Nancy Waters and daughter, Zae, made certain they had a sweet girls’ weekend.
When the Indianapolis pair learned the Wilton Sweet Studio was offering its first in-person class since the pandemic sidelined such fun four years ago, they eagerly signed up.
The weekend was to celebrate Nancy’s upcoming 60th birthday on Aug. 26 and Naperville became their getaway destination.
“My mom is baking my best friend’s wedding cake and I wanted to help,” said Zae, 29, who will help decorate the cake for the Oct. 19 wedding.
“We’ll do the Riverwalk (during our trip to Naperville),” Nancy said. “(We) visited Kilwin’s. And, we had some Chicago (hot) dogs last night.”
The mother and daughter were among 16 women who learned the secrets of cake decorating from a seasoned veteran the morning of April 17. Students each paid $109 for the 2½-hour class.
Formerly called Wilton School of Cake Decorating and Confectionary Art, the Wilton Sweet Studio is on the fourth floor at the Naperville company’s headquarters at 535 E. Diehl Road.
The Wilton company, which has manufactured cake decorating and bakeware products since 1929, has been offering classes for years. For than three decades, Sandy Folsom, director of the Wilton Sweet Studio, taught them at a location in a Darien strip mall.
“To be at corporate (now) is unbelievable,” she said.
When the class started at 9:30 a.m. sharp, Folsom told students, “once you come into my classroom, you’re like a sponge.”
She offered instruction at a table in front of the room with each action shown on a video screen behind her.
“I want you to absorb everything I’m here to teach you, then go home with what you know. Then, come back for additional classes,” Folsom said.
Students came from Lansing, Chicago and other far-flung places. None called Naperville home.
“I’m from Gurnee. It was a hike,” Laura Makeever, 56, said of her one-hour drive.
“I started decorating cakes for charity earlier this year and I wanted to up my game. I knew about Wilton having classes. But when I went online to look for classes, they were closed.
“When they opened up, I signed up for the first class I could find,” Makeever said. “I love decorating and they have a great reputation.”
Cakes For Kids, which raises money for underserved children, is her charity of choice.
“I like the creativity of it, making something for somebody else to enjoy. I love putting a smile on somebody’s face,” Makeever said.
“For me, it’s very therapeutic,” she said.
Folsom and education coordinator Casey Puehler strolled through the classroom offering advice. One student was told to “add more buttercream to fill the gaps.”
“I’m taking it and pulling toward myself. You can take the extra frosting in and do it again. You don’t want to press too hard,” she demonstrated with a small spatula.
Alexis Lester, 33, lives in far south suburban Lansing, but didn’t mind the long drive as she works near the Wilton headquarters.
Lester’s goal: Improve her decorating skills.
“I’ve done my kids’ cakes and watched (decorating tips) on TikTok,” Lester said as she used an edible gel to create teal-colored buttercream for her cake.
All the equipment was in place for students who hung on Folsom’s every word.
Each decorated a two-layer white cake baked prior to the class, choosing from a rainbow of color gels to mix into white buttercream.
Silver metal tips of various shapes allowed the decorator to make different designs of various sizes.
Folsom, who could probably decorate a cake in her sleep, said “squeezing, squeezing, gently, no heavy pressure” as she showed how to make a flower.
“Let the icing do the magic. You’re just guiding the position,” she said. “Remember, this is your project, your cake.”
Folsom encourages students to share ideas: “Why I love teaching so much is we continue to learn from the neighbors around you.”
Afterwards, Nancy Waters said she liked how Folsom started the class by demonstrating how to properly frost a cake, something she was did not know beforehand.
Students took their cakes home along with goodie bags filled with baking-related items like candles and cupcake foils.
Makeever, whose cake had flowers on the top and cascading down the side, said she found the class “very fun.”
“I learned some tips to make decorating a little easier,” she said. “Filling the piping bags, making sure the cake is even and level. And, that it should be fun. It doesn’t have to be perfect.”
Lester called the class “very informative,” adding it was better than watching TikTok or YouTube.
“(Instructors) can tell me what I need to work on and I can see what I need to work on,” she said, adding her 10-year-old son would enjoy eating the results of her creativity.
Shanta McGahey, director of branding community for Wilton, said the return of in-person classes is “so exciting.”
“Education is the foundation of Wilton. It’s how Wilton started. It’s what we do. We’ve been in this industry for 95 years. … To bring that legacy here to the headquarters, it means a lot for the employees, for our students.
“We see ourselves as the leaders in decorating and baking. So, to us, it’s important to carry on that joy of baking and decorating into the new generations,” McGahey said.
“Anything can be purchased at a bakery or a store,” she said, “(but) there’s something really special of making it yourself. There’s the creativity. The pride in doing it. … There’s a lot of love in this type of thing.”
Steve Metsch is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.
