Smile Politely

I took a Hunny Bunny Bakes cookie decorating class at the new CU flower house

Alyssa Buckley

I took a cookie decorating class with Mary Enright, the owner and founder of Hunny Bunny Bakes, in the gorgeous space at CU flower house on Neil Street by Old Time Meat & Deli. The space acts as a co-op for Hunny Bunny Bakes and the CU flower shop in addition to Apricity Ink, a local calligraphy business. 

A green counter with black flower art is the feature counter in the CU flower house. Photo by Alyssa Buckley.Photo by Alyssa Buckley.

Everywhere I looked inside the new space was stunning.

There is a beautiful white gown with feathers on a black mannequin, and several shirts on hangers in front of a black wall. Photo by Alyssa Buckley. Photo by Alyssa Buckley.

It’s so pretty I can’t even.

Two long black benches are pulled up to a long table with a brown craft paper table cover. There is a feature wall behind that is black with flowers. Photo by Alyssa Buckley.Photo by Alyssa Buckley.

This is the table where we got to decorate winter cookies.

On a table covered with brown craft paper, there are piping bags of blue, white, red, and green icing. There is a metal pan with eight cookies in four different shapes. Photo by Alyssa Buckley.Photo by Alyssa Buckley.

Eight unfrosted cookies, several bags of colorful icing, and other tools were all provided by the bakery. Each person in the class had their own stash of icing, cookies, and tools that we got to take home after the class.

On a metal pan, two wreaths made out of icing with red circles sit on parchment paper. Photo by Alyssa Buckley.Photo by Alyssa Buckley.

The first thing we learned was how to make a wreath out of icing. I was so scared of this difficult task, and I was totally sure that mine would be horrendous looking, but somehow, with Hunny Bunny Bakes’ instructions, my little wreaths actually looked so cute!

The author's tray of cookies in the process of being decorated. Photo by Alyssa Buckley.Photo by Alyssa Buckley.

This is a progress picture. Look at those smooth iced cookies that I decorated myself. It looks hard to do, but learning how to do this in the class was easy.

Hunny Bunny Bakes made sure we all knew what we were doing. Sometimes, I did not know what I was doing, and she was there to help. She explained how to make flowers twice to me and even squirted icing flower petals on the back of her hand, so I could see what she meant.

On a metal baking pan, there are eight frosted cookies, empty piping bags beside it. Photo by Alyssa Buckley.Photo by Alyssa Buckley.

Here are my finished cookies. If you don’t look too closely, you can see how seriously cute they are! If you do look closely, you’ll see that I am not a cookie decorater, but I tried.

This class was so much fun, and I highly recommend it if you have a chance. The setting is just gorgeous, and the teacher was awesome. She explained everything step-by-step and made me feel comfortable by saying that all cookies look a little ugly at some point in the decorating process but to keep going. Private classes for a group are available in addition to offered classes with sign up dates. Email Hunny Bunny Bakes for more info or follow the bakery on Facebook.

Inside the CU flower house, there are a pair of yellow chairs with a swing in between. Photo by Alyssa Buckley.Photo by Alyssa Buckley.

The class is $40 for two hours of cookie decorating. In the class, you can learn four designs to frost eight cookies.

Hunny Bunny Bakes
2006 S Neil Street
Champaign
T-Sa 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Top image by Alyssa Buckley.

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