09/27/2026
Our 3rd Year Youth Baking Academy students put in some serious work this weekend as they continued developing their advanced Royal Icing skills.
This month, the focus was on string work, suspended piping, new border patterns, and more detailed Royal Icing techniques. Students practiced creating even, delicate lines, repeating patterns, dimensional accents, and decorative borders while learning how important icing consistency, hand pressure, spacing, and patience are to achieving a clean finished design.
String work can be especially challenging because the Royal Icing is piped away from the surface of the cake, requiring students to control the icing as it falls and connects from one point to another. As you can see in the photos, they worked through different styles, patterns, and approaches — and the progress throughout the weekend was wonderful to watch.
They also continued building their confidence with overpiping and decorative border work, combining multiple techniques to create more intricate, wedding-cake-inspired designs.
A very special thank you to Satin Ice for supporting our Academy and providing the meringue powder our students use for their Royal Icing work. Your continued support helps give our young decorators the opportunity to practice these traditional and advanced techniques hands-on.
We would also again like to thank Ceri Griffiths for the incredible resource we are using in class. His book - Design Inspirations - has been such a valuable teaching tool as our students study piping patterns, borders, and traditional cake decorating techniques. Being able to reference professional examples while practicing helps our students understand not only how a design is created, but how those individual piping elements can come together on a finished cake.
Third Year is all about moving beyond the basics and developing greater precision, control, design awareness, and confidence — and this group is definitely putting in the work.
Take a look through the photos and leave our bakers a little encouragement. These techniques take a lot of patience and practice, and they are doing a beautiful job continuing to grow their skills. 🤎🩵
