It’s a Cake Decorating Party

To register call (707)884-1138.

Just in time for December’s “Let Them Eat Cake!” fine arts cake exhibit, cake artist Shani Christenson shows you how!

In this 3.5 hour class, Mendocino cake artist Shani Christenson will demonstrate beginning cake decorating skills, focusing on techniques that don’t require fancy and expensive tools. She will have lots of tips and tricks for making beautiful and delicious cakes, such as:

How to make Swiss Meringue buttercream

How to properly level, fill, stack and frost a three-layer cake like a pro!

Techniques for beautiful textured buttercream finishes

Introduction to fondant and basic fondant embellishments and fondant fantasy flowers

How to cover a cake in fondant

How to properly stack a two-tier cake

Participants will take home a few of Christenson’s signature recipes, including her rich dark chocolate cake, a versatile vanilla sponge cake recipe, Swiss meringue buttercream recipe, and fresh fruit compote. 

After the demonstration, workshop participants will eat cake and have tea and share personal art and cake ideas with Shani.

Shani’s cake adventures began with her love for baking special treats for her family combined with her obsessive need to be creative and make beautiful things. Sweet art was her calling and she jumped in whole heartedly.  Unable to afford pastry school or  formal classes, Shani did her best to gather knowledge where she could, using Youtube, tutorials, Craftsy, books – anything she could get her hands on – and she has turned her love for sweet art into a thriving custom cake business.

Shani has been creating artisan cakes for 4 years now and loving every minute of it.  She has had several creations published in magazines and had the wonderful honor of placing first in the Advanced Wedding Cake category at “That Takes the Cake Sugar Art Show and Competition” in 2016 and also took best in division.  One of her all-time favorite cakes placed in the top five of the 2015 “Threadcakes” contest. Definitely an exciting highlight of Shani’s caking journey so far!  The next step in her cake adventure is teaching. Shani is now creating online tutorials and teaching at cake shows across the United States. She hopes to eventually offer international classes.

Registration, Payment & Cancellation Policy

Register at Gualala Arts Center, Monday through Friday, 10 am to 4 pm or call (707) 884-1138.     We accept Visa and Mastercard. Out of town workshop participants: see our Visitor Informationpage, including lodgings & restaurants.

Class must be paid in full at registration. Payments can be refunded (minus a $25 non-refundable fee) until the “register by” date; after that date, no refunds. Classes are filled on a first come first served basis until all spaces are filled. All classes are subject to minimum and maximum enrollment. If the class does not fill, you will receive a full refund. Please check that your class has filled before the first meeting date.