... paintings, carvings, cooking or cakes. You have the courage to post yours and what inspiration it gives to others. You have really "perfected the art of [not just] buttercream", but cake decorating in general! Thanks for exemplifying that practice makes perfect, having fun along the way.
Wow, even though it was 23 years ago, the cakes are amazing! Great job!
Wow I just went through the memory of my beginnings. I am no where near you are, but remember the humble past. Thanks for the walk down memory lane. It also helps inspire me that some day I could reach your potential!
Thanks for the inspiration!
Thank you very much for posting those pictures. With all your beautiful cakes I forgot that you were a beginner once. :-)
Wow! You were great from the beginning!! Thank you for sharing with us!
Isn't it great to see we're not where we used to be? Thank you for sharing your pictures with us! - auntbeesbaking (aka Debbie)
I wonder when I'll be after 23 years of decorating. Your work is simply beautiful!
Thx for posting Sharon! This gives hope for us beginners out there.
Thanks for sharing with us.I also remember my first cake. I made the number 1 cake for my twins of course each son had to have his very own cake. I thought I would never finish them. that was 30 years ago. I have gotten a little faster.
What an inspiration you are. I started cake decorating few months ago and you dvds and tutorials have been so helpful. Hope after a lot of practise i can make beautiful cakes too. Thanks for sharing your secrets !!!!!
Thanks for the new post full of old pics. This is the first post since I subscribed. Yay!
You've come a long way, baby!
Wow, I remember my classes and thinking I was a master of all I tried. I had no idea how bad I really was (and might still be) till years later when I saw how good other people are.
Wow thanks for jogging my memory,lol... Those were the days we thought we knew what we were doing. Now were finding out we really dont, lol.... Thanks for inspiring so many. God has given each of us this gift and my prayer is that we would all give back (like you do for us). Thanks Sharon for all you do. God Bless You
Betty Smith
Everyone starts somewhere... I am so glad you showed us your beginnings. It takes a lot of support to grow as an artist, be it any medium cake or otherwise. I am just starting out as a cupcake designer and seeing how far you have come inspires me to know that I can and will get better and someday I can look back at where I started... and giggle a little :)
Cat
Thanks, Sharon, for posting pictures of "The Beginning of Great Things to Come"... it gives me hope that one day I may have some of the skills and expertise you do! And thank you for the Back to Basics DVD... what a great idea AND it sure saves me a lot of time. When others ask me how to do something, I refer them to your new DVD!!!
being somewhat new to cake decorating i go back and look at my beginning pictures and im amazed at how much ive learned but seeing your begining shots shows you had it from the start- love your videos,got mine in virginia ,at the ncacs show,this spring and so much info that has helped me alot. thanks, colleen
It's fun to reminisce and look at how you have grown. I always encourage new decorators to keep a photo album and take pictures. Great job Sharon, and thanks for sharing!
I am new to cake decorating. I often look back at my past cakes and look for things that could have been better. Thanks for sharing your first projects...gives me hope that I can always get better!!!
Thanks for sharing these pictures with us!
I love your tutorials.
I love the pics! Thanks for posting:)
Thanks for sharing Sharon... it helps to know that even you, a cake GOD, were not always picture perfect! ;)
A neat idea if you ever have free time would be to redo one of your previous cakes and show a side by side... lol...
Thanks again!
Thanks for sharing these. I love to look back at my beginning cakes and see how much I've learned and improved.
I am so happy you shared that with us because now I can look back at my own "in the beginning" and smile with ease. After I took my Wilton classes, cake decorating just stuck with me and then a few short months later, I was the WMI! I love your bog, THANK YOU!
tracy white
It just reminds us all that we have all started just like you. That we can get insperation and guidence through one another. I can only hope to one day be as great as you are at cakes. It gives me something to strive for. Thanks for sharing your early work.
Even you "beginner" cakes look great! My first wilton pan cake was the Raggedy Ann pan that I made for my DD's 3rd birthday (34 yrs ago!) It was the star tip, you get the gist. I decided to make my DH an X rated cake for his birthday & used the Raggedy Ann pan. It was hysterical, she had pink Hostess snowball cupcakes (the ones with the coconut on top) with black jellybeans in the center as boobs! LOL Sharon, when I grow up, I want to be just like you. You need to come & visit us yankees & do a demo up here! You go girl! SO happy for all your success. Keep up the good work.
Im glad I have your DVD's so that it doesnt take me 23 years to learn the tricks :)
OMG!! Great pictures. It's nice to see how a sugar artist like you started. It let's us beginners know that with hard work and practice the sky is the limit. Thanks for sharing.
I LOVE how much you are willing to share with people who will never be at your skill level (me) but are willing to keep on trying ;) I have most of your DVD's and love all of them. Invaluable!
Hi
Great memories...
You are very talented:)
I used you Ribbons & Bows video to make the ribbon and bow on a "hat" birthday cake for my judge. Everyone loved it. Thank you for letting myself and others share your wonderful talents. There's nothing better than to have someone be in awe over a beautiful cake.
Oh yes! I remember those days still have my pictures of the cakes I decorated. Now I make cakes for grandchildren for their birthdays and 2011 for one of my grandson's wedding cake. I am excited.
I've always loved your work. I can honestly say that you are my cake idol!!!!
Sharon - These picts. show that you were also a beginner at one timea also. I have hope that, with practice, I will be able to decorate as beautifully as you do.
I love your DVDS! These pictures are SO encouraging! Nice to see you started out like most of us!:)
Oh I love looking at the "beginning" cakes. I keep mine so that I can get a good laugh every once in a while. I still pick out all the flaws in my cakes, all these years later. Just have to keep practicing. :)
No, I don't believe that you EVER made cakes like this....LOL! Thanks for sharing. It's nice to know that you started out like we all did! ; )
I know that I have come a long way since watching your Flawless Fondant video. I still feel I have a lot to learn, but my cakes have improved drastically since I first started about 18 months ago. :)
I remember when I first started - I would never post those pictures. Thanks for sharing
Wow! I remember when I too decorated my first cakes about five years ago. Its so funny to look back at the cakes that I first made, what a difference. Thank you for taking me back down memory lane and for sharing with us!
Wow I remember when I too decorated my first cakes. Thank you for sharing with us your pictures!
I love the old pictures!! It shows just how far cake decorating has come. I still laugh at my first cakes too and they're only from 3 years ago!! Thanks for posting.
These pics are great! And surprisingly enough, I have seen some of these EXACT plastic decorations at some of the cake decorating stores STILL!!!! LOL...Kinda scary...LOL! Love u Sharon!!
Yes, it is funny to look at pictures in retrospect - what you thought was so cool and looked great, sometimes makes me laugh now. Makes you appreciate the progress though
I did enjoy your reminiscences - and while I still have a long way to go in this fascinating field, I too saw similarities in what you have shared with us.
I struggle with novelty cakes, but family tell me just to "relax"....and it is a visual thing for all who see the finished cake....not if every single line, or piping is "perfect."
Thanks a lot.
Well at least there is hope! As beginning decorators, it is easy to become discouraged by all of the amazing cakes on television and on the web, but this was very refreshing and HONEST! Thank you for haring this with us.
These look very close to my beginner photos! Are you sure you didn't look at mine!! LOL!!!! Look how far you have come!
I think everyone remembers when they first start to decorate cakes-the joy and showing them off to family and friends, then we look back and say "what was I thinking???" but we all start from somewhere. I love that you showed us where you started from!!!
I think alot of us start with the Wilton's Classes, I know I did. Thank you for sharing your first cakes with us. Its great to see that all of us are not perfect from the start. You could tell you had talent from the start!!! I look forward to more of your inspirations.
Thanks for sharing the beginning of your cake decorating career and for being so honest and post your real pics, and highlight the mistakes you made at that time. It shows that you are a very honest and transparent person.
I am an admirer of your work and own a few of your videos.
Bianka
sugarart426@aol.com
I remember my first cakes but now I'm learning from one of the best because I got all of your dvd's and I'll be happy just to do have of what you do
Debbie
Thanks for giving me hope!
I love that you've shared your humble beginnings with us! Make me think I could be like you when I "grow up"
It is great as the time goes by that you can see how your art has continued to develope. It seems that in your heart you have always thought about helping others, first you help care for them and now you help feed them :). Thank you for sharing your memories with us.
This takes me back to my cake decorating beginnings...what a fun journey!
Nancy Stoltenberg
Since I know you're familiar with the Cake Wrecks Blog, I can say this: Your cakes are better than theirs! :)
Now I need to go find my oldies-but-not-so-goodies...
Since I know you're familiar with the Cake Wrecks Blog, I can say this: Your cakes are better than theirs! :)
Now I need to go find my oldies-but-not-so-goodies...
You are the bomb!!! I am just starting and have so much to learn. Your dvd's are fantastic and you make caking so much fun!! Your skill is surpassed only by your generosity in sharing your knowledge. THANK YOU!!
Like the old Viginia Slims ads......You've come a LONG way sugar baby! :)
I can't tell you how much better your post made me feel about my cake decorating progress. Everyone has to start somewhere. It's great to see how someone I admire as a decorator has grown. It gives me hope!
the cakes look great? you had talant from the beginning of time. love the pictures
Practice Practice Practice. I won't live long enough to make a cake like yours.
But for now practice practice practice and watch and learn.
Pat Thrift
Wow, a blast from the past. I bet you were tickled seeing where you started to where you are now.
Thanks for letting us see into your past!
Thanks for letting us see into your past!
Thank you for sharing....definitely an inspiration for those of us that are in the beginners stage!
We all have to start somewhere :)
Glad you posted your pics.
Thanks for taking us down memory lane. :)
Jodi
Thanks for sharing your photos.
It was great to see where someone who is an expert now, started! My first cake had ivy vines and leaves all over it. Looked pretty good to me then. (It was actually quite a mess!) It's all in the eye of the beholder!
Gee- do we all have the same sort of pictures from the past. How far we have come and what does the future hold?
Thanks for sharing. What fun!
It's always amazing to me to look back and see how far I've come, and I haven't come nearly as far as you b/c I've only been doing this a few years ;)
How Great!!! I just ran into a couple yesterday that I did thier Wedding cake 17 years ago.. back when swoops and swirls and pillars! Were still in.. They Loved their cake then and NOW.. hehe.. I came home and looked at old cake pictures.. then checked my email and found you were doing the same trip down memory lane... I love baking fond memories for people.. Thanks for sharing yours.. :)
What great cakes! It's so neat seeing how you got started! My first was a Winnie the Pooh cake I made for my son's 1st birthday! I used a Wilton pan and my hand still cramps up at the thought of piping all those little stars!
Thanks for sharing the beginning. I found some of my old pictures about a month ago and got a good laugh out of them.
Sharon, I can't thank you enough for sharing your talents through your DVD's. I have several of them and would like to get more. I always learn something from you. Thank you.
It must be fun to look at those pictures and see how far you have come. I love your cakes, they are absolutely beautiful.
WOW! There is hope for me yet!! I LOVE making cakes and seeing how others decorate as well...its great to see that we ALL (no matter how far we've come) started out as beginners at one time! THANKS for sharing!
I love your pictures! It's fun to look back, huh?
It was great seeing your cakes from the past. It gives me hope that my skills will progress as well as yours have. I will be thrilled when mine are as good as your past cakes. LOL
Thank You.
Darlene Celso
Practice makes perfect! Thanks for sharing.
Thank you so much Sharon for all your wisdom! I love seeing your begining pictures. Having 1 1/2 years of decorating under my belt you inspired me to keep challenging myself.
isn't it amazing how we have all grown in cake decorating.
isn't it amazing how we have all grown in cake decorating.
It is awsome to see how the FAMOUS started out just the way I did and I don't mean that in a bad way. I just love to see how much we have all grown in the Cake Decorating world :)
I love the baby shower cake you took to the hospital where you worked at the time. All plastic decorations... LOL is that tin foil?! LOL
Love your work, your sheet cake dvd is wonderful! I can't wait to have the money to splurge on your other DVD's!
Wow! Looking at your old pictures lets us know that there is hope for us all if we practice, practice practice, practice!!!!!
Prisca
Your pictures are so encouraging!!! This helped me to realize how far I've come in decorating, and how much farther I can go. Thanks!!!
Great to see where you started!!!
I got by start decorating cakes at Baskin-Robbins, I could make a buttercream clown with a plastic head in about 5 seconds!
Thank you Sharon for sharing your early creativity. I often look back at my own and say boy have I come a long way. That's what happens when you love the craft.
I look back at my old cake photos and call it The Diary of the Wimpy Cake Decorator! But as I'm sure you do, I realize how far I have come and improved upon my skills in only a few years. Thanks for sharing your beginning with us. It makes me hopeful that with determination and a lot of practice, I will get there some day!
Thanks for sharing - it is great to look back once in awhile - especially when you have one of those cakes that you don't like or are dissappointed in - you look back and say - yeah - its ok
Sharon, I wish to personally thank you for sharing some of your first creations with us. You have evolved greatly in your cake decorating. You never said how many years ago that was LOL. Seeing your first cakes made me have hope that I too can become a great decorator like you.
I remember taking a class with my mom. Looking back at my first cakes I did were all done using the star method. I have come a long way and enjoy using different technics.
Sharon,Thank you so much for sharing your cakes....time passes so quickly.....I have all of your DVD's and cannot wait for your next creation. Thank you for your blog's and how-to's and sharing your talents.
Elaine Miller
I love it that you are so down to earth and not afraid to laugh at yourself! Most people would be embarrased to show their first cakes! You rock Sharon!
I love the pictures, you did good then and you are EXCELLENT now!
hi ive been doing cakes for some yrs i also found pictures from a long time ago before wilton was giving home classes i took lessons from a place called the sugar plum shop no longer there and my instructions was written and drawed out on a few sheets of typing paper i have come on a long journy my cakes no longer look like the icings going to fall off and my cakes are level i do mainly gunpaste flowers ive tought my self from a lot of books and practice and i also do figures im in a small town in indiana and one day dream of a shop but i would love to go to an ices convention thank you for all your help jackie loman
Sharon you are an inspiration. I am also a nurse (too young to retire) with two young kids. I have all of your DVDs and watch them over and over trying to perfect my technique.I hope 20 yrs from now I will be a master cake artist as yourself. Thanks for sharing your work. Any plans on coming to NYC to host classes???
Can we expect a DVD on your novelty cakes such as the 'fish cake' and the 'stacked book cake'?
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