Way back in the spring, I bought a Groupon for a new venture in Toronto – a cupcake decorating class at Le Dolci. Shamefully, I have not had the time to use it but last weekend, I finally got my chance to check it out and see what all the fuss is about.
Located in a gorgeous Phillipe Starck building in downtown Toronto, the studio is a lovely cosy space – not intimidating at all – that feels like you are just hanging out with a bunch of friends and all of a sudden you decide to decorate some cupcakes with fondant and butter cream.
Since this was an “introduction” class, we didn’t to anything too complicated, which suited me just fine. Decorating is not my strong suit so basic is great for me. Even though we didn’t get too technical, I think we all produced some amazing cakes and surprised ourselves! The cakes are made the day before (fabulous, light and fluffy) and Le Dolci has everything you could possibly need to decorate at your disposal…
Led by the fearless Lisa, we learned how to colour our fondant, roll it out and cut it in the shapes we liked. So therapeutic!
I actually could have spent hours rolling and colouring the fondant. Just like Plah Doh, only delicious.
Once we’d rolled out circles to cover the tops of the cakes, we set to work making pretty shapes…
Some people were VERY creative – check out the Hello Kitty, the football and the train below!
Once we’d mastered the fondant (well, kind of!), we got to work on the buttercream. Pre-prepared in a rainbow of colours.
Lisa demonstrated different piping techniques with each of the different piping tips.
And look mum – so proud of what I managed (and only a few had to be done twice!)
And here are my fondant creations. Very basic but I kind of liked them!
Taking them home in the box, I had a number of conversations and many admiring looks from other passengers on my streetcar. Nobody could believe that I had made them!
Le Dolci offer a variety of sweet classes including: cupcakes, cake pops, cake and cookie decorating classes. They also teach classes on how to create deliciously Parisian macarons, RAW cupcakes, truffles, and more! All classes are two hours, hands-on & full of icing sugar fun!
The class list also includes monthly themed classes for special occasions such as Valentines Day, Pride, Easter, Halloween & Christmas. The wedding cupcake class teaches participants how to make the most elegant wedding cupcakes and their popular designer cupcake class is the perfect gift for the fashion lover in your life – in this class participants learn how to make the most luxurious Tiffany, Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Prada handbags and jewellery!
Classes are held in downtown Toronto; pre-booking only. Check out the schedule here. And hey, if you live in Toronto and are free on November 4th or December 2nd, there are still a few spaces available in the macaron classes that (gulp!) I am teaching!
The class inspired my entry in the National Watermelon Promotion Board’s watermelon carving challenge for bloggers. Check out how I made a watermelon cupcake!
Lastly I am super proud to announce my new baby – Food Bloggers of Canada, a joint collaboration between the Pongky Musketeers – Melissa, Ethan and I.
We’re happy to finally share what we’ve been working on for the past few months and hope it will be a wonderful new way for Canadian food bloggers to connect, online and eventually in person. Join up, join the discussion – we’d love to meet you all there!
Holy mole Mardi…..when you humbly describe your cupcakes as ‘simple’ it makes me cringe at the multitudes of swipe-frosted-and-go cupcakes I’ve offered up to the world over the years. They are completely darling. Love the colors. If these aren’t happy-making, nothing is. Sounds like it was a great class and right up your talented alley!
Well it makes me realise how much easier it was than I thought!
I’m so impressed! Really, truly. This is great work, my friend!
🙂 Thanks Brian!
How fun! I could spend the whole day doing that (especially if someone else has the clean-up!) I love the ones you made, great post!
Yes the no cleanup is sure a bonus!
How fun! That class sounds like a blast! Your creations look great, Ive always wanted to work with fondant…
xoxo from Trinidad
🙂 Thanks for stopping by!
If I ever make it back to Toronto this could be a great way to spend an afternoon.
Thank you for sharing. I love your watermelon an FBC projects
It’s a fun place to hang out, for sure!
This looked like it was so much fun!! I wanna take a class like this!
It was a lot of fun indeed!
So much fun! So much you can do with fondant… And so tasty! Well done!!
I never imagined how easy it would be to work with!
My goodness, look at these vibrant colours. A class like this certainly would make anyone want to go back to school! Congratulations on your venture with Food Bloggers of Canada. Great initiative.
Thanks Jill!
I think decorating IS your strong suit!!! These are gorgeous cupcakes!!!
You flatter me!
That seems like a whole lot of fun!! You did really well on the piping and decorating. They all look gorgeous!
Thanks – I surprised myself!
Wow I wish we had groupons for something like this in Montreal. Such an awesome class and love your decorating skills.
These are so cute! I’ve never covered my cupcakes in fondant before, they look so neat and pretty! Maybe I’ll have to look into a cupcake decorating class in NYC!
Oh that would be fun! Yes the fondant is neat and pretty!
What a fun looking class and great cuppies!!
So much fun!
Love the buttercream cupcakes, especially the ‘grass-like’ one! And congrats on launching the FBC venture, it sounds like you put it a lot of work into it with the rest!
Yes that grass piping tip sure is fun!
Your cupcakes look wonderful! I’m afraid I don’t have the decorating gene…
It’s so much easier than it looks!
What fun! All beautiful colors and shapes make for a sweet and happy experience!
Indeed!
I’ve never worked with fondant before, I would love to try! Such fun colors! Next time you’re in Paris, you should get Cat Beurnier of Sugar Daze to give you a lesson – she’s brilliant!
Oh that would be amazing!
The best part of these cupcakes – though only ONE made it to me! – was that neither the fondant nor icing were sickly sweet, as you usually see on cupcakes in North America. Mmmm…
Yes I liked that too!
Thanks for your watermelon entry Mardi! These watermelon cupcakes look awesome 🙂
🙂 You’re welcome!
Man.. I want to go to that class too! I can’t decorate my cupcakes at all…
It’s much easier than I thought!
Look at you rolling fondant and decorating cupcakes! I think you did a wonderful job and like that star with the curved points! Neat that you get to ride a streetcar home.
Your pumpkin cupcake is awesome! Congratulations again on the launch of what is going to be THE Canadian Blog!
🙂 Thanks Paula – coming from you it means a lot!
Got to keep Moochie from seeing this screen. She has no IDEA what she’s missing and is going to be a very disgruntled little girl if she finds out what her mom’s not doing. Beautiful!
Oh Carrie – it’s SO easy!
Mardi these are so CUTE! you did amazing! my decorating always looks like blobs. 🙁
I’ve always wanted to do a fondant class. I wish we could have done this one together. Maybe next time I’m in TO!
And yay FBC!
I definitely think we need to do a class next time you are here!
I saw a few sneak peek shots of these cupcakes and I thought they were beautiful… But now these look even more beautiful than I remembered. Bravo!
I tend to be much more of a buttercream fan when it comes to the eating, but those fondant cupcakes are absolutely adorable!
The fondant is certainly fun to work with!
gorgeous cupcakes, my friend!! i am so impressed – they look like something you’d see on a food network show – well done! and congratulations on your new FBC venture!
🙂 Thanks!