My mom made a cake/pie or some dessert once a week. She worked full time, so wasn't home all day, but that's ok, she made WONDERFUL yummies. On holidays and birthdays, she would make specialty cakes. One year I remember a doll cake she made. She decorated a doll torso and the bottom/skirt was the cake. Was gorgeous! In the winter, she would make a skating cake, using alum foil for the skating rink and put in a mountain, which was the cake. She'd make trains, cars, trucks, all sorts of things. She never took a class, she would just see the pictures in magazines and go from there.
Dang I miss her!!