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
I think it's great that you are sharing with us the beginnings of your creations. It shows that practice can lead to bigger and better things. ~ Diana Viera
OMGee……I remember when I first started learning. I didn't take any classes, my mom taught me the very basics. You have come a loooong way!!!
Oh wow! Trip down memory lane huh? Thanks for sharing with us! I look back at my first cakes and cookies etc – which was only 18 months ago – and laugh (fondly).
LOVE the plastic decorations:-D
I actually took my Wilton classes (with Ruth!) at the JC Penney store in Lakeside Mall. This has inspired me dig out some pictures of my first cakes! My very first cake was a Cat in the Hat cake for my son….ya gotta start somewhere!
Becky
PS: I love the new DVD!
You've come a long way baby!
When I look back at my work, I laugh, yes I laugh at myself cause it looks like I had taken some speed and decided to decorate, hahahha. But hey, you have to start somewhere. By the way, I really enjoy how you share your knowledge with everyone, not everyone is that quick to do it. Have a "cool" summer!!
we all had to start some where.
Thanks for sharing your first creations. There's hope for me after all!!
WOW! Those basket sugar molds…..Now that's old school….LOL
Your beginner cakes look better than mine.
Thanks for posting these…there's hope for me yet.
Your first cakes even
looked good.
Great story and pics! I'm a beginner and your story gives me hope that w/LOTS of practice, I will get better!
Thank you for sharing the pictures with us!
I can remember the 1st cake I made for my mom becoming a pastor and I proudly brought it to her Church for her celebration; I think I might have embaressed her w/it? It was a dark purple, didn't know how to pipe yet or smooth my icing, but I really tried. Lol
I love that you started somewhere other than where you are now….it leaves hope for the rest of us! Thanks for sharing so much with us!
I guess you have had enough practice to make perfect because your cakes are now just perfect!
LOL – I think they still sell those plastic decorations!!! 🙂
Thanks for posting these!
It is great to look back to when we started and see the amazing improvement that practice makes, It makes you feel great!
Thanks for showing what lots of hard work and practice can do. You are always such a big help and always quick to encourage. THANKS
Oh, this gives me SUCH hope! My current cakes look like your beginner cakes, and oh how I want to make cakes like you make them now! Thanks for sharing these! It definitely gives me hope that I can become Sharon #2…especially with your AWESOME DVDs!!! Love 'em! ~RCW
I love when experienced decorators share their early cakes…it makes me feel a little better! I haven't been doing cakes very long, but hopefully with more practice and watching your videos I will become closer to your perfection!
Thanks for sharing.
Tangela
Tang_erine_15@hotmail.com
You were a natural right from the beginning 🙂 Thank you for sharing your pictures and for the chance to win one of your niece's creations, they are wonderful!!!
Annette
http://suinflowerscreations.blogspot.com
Your post reminds me of my first cakes. I've definitely improved, though I still have a long way to go.
heidikittelson@gmail.com
Your first cakes look great! I would never post mine.
I just found my old pictures in the basement an couldn't help but laugh! Thanks for sharing yours!
Thank you for sharing. Your work is great.
You've given me hope that I can get better LOL 🙂 Thanks for sharing those with us!!
Sharon, I love seeing your work "in the beginning". It gives me hope for myself! I have to say, even back then your work was neat, clean and creative. I just got received your Sheet Cake DVD this week. I'm loving it! I have always dreaded when someone in the family wanted "just a sheet cake". Now I feel like can give them a sheet cake I can be proud of! Thanks, you're amazing.
That is great!
Oh my those are great pictures!! Thank you so much for sharing them.
Just got my first video of yours about the basics of buttercream. So excited to watch it! 🙂
OMG! I still have my very first photos too LOCKED AWAY!! LOL! I always tell my students to take pictures of their cakes and write the date on the back if it doesn't automatically print on the front so you can see just how far you have come.
The plastic decos just crack me up! There is a cake store north of me that sells tons of the plastic toys for the tops. I cringe when I walk down that aisle.
You are an absolute inspiration and it gives me the encouragement to keep going. In 23 years time I might also be able to turn out your current works of art!
Tricia Crowe
How brave you are to post your first cakes! Thanks for showing us where you started.
I cringe when I look at my first cakes, but the people I made them for were impressed at the time. Go figure. I guess we're hardest on ourselves, aren't we. I'm much improved, thank goodness, but still learning thanks to TV and dvd's like yours! Keep 'em coming!
thank you for sharing your beginning, It gives me hope to do great things.
I liked seeing your cake pictures. Thank you for all of the skills and knowledge that you share!
Sharon, I just want to say THANKS for making our lives better so that we can improve our Cake mastering Skills. All of your DVD's ROCK!!!
Isn't crazy how far you've come? I remember some of my first cakes and am still nowhere near your talent, but hope to be one day. Thanks for sharing. Just goes to show how far you can go with perseverance.
It is good to see how you started. Thank you for sharing those moments with us.
I love your work and your dvds.
Sharon, Sharon, Sharon. I can see from your old photos, that even back then you showed great the talent that you have now. Yes, it has evolved to perfection but, I could see where your cakes were smooth as butter. Lol, I do the same thing, rough icing, when I'm doing a cake for the house or neighbor that I don't feel like being bother with, hehe. I have lots of old pics that I look at and sometime cry (joy) bc of how far I have come in being a cake decorator. Thank you to all of the cake decorators that are an inspiration to me, especially YOU!! Thank you! Keep the videos coming 🙂
I love seeing where people began! It's amazing to see the progression. Thank you for sharing your beginnings with us!!!
How great that you still have the photos! Isn't fun to go back and look at those old pics? Makes you feel proud of all you accomplished 🙂
thanks for sharing! Its inspiring to see how far you've come- thanks for continuing to help share your knowledge for success!
Love your videos and all your inspiring tips! Your buttercream dvd is amazing!!!
Too bad there wasn't SugarEd Productions way back when. Glad we have you now!
Your beginning cakes look fantastic! Mine looked nowhere near as good as yours!
Rita-Greer,SC
Fun to see but I bet your friends loved your cakes and were excited you made them with love just for them….and you have come a LONG ways!! Yay!!!
Im a Beginner in cake decorating , i have only made 14 cakes and i search everyday online for other cake sites to llearn as much as i can , and when i found your site, I defiantly want your dvds, Very informative, seeing your cakes from when you first started, ,Your an inspiration to beginners like myself as far as i am concerned, I only hope and pray i can get as good as you are , so maybe sometime after a few hundred cakes i can start to consider trying to sell my cakes and donate my cakes, (http://jaciscakedesigns.blogspot.com/) Its an incredable feeling to put such a big smile on someones face when they see such georgoeus cakes as yours, Thank you so much for Sharing
I remember my first cake was my very own baby shower cake! I had somuch fun doing it and funny enough also used some molds for the teddy bears I used. It's good to see pics from the very begining, it reminds us of the progress we've made.
-Zabrina
If I showed you pictures of my class cakes, you'd know why I gave up on buttercream and started hiding everything with fondant!
I love looking at early photos of cakes I have decorated. You have come such a long way! 🙂
Too funny. It reminds me of cakes my mom makes. I love them
Thanks for the inspiration!
Thanks so much for showing us your first cakes. You give us "Beginner Decorators" hope that we can someday be half as good as you are!!
What fun to dig up old pictures! I came across mine the other day – yikes…. either laugh or cry ~ such memories…thanks for sharing yours.
I have a few of your dvds – they are awesome ! Thank you again !!
You know, I think we all need to look at photos of our "early work" from time to time! Sometimes it's a giggle, sometimes it's an honest-to-goodness "Wow! Look how far I've come!". Your generosity with your knowledge and experience is such a boon to those of us just starting out. Thanks a million!
I love the photos. Your early works are a lot better than my early works. 🙂
I am new to cake decorating but I am taking lots of photos now so I can look back and see them.
I hope one day I can make beautiful cakes as yours!!!
I will be trying your white cake recipe this weekend!! 🙂
Sharon, you HAVE come a long way, but think of the pleasure of making those cakes! You are so dedicated to improving everyone's techniques, and that is because you started out just like us in the beginning! Your videos are great! I even learned a lot from your latest!
I hope one day I can make such beautiful cakes as you do!! I will be baking the white cake this weekend. ;0
I now see I need about 23 years to be as good as you 🙂 I will be about 60 years…
Thank you for sharing!
Oh those beginning cakes!!! But aren't they fun to look at and relive the journey! (I took all of mine out of my cake albums – lol)~ Kerri Richards
I have been looking for my old photos – what a comparison that will be – hehe. I placed an order last week (my second from you) and can't wait to get it. I am also making your buttercream recipe for the first time tonight. I have many good recipes that I have used but so many people rave over yours on cake central that I just have to try it. Thanks for sharing so much with the cake community 😉
Amanda Andrew
You have GROWN SOoooo MUCH. May you continue to be BLESSED!!!!!!
I love your work and would like to get started again with cakes and always look forward to seeing all of your marvelous delights…
I love Wedding Bouquet and old photos.
Hi Sharon,
I love the work you do. I had no doubts that you can make roses. I think mastering the rose is one of the most challenging techniques a cake decorator must conquer. I just finished making 300 burgundy roses and trust me it was a lot of work.
I had a lot of fun making a fashion cake for a friend. It was a purse, shoe, necklace and lipstick. I enjoy what I do.
I love watching your tutorial videos. They are full of so much useful information and great Ideas. I appreciate the work and effort you put into creating each one of them.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us.
Keep up the good work.
Sincerely,
Fabby
I love how you started out learning and then WOW WOW WOW …look at them now…I am still a beginner..I have only been making cakes now for 1 year and I hope one day to be half as good as you are!
Crystal Lucas
it's fun to look back…I had some pretty crazy cakes years ago. I like to think I'm a bit better now 😀
It's fun to see your early works. It gives us newer decorators hope for our futures.
What a great post! I love looking back at my old work as well. Helps me appreciate how much I've learned 🙂
As i sit here thinking about the cake business my friend and I are going to start . I think back tothe beginning cakes and that I too can accomplish greatness with practice , learning and more practice. Thank you for the inspiration!
Even as a beginner you can see you talent! Thanks for sharing your earlier creations with us!
I have some long lost cake photos too! It's fun and scary all at the same time to look back. I think you had something going, even in the beginning, for smooth icing!
i have those "in the beginning" cake pics too! it's scary and fun all at the same time to look back. Your cakes were sooo smooth, even in the beginning!
Cute cakes! It's fun to see where you've come from! 🙂
I have some of those "80's" cake pics too..from my first Wilton class..but I must admit..your talent has far surpassed mine..You are awesome! :o)
I love looking at your first cakes!!! I too have noticed how much my skills have improved just in a year… and that is all thanks to your DVD techniques and practice, practice, practice!! 🙂
I take photos of all my cakes; I would love to win!
Your Fondant DVD has been so helpful, along with your website full of helpful information and inspiration! Getting ready to order "Boxes and Bows" and so want your DVD for the Topsy Turvy. I have done little family cakes and a couple Buttercream Wedding and Anniversary Cakes. I am addicted and look forward to progressing and improving the art! Thanks!
Sandy
I love the trip down memory lane! It gives me hope! You have come a long way!
Thank you for sharing those pictures. I have just started decorating but that's definitely an encouragement to keep practicing. oh and I love your dvds!
Hi Sharon, I´m been following your blog from some time now and my best friend just bought three of your DVD´s for me as a gift (I think he wants something more than a friendship hahaha)and I´m dying for them to get here! I´m saving all my butter/hi ratio shorening/eggs etc until they arrive, don´t wanna run out on anything at half trough the DVD! =P
Your beginner cakes actually look better than some of the cakes I've seen at the local grocery store! Thanks for showing us what time and a lot of practice can bring! –Shani
I enjoyed looking at your first cakes. I just completed a mini course for decorating cakes, but my cakes did not look anything close to yours. It is obvious that you had experience before producing those beautiful cakes. I hope to continue with the courses. I find it to be so much fun. Thanks for sharing.
How totally cool that a famous sugar artist would share her beginning decorating efforts. Many thanks. Olivia
I wouldn't say I "like" to look back at those old pictures, but I do like to look at how far I've come. Thanks for sharing.
How totally cool that a famous decorator would show us her first decorating efforts. Many Thanks. Olivia
Sharon…Thanks so much for letting up see the early beginnings of your fabulous work. I laugh when I look back at my first cakes, lots of Wilton character pans and they were all decorated in stars. Thanks again for sharing.
I keep pictures of all my cakes, not really a whole lot to date since I just began classes Jan of 2010, but have been making ones for family and friends as well. If I learn nothing else, I definitely learn something from each cake that I can work on to make better! I love this new journey and so appreciate your expertise and advice. Deb
Your old pics look good, shows how far you have came. Keep up the good work.
Leana
leana@rdmfg.net
It is so fun to see that we all started at about the same place! Now, if only I had progressed as far as you!
It is so nice to see that even you are are so talented started off basic 🙂
Even back then, you were pretty darn good. To progress and perfection, you are an inspiration, Sharon.
Wow! You have come a long way! Such an inspiration to all of us novices!
kinda reminds me of my first cakes
crooked writing and all
but i am still not at your level
I guess it'll take me about 23 yrs too.
I admire your talent so much
comtinue to do good work and God bless!!!!!
Thank you for sharing with us your first cakes. It's encouraging to see that not every cake has to be perfect! Thanks!
Thanks for sharing your beginnings, I always get a kick out of those first attempts. I'll never forget the first wedding cake that had about 300 royal icing roses. Now that was a learning experience. Don't think I've made a royal icing rose since then. LOL
I'm sure that you were beaming about those cakes much the same as you beam today. Isn't it a good feeling to look back and see how much you have progressed? This also gives other decorators hope that preserverance will pay off.
I love these pictures! I still remember my first layered cake, a 6-layer coconut cake of all the things! What was I thinking. Thank goodness the frosting didn't have to be perfect since it was covered in coconut. Turned out pretty good for being my first one.
Thanks for sharing! It made me want to pull out my old pictures…
What?? No star-tipped character cakes?!?
Sharon I think I am still in the humble beginnings stage. I hope some day to look back on pictures and see the progress.
Shirley Nault
It is so nice To know that even the best started with a basics course like I'm in now! You really inspire me! Thank you!
They look great! Wonderful inspiration for newbies.
Wow! This is great!!! Your cakes are so perfect that it gives me hope in knowing that you started out like most of us and progressed to the great decorator that you are today!
How fun! This post makes me want to hunt down pictures of my early cakes. I know I have some hiding somewhere!
I just recently started cake decorating, and even in this short time I can see a big difference! Thanks for sharing your beginning photos!
I just want to say thank you for showing a much better way to smooth ice cakes now. After Crisco changed their formula I thought I was done for. I got your DVD and I am totally loving it. Your writing wasn't that bad. You should have seen mine when I first started. Really really bad. Thanks again for sharing your knowledge.
Thanks for sharing – it gives me such hope that with time and practice I could actually be good too! 😉 I love how you are so down to earth about stuff. And your cakes are truly amazing!
This is too funny! I know that in a few years from now, I will probably be doing the same thing with the pictures I have of my current cakes! Here's to knowing that we all get better with practice! Thank you for sharing all of your knowledge with us!
I'm excited to get the Back to Basics DVD….and win some wedding bouquet flavoring! 🙂
I have some of those too, though I have not perfected my decorating totally, but I do still see a difference. Love the pics, Definately lets us know there is hope for all of us, lol!
Great to see you started out the same way! Thanks for sharing.
Hi Sharon!
Thanks for sharing the pictures…
THank you so much also for including my comment for your Back to Basics DVD…I'm "Armee C"
I'm so happy when I saw my comment when i opened sugareds email to my inbox.
I have ordered some stuff needed for doing fondant cakes…I'm so excited to receive it so that I can start baking already….
Your baking experience is like "WOW"…"i'm not worthy"…lol..wishing you more cakes to bake and decorate!!!
You give me hope that someday I will make great cakes too!! I've got a long way to go, baby! Love your new DVD, I've learned a lot.
Sharon your past work compared to your currant work Amazing. But we all have to start somewhere. I am very new to cake decorating and your DVD'S are a great add on to my Wilton classes I have taken. I am excited to see your future DVD'S of specific cake projects.
Mitzi Brignac
Even back then you had natural talent! I remember going to classes with my mom 40 years ago and I have just started decorating this January! Thanks for sharing!
Even your 'rough' icing looks better than my 'smooth' icing on a good day! But thanks to your Perfecting the Art of Buttercream DVD, I'm slowly improving!
skirt2131@hotmail.com
My first cake was an 8" round with Wilton roses. The cake shows thru because I didn't have any idea how to ice a cake.
Now, a whole 4 months later, I'm going to be brave and bring in, not one, but TWO, cakes to the 2010 ICES Cake Shack. I'm SO tickled you showed your humble beginnings cakes, because if you can do it, SO CAN I!!! See you at ICES! Christina
It's nice to know there is hope for me in 20 years! Hopefully, I will perfect my decorating as you did. I started with classes at Michael's also. It's a bug you catch and can't get rid of! Thanks Sharon for sharing all your secrets on your DVD's, they have so much info on them!
Ellen
I remember my first cake… I was 8! 🙂 I made a 3 layer round with terrible pink buttercream roses and DARK DARK DARK green vines all over the cake! (This was before I realized that more coloring WASN'T always better.) Haha… those were the days.
I love looking at your cake pictures. You have come so far. It reminds me that everyone starts somewhere and that I have a chance of being as wonderful at decorating as you are. I love your videos and the ideas and techniques that I can learn and incorporate into my cake business.
i recently found some of my mother's plastic cake decorations–including the Wilton clown heads. 30 years later and they still freak me out. How far caking has come!
Hi I started cake decorating about 1 year ago i never took a class so i think its great that you share with us, i like to read you on your blog and i also fallow you on facebook, thank you for inspiraring me …. i hope i win been wanting to see one of your dvd 🙂
I love pictures from the past and all the sweet "rememberings" that go along with them. Thank you for sharing.
Linda H.
Thank you for sharing those "first" photos with us all, it does take one back in time.
I have always wanted to do cake decorating and I do have a photo of my first wedding anniversary cake that I did 42yrs ago. But, would have to "dig" through the loads of photographs to find it.
Anything for a laugh…..right?
I remember one of my first cakes was for my daughter's first birthday. It was a cake shaped like a cat on top of a sheet cake. During the party the cat's head fell off. I was in tears!!!! 🙂
Wow, you really have come a LONG way. I haven't decorated as long as you but I'm enjoying it. But I forgot to take pictures sometimes. =S Anyway, I love your DVDs and have learned a lot from them. THANK YOU!!!! =D
I built my very first cake last weekend! It was such a wonderful feeling to come away having learned soooo much about making a cake (especially with fondant) by just jumping in head first.
Here's my blog post on it: http://butter2mybread.blogspot.com/2010/07/i-built-you-cake.html
So nice to see that you have been a beginner once too ;o) Thanks for sharing..
It's amazing sometimes what one can find deep into the boxes hideing away.
It's nice to see that even you had humble beginnings!
Love your plastic accessory fondness!!
Sharon…you are just awesome to show us your early work and for sharing so much with us!
those cakes are amazing!
Hard work pays OFF And you have proved it.Thanks for sharing.
Sharon, You and you cakes are amazing. I absolutely love all of your tutorials. Thank you for sharing!
Danella
danella_lovett@yahoo.com
I hate to show my age, but I, too, have lots of those types of photos from the early 1990s. Cake decorating has come a long way. Clearly you had talent from day one! Love your instructional videos — they are the BEST! Thanks, Colleen
I love looking back at old cake photos, it shows how much you have improved and evolved your style over the years. One of my fave photos is the one that got me really obsessed with cake decorating properly, rather than just as basic cakes – I got obsessed with sugarcraft! Long may it reign.
This is too funny! We found a photo of my first "theme" cake. ( I created a fishing cake for my husbands 24th birthday…complete with Ken doll and fish ornaments ) Often talked about over the last 10 years. Looking at the photo now….I'm horrified! Based on the expression captured in the photo…so was my husband. Thankfully…I've come a long way baby! It's great to remind ourselves how far we've come! Thanks for sharing your humble beginnings.
Thanks for sharing the photos! I think I have a few of those hiding in my drawer, I'm afraid to bring them out, but that is actually a great idea! I'm sure my students would love to see that my cakes started out just like theirs!!! Thanks for all that you do!
ginger soave
Love looking at your old cake photos. Reminds me that we all have to start somewhere 🙂
Wooow, 23 years of experience! And I have only ONE 🙂 . But, hey, you make PERRRRRFECT cakes, and most of all you are a great teacher; and that should be the greatest achievement that anyone is expecting after a long period of learning & practicing.
Regarding my "first cakes", I have a few photos on my blog with the first creations, put them there to see from where I've started, and where I am today…there is a tiny evolution :-)))
Well it's sure fun to look back at your old picks. It's true we all have to start somewhere and look where you are now. You go girl!! I too have come a long way in learning and have much more to go. Thanks for your wonderful dvd's because they are the best!
For a beginner, your cakes look great! The only direction you can go is up!!! Keep up the exceptional work!!!!
I remember growing up watching my mom decorate cakes. I remember those plastic decorations LOL! I would of never thought I'd be decortating cakes myself one day!
How fun! It proves that all anyone needs is practice and more practice. I love your cakes and videos. Thank you for sharing!!
Love it! I can't wait 'till the day I can look back and say, OMG. My cakes have a LONG way to go before I ever come close to yours! Thanks so much for sharing! I'm with everyone else on this one…it gives us hope! Thanks again and God Bless!
Wow! 23 years. I began decorating ten years ago when a friend wanted to learn, so I tagged along to a class with her. Now, I love doing cakes!
Seeing where you started to where you've become, gives us beginners hope! Thanks!
I am glad to know that I am not the only one that started out that way! Love the DVDs!
DoubleACakes!
I have been waiting patiently for you to post the pictures after you commented on them on FB last week when you found them! It is so reassuring to me to see that you started exactly where I did — and that I can keep my hope alive that one day I will create a cake that will rival one of yours! I may need about 10 more classes with you — but maybe someday huh? Thanks Sharon – you will never know what an inspiration you are to so many – in so many different ways!
Sharon, you are such an inspiration. Seeing your early work makes me feel encouraged. Practice really does pay off! Thanks for all you do,
Donna
Thanks for allowing us to join you on your trip down memory lane. Your first cakes were much more ambitious than mine. My first cake was a sheet cake decorated to look like a man's shirt complete with plastic collar and tie. It didn't take a whole lot of "skill" but I was so, so proud of it.
I'm an RN. I don't have a lot of time to dedicate to baking. I love to bake and decorate cakes. That is my stress reliever. I remeber those Wilton classes. I was so proud of my first cakes.
Not sure why my post came across as anonymous but I wrote the one about the sheet cake decorated like a man's shirt. Sorry for the extra post.
I find things about every cake that I wish I had done differently. That's what makes the next one better and the more you practice the better they get.
I love looking at first-time cakes ~ it really makes you realize how far you've come. Stay cool!
I see a lot my my first cakes in yours. I can only hope that my cakes will look as good as yours as I continue.
Love the old pics..thanks for sharing!!!
from GChen
LOL. funny to look back. my most memorable 1st was with those black diamond sheets. I added to a white cake for my hubby's birthday. The next morning it bled into the white and was pinkish all along where the diamonds met the white. man, i was so bummed. thanks for all your awesome dvds!
gchen2020@yahoo.com
I love looking back at my first creations, makes me realize how far I've come. I can't believe people used to "ooh and aah" over those! The biggest improvement with my cakes is when I started using your techniques from the DVD's. I can't thank you enough!
Thanks for sharing Sharon! I'm lovin the plastic decorations!!
Meredith (from NC purse class)
Oh how fun to see some of your first cakes…
You really have come a long way baby!
You should see my first cakes – they are terrible! Thank you for sharing!
missy93073@yahoo.com
Shazam, It's so cool to see your humble beginnings. I love that we can view your journey from where you started to where you are now, and it's a millions miles in between. However, the not so cool part for us 'beginners' is that your then is MY NOW and I still have a long way to go….Lol. Thanks for sharing so much with us. 😀
Sherry
cakelover@cox.net
I love your "In the beginning Cakes" the icing looks like my beginning cakes. I hate to shoot images of the cakes because I can see that they do not look that great but I do want a history to follow so I can see how I have improved. No matter how bad the cake is I will shoot an image just so I know one day that I did improve! YAY for the give-a-way.
Diana
So, it is possible for me to make cakes that look as good as yours. I just need to practice, practice, practice!
I remember wanting to do fondant so desperately and it didn't like me very much! Hmmm, I think I'll leave those pictures in the box a while longer! Better now because of techniques I learned from your videos. thanks Girl, You Rock
Thanks for sharing your old school photos. Congratulations to 23 years of great cake decorating!
I am STILL "In the Beginning . . " so I truly appreciate hearing from you and everyone for that matter! I will continue to work at it, whether it is only part-time or not, but I bring cakes into my work like you did. I am looking forward to purchasing your DVDs one day. Hopefully, in a year or so I will be looking back as you are been and say, wow . . look where I started and where I am now. Thank you so much for all your help.
Thanks for the pics. It's cool to see how your talents have grown over the years. Not saying you weren't great in the beginning. =0)
Thanks for sharing the pictures and the hope for all of us out here.
Thank you for sharing your photos!!
There is hope for me!!! Thank you Jesus!! 🙂 Love your videos.
Roselyn Llanos-Robles
What fun! Thanks for sharing with us! It's fun to see were you started. I also like looking back at my first pictures, it helps keep me motivated because I know I've progressed.
Postng the photos helps us all know that you have to start out at the very begining and build your skills, I teach and some students are expecting their cakes to look like a cake they have saw on TV and seem to be disappointed with their work. So thanks again for showing us your start and what we can achieve if we keep trying and buying your videos!!!!
Darlene
Wow, talk about giving someone hope! Your early cakes look a lot like mine! LOL, maybe 23 years from now mine will look as good as yours do now. Thanks to your great DVD's, maybe it'll be that much sooner.
I am a newbie, and learning each day new things. Thanks so much for sharing your craft with us. I do appreciate it, and learn so much.
Thanks for posting these! Gives beginners like me a lot of hope!
Sharon,
Thank you for sharing so much with us, you inspire us to became fabulous 😉
Sharon…I LOVE your cakes and DVD's! I think you've brought each one of us hope and inspiration when you posted your first cakes on your blog for us! I thought you were just born with these amazing skills, so it's nice to see the progression, and, it's not a let-down at all for me to come to the realization that you don't possess Super-Human Decorating Powers like WonderWoman, which is what I originally thought 😉
Thanks for sharing these. You are so very talented, and it was fun to see how you started out!
Christy Kirby
I've only been decorating for a year and half. Took the Wilton classes last fall. I loved looking at your first cakes…and LOVE your DVD's. I've improved alot since I got my first one.
kimelderbarton@hotmail.com
Your pictures are proof that I can someday be just like you! lol. I just have to keep working at it. You continually amaze me with your skill and creativity, and the dvd's I've already bought have been so helpful. Thank you for sharing your talent with us!
Jeanie O'Bryan
Love seeing those early pics. Makes me think there IS hope for me! LOL When we see the amazing work you do, we sometimes forget, everyone has to start somewhere. Thanks so much for sharing your awsome talent! – Deb
Thanks for sharing. Not many professionals share their beginning experiences. Cake decorating itself has come a long way!!
It just goes to show learning new things embellishes your creativity in a way that when you look back you feel good about how far you've come.
I just wish that my first cakes looked that good! I'm still new but I have lots of your DVDs so there is hope for me yet!!
I just loved looking at your old cakes. I remember making the sugar basket and putting it on a cake when I was a teenager. I took classes, put down the bag until my children were born and then did their b'day cakes. After becoming handicapped, I picked up the bag again and started decorating for therapy and ministry. I hav come a long way and someday will hopefully become a semi pro at sugar art. You dvd's have been such a help and inspiration! THanks. Elaine from ALabama
Wow! Thanks so much for sharing your photos! It gives me hope that with lots of practice I can someday be a fabulous decorator like you. Thanks! Beth
haha! So awesome to see pictures from when you first started! I think back at some of my cakes with the icing recipe that was given for class and how I used it for some of my first customers….GAAAG! And how we all thought that icing was "good"… who knew there were better ones out there! Thank goodness for internet and SugarEd!
I recently started creating cakes. I have most of your DVD's and they are great!
My first cake was a coconut covered Bunny rabbit face with licorice whip whiskers. I thought it was da BOMB! 🙂 Vik
Thanks for sharing Sharon, you'll always be my cake decorating hero!
Would never guess these were "beginner" cakes!
Oh, what a long way you have come! Yes, I have pics of my first cakes: boards without foil, crooked borders and edges, roses and the like. Thanks for the flashback!
These are great. Thanks for sharing. Just goes to show, practice make perfect!!
OMG, 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!
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'?