I've been doing research on baking and cake decorating classes in the Bay Area for a little while now, and I think I've found a gem. Combined with what people had to say on Yelp and his website, signing up for a class with Baking Arts in SOMA was a no brainer. Your teacher, Richard, works out of his beautiful loft and keeps class sizes small. He provides everything you need and gives each student plenty of attention. Along with this Topsy Turvy Cake, some of his other classes are Whimsical Cupcakes, Gumpaste flowers, Choux Pastry, etc. So, there is plenty to choose from.
This cake was lots of fun to make. Richard had baked and chilled the cakes for us already. He assembled the top tier for us but showed us how to carve the bottom tier and cover it in fondant. The most time intensive portion of the class was rolling out the fondant and making the decorations. Richard walks you through the whole way but towards the end lets you have free creative reign over your cake. He even gave us a brilliant idea to make the daisies. To give the centers a bit of texture, roll out the fondant and put a piece of tulle down over it. Then, take a round cutter and press down over the tulle into the fondant. Gently peel away the tulle and you'll have the center of the daisy. Simply just dab a little water onto the back and attach to the flower.
Taking this class has definitely encouraged me to try making more cakes with fondant. It's very time intensive (and the fondant doesn't taste like much more than sugary clay), but the product is beautiful.
