Cake Decorating A Lesson In Confection Perfection

HANOVER — The room is so quiet you can hear a frosting flower droop. At Lorraine’s School of Cake Decorating, five women are bent over four cakes, each surrounded by shiny decorating tips, tubes of dye, shimmery colored powders, and everything else you can imagine might transform a simple cake.

Over the next two hours, the women apply techniques they’ve learned here and turn their homemade cakes into works of art. Co-owner Lorraine Frisbee moves from table to table, offering encouragement and suggestions. With TV shows on cake decorating and all kinds of magazines teaching readers how to make their confections look professional, classes such as this are in more demand.

Frisbee isn’t surprised that cake decorating has remained popular despite growing interest in healthy eating. “Everyone has a birthday, an anniversary, a baby shower,’’ she says. This time of year, home cooks go pro making cakes and cookies.

Spotting a student with deep purple fingers, Frisbee tells her, “If you rub shortening on your hands before you color your fondant, the dye won’t penetrate your skin.’’ To another she offers this advice: “A little pearl powder will make those roses pop.’’

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