My fascination for decorated cakes came early in life when my brothers and I would pore over the Australian Women’s Weekly “Children’s Birthday Cake Book.” Every Australian home with children has this book, and at each birthday party one attends, a cake from its pages is inevitably present. Would we have the duck with popcorn feathers, Smiley Shark or the number eight made into a race track? This decision-making process filled many rainy days on our farm, the anticipation sometimes greater than the cake itself.

My urge to decorate only grew stronger after I had my first child. My crazed “must be the perfect mother” brain ranted: No son of mine would have a store-bought cake! It would instead be a home-baked creation to remember. One that stood out in old family photos, and showed him just how loved he was.

Soon I bought things like fondant and crimpers. But how to use them?

I checked out every cake-decorating book in the library. I painstakingly followed the directions, but things never quite turned out the way they showed. My cakes were lumpy and ragged. I struggled alone in my kitchen for a while feeling lost and inadequate, which the “perfect mother” brain helped along.

One day at Home Cake Decorating, Seattle’s best-stocked decorating supply store, I confessed I needed help. They gave me a card for Linda Reese, cake decorating teacher to all, decorated artist and knower of all things sugar. I was saved.

Linda came to be a cake decorator when she took a beginner class at Green River Community College. She too wanted to learn some tricks for making cakes for her kids. At the end of the 10-week session, the teacher, who was retiring, asked Linda to take over, and thus a cake decorator was born.

What followed were long stints teaching for King County Parks and Recreation, decorating at a local bakery, teaching classes at many local cake venues and numerous trips abroad to instruct in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, England and Scotland. On her walls are many silver award plates that she has won in Washington State.

For years she has been a demonstrator at the annual convention of the International Cake Exploration Society (ICES). Established in 1976, it is an internationally known venue for cake decorators both amateur and professional. Linda has been decorating for 35 years, teaching for 34. She has published several books and a two-disc interactive software set, which are helpful tools. None of them is nearly as helpful as time with her in the classroom. The list of class topics she currently teaches is long: fondant modeling, covering a cake with fondant, stacking cakes, piping figures, holiday-themed decorating, cookies, dipped cupcakes, gum paste. I want to take them all.

When I took my first class with Linda, I was nervous that I would be the newbie. I had visions of people elegantly piping calla lilies and swans while I struggled to fill my bag, piping tips exploding from my shaking hands. What if my inadequate buttercream frosting pooled in a greasy puddle on my lap? Would my pathetic attempts at piping a daisy draw ridicule and scorn? It turns out my fears were unfounded. One of the many wonderful strengths of Linda as a teacher is her ability to make her classes appeal and translate to all levels.

Cake decorating employs several different methods. You can pipe decorations in buttercream, sculpt with fondant or gum paste and paint or cover in chocolate. Each of Linda’s classes focuses on a particular technique, style or material. At one session, a woman who had never touched a piping bag was seated next to a professional decorator who was coming to Linda for a brush up. All are welcome and all leave with simple new techniques and endless inspiration.

On this particular evening we are learning to make poinsettias, in both fondant and gum paste. As both of these materials keep for a long time, it is not necessary to strictly follow the seasons when crafting special seasonal decorations. Gum paste is a lot like modeling clay, only it is edible and leaves a sticky sheen on your hands, which is tempting to lick. It can be rolled very thin for life-like flowers. Fondant is a rolled frosting that is like sugar-sweet edible Play-Doh. It is heavier and softer-looking than gum paste; it doesn’t give you the fine, lifelike quality but it is very fast and fun to work with.

I make my way to the basement classroom that Linda has in her house in White Center. A long table is laid out with mats and cutters and printed materials for the class. I want to dive in straight away, kneading at my fondant like a madwoman. The tiny room is crammed with all the essential cake decorating tools. I find my eye lingering on the shelf full of giant bottles of gel colors.

We start with the gum paste to allow time for drying. Linda shows us how to attach the petals and stamens to floral wire. A poinsettia needs 19 petals so there is much time for the discussion of all things cake: where to buy hard-to-find supplies, little tricks of the trade, and answers to all our decorating questions. I roll and roll. My leaves seem clumsy and thick next to the delicate specimens Linda has demonstrated, but I am having fun. Each petal is a little better than the last.

Linda is always encouraging, even while gently correcting your mistakes. There is very little that she doesn’t know about cake decorating. Her favorite classes to teach are the fantasy sugar modeling ones: fairies, elves and gnomes all in delicate gum paste or smooth fondant. She also likes showing people the art of piping buttercream flowers, a wide variety of which she demonstrates on her CD.

I am not sure what drives people to create cakes and candies in the image of inedible things. I know that I get excited when I see a gorgeous flower, perhaps with a few dew drops glimmering on its petals, and know that if I want to, I can eat it. My poinsettia petals are lying in cornstarch, drying. It is time to tackle the fondant poinsettia.

I start rolling and cutting my fondant. I seem to be creating a giant red starfish. Linda says that’s OK. Once the gum paste is dry, she shows us how to wire our petals together and wrap the stems in floral tape. We paint with luster dust, a sparkly powder that makes pieces glow and take on a more realistic hue. Pretty soon things that look a lot like poinsettias emerge, in all their spiky red glory.

All too soon the 2 1/2 hours are up and I am left covered in sugar and clutching two very precious flowers, which will adorn the winter party cakes my two sons will help me bake. The boys love to help, and they love to pore over the same Australian Women’s Weekly “Children’s Birthday Cake Book” that my brothers and I adored. I secretly hope that they’ll be happy with the simple options for another few years, but if they do request the popcorn-feathered duck, I know where I can get the help I’ll need.

As I make my way out to my car I notice that Linda’s license plate is “IDOCAKES.” This statement seems a trifle modest, but then so is Linda.

Linda teaches regular classes at several locations. To sign up for her e-newsletter, visit her website at classeswithlindareese.com.

When Amy Broomhall is not baking, she is a voice actor and vocal coach. Her ambition is to one day be a finalist in the Pillsbury Bake-Off. She blogs regularly at Edible Seattle's blog, The Fresh Sheet.