Simply Modern Cake Design by Jessica Harris: A Craftsy Class Review

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I recently had the opportunity to choose a Craftsy class to watch and review and my choice was Simply Modern Cake Design by Jessica Harris (of Jessicakes).  This is not my first Craftsy class (I have 15 classes in “My Craftsy” including some of the free ones) and it’s also not my first class by Jessica Harris – I’m a huge fan of hers too!

So first up… are you familiar with Craftsy?

If not, Craftsy offers hundreds of online classes in quilting, sewing, knitting, cake decorating, art, photography, cooking and many more categories. They bring the world’s best instructors to you – in convenient and affordable online classes. You can learn at your pace with easy-to-follow HD video lessons that you can access on your computer and mobile device anytime, anytime (over and over again if you wish), anywhere, forever.

That’s right folks… you can take cake decorating classes at home in your PJ’s at midnight if you like. 🙂 Are you signing up yet?

Okay – so let me tell you about this most recent class that I took: Simply Modern Cake Design by Jessica Harris. Here’s the description from Craftsy:

Create bold designs like honeycomb, scallops, metallic lace and more, with step-by-step guidance! Join Jessica Harris, cake designer and instructor of Clean and Simple Cake Design, and find out how to select the perfect color palettes for your cakes, craft seamless extended tiers for an incredibly elegant look and masterfully incorporate gold and silver metallics. Make beautiful lace with a cutting-edge method, discover the secrets to creating hidden designs that give your cakes depth and form four chic accent flowers – both edible wafer paper and gum paste varieties – to top off your cakes with fabulous style! Plus, enjoy the included templates – exclusive to Craftsy – for four contemporary cakes.

As you can see, this class is packed full of information – so much to learn and so many ways to improve your cake decorating skills. Specifically, you’ll learn all the needed techniques to complete these 6 modern and beautiful cake designs…

The first thing that really got my attention was in lesson 2. Jessica shows her method for building a double-barrel cake (she calls it an extended tier cake). The lesson gives step by step instructions while she demonstrations putting it together.

I’ve build double-barrel cakes before, but I learned a few new tips that I think will really help me have a cleaner finish the next time around. And if you’ve never build a tier that is 6″ or 8″ tall – this class will definitely help you do it successfully! I wont’ give away all of her secrets, but I’m confident you will be happy you took this class!

In addition to the straight-up video lessons (that I can take in my PJ’s – did I mention that? 🙂 ) , what I really love about this class (and all Craftsy cake classes actually) is that in the class materials, you get a list of all the tools used in the class so you can get them for yourself to achieve the same results.

I hate to read or watch a tutorial online and then not be able to find the materials to recreate the same thing at home. But you don’t have to worry about that with Craftsy – a list is included for everything that you’ll need and often where you can find the items!

Moving on, in lesson 4 of the class, Jessica’s shares all of her techniques for getting a shiny, metallic finish. If you’ve ever been intimidated by the use of metallics or silver-leaf (like me), this is a class you must watch!

Jessica gives so much information about the different options to get that beautiful shiny effect – from silver leaf to luster dust to sprays – how to apply each and how to mix different colors of fondant with the different mediums to achieve different levels of sparkly and metallic shine!

She even has a board set up to actually show you all the different combinations (vs. just telling you about them)! Being a very visual person – I really appreciated seeing the combinations put together so I could really get the full picture.

And then the last thing I really loved in this class was learning how to make these beautiful abstract flowers that are trending in the cake world. The flowers in the class are so delicate and pretty and they’re much much easier than I thought they’d be to make.

I love her tips throughout the lesson sharing how to save time and headaches. And something I’ve always wondered about – she shows us how to attach those flowers to the cake so that you don’t have to worry about them falling off!

And last but not least, maybe the very best feature about Craftsy classes is that you can ask the instructors questions and they will answer you – every time. During the class I posted a question about some of the brushes Jessica used to apply the silver leaf and within a few hours, she had answered me. This makes me happy!

Does this sound like a class you could benefit from? If so, I’d encourage you to go sign up now!  You can get 25% off by signing up through this link! If you’re not sure, why not just sign up with Craftsy (it’s free!) and try one of the free mini courses first?  You have nothing to lose!

>>Sign-up for Simply Modern Cake Design Class<<