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![Parents and students at El Rancho Charter School view 32 cakes on display as part of Marcy Hail’s 8th grade home economics project in Anaheim on Thursday, April 19, 2018. Examining the cakes are, from left, are Brooke Caffrey, 13, her mother Shari, and brothers Paul, 8, and Ryder, 10. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)]()
Parents and students at El Rancho Charter School view 32 cakes on display as part of Marcy Hail’s 8th grade home economics project in Anaheim on Thursday, April 19, 2018. Examining the cakes are, from left, are Brooke Caffrey, 13, her mother Shari, and brothers Paul, 8, and Ryder, 10. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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![An Hawaiian engagement party cake is one of the 32 themed cakes made by 8th grade students at El Rancho Charter School as part of a project in Marcy Hail’s home economics class. The cakes were on display during an open house at the school in Anaheim on Thursday, April 19, 2018. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)]()
An Hawaiian engagement party cake is one of the 32 themed cakes made by 8th grade students at El Rancho Charter School as part of a project in Marcy Hail’s home economics class. The cakes were on display during an open house at the school in Anaheim on Thursday, April 19, 2018. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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![Parents and students at El Rancho Charter School view 32 cakes made as part of Marcy Hail’s 8th grade home economics project during a open house at the school in Anaheim on Thursday, April 19, 2018. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)]()
Parents and students at El Rancho Charter School view 32 cakes made as part of Marcy Hail’s 8th grade home economics project during a open house at the school in Anaheim on Thursday, April 19, 2018. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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![A sample of 32 cakes made by El Rancho Charter School 8th grade students as part a project in Marcy Hail’s 8th grade home economics class. The cakes were on display during an open house at the school in Anaheim on Thursday, April 19, 2018. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)]()
A sample of 32 cakes made by El Rancho Charter School 8th grade students as part a project in Marcy Hail’s 8th grade home economics class. The cakes were on display during an open house at the school in Anaheim on Thursday, April 19, 2018. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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![A selection of some of the the 32 themed cakes made by 8th grade students at El Rancho Charter School as part of a project in Marcy Hail’s home economics class. The cakes were on display during an open house at the school in Anaheim on Thursday, April 19, 2018. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)]()
A selection of some of the the 32 themed cakes made by 8th grade students at El Rancho Charter School as part of a project in Marcy Hail’s home economics class. The cakes were on display during an open house at the school in Anaheim on Thursday, April 19, 2018. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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![El Rancho Charter School student Meray Ayyoub,13, adds dry ice to beakers to create smoke on her team’s mad scientist Halloween themed cake. The cake was one of 32 cakes made by students in Marcy Hail’s 8th grade home economics class and were on display during the school’s open house Anaheim on Thursday, April 19, 2018. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)]()
El Rancho Charter School student Meray Ayyoub,13, adds dry ice to beakers to create smoke on her team’s mad scientist Halloween themed cake. The cake was one of 32 cakes made by students in Marcy Hail’s 8th grade home economics class and were on display during the school’s open house Anaheim on Thursday, April 19, 2018. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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![A superhero themed birthday cake is one of the 32 themed cakes made by 8th grade students at El Rancho Charter School as part of a project in Marcy Hail’s home economics class. The cakes were on display during an open house at the school in Anaheim on Thursday, April 19, 2018. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)]()
A superhero themed birthday cake is one of the 32 themed cakes made by 8th grade students at El Rancho Charter School as part of a project in Marcy Hail’s home economics class. The cakes were on display during an open house at the school in Anaheim on Thursday, April 19, 2018. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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![The detailed top of a peacock themed bridal shower cake made by El Rancho Charter School 8th grade students as part of a project in Marcy Hail’s 8th grade home economics class. A total of 32 cakes were on display for the school’s open house in Anaheim on Thursday, April 19, 2018. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)]()
The detailed top of a peacock themed bridal shower cake made by El Rancho Charter School 8th grade students as part of a project in Marcy Hail’s 8th grade home economics class. A total of 32 cakes were on display for the school’s open house in Anaheim on Thursday, April 19, 2018. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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![A sample of 32 cakes made by El Rancho Charter School 8th grade students as part a project in Marcy Hail’s 8th grade home economics class. The cakes were on display during an open house at the school in Anaheim on Thursday, April 19, 2018. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)]()
A sample of 32 cakes made by El Rancho Charter School 8th grade students as part a project in Marcy Hail’s 8th grade home economics class. The cakes were on display during an open house at the school in Anaheim on Thursday, April 19, 2018. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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![Katy Carr takes a photo of the Paris themed bridal shower cake that her daughter, Teagan Carr, 14, made with her classmates in Marcy Hail’s 8th grade home economics class at El Rancho Charter School in Anaheim on Thursday, April 19, 2018. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)]()
Katy Carr takes a photo of the Paris themed bridal shower cake that her daughter, Teagan Carr, 14, made with her classmates in Marcy Hail’s 8th grade home economics class at El Rancho Charter School in Anaheim on Thursday, April 19, 2018. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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First they baked their cakes, then they spent about three days decorating them. And on Thursday, April 19, the students in Marcy Hail’s home economics class at El Rancho Charter School in Anaheim unveiled their finished work for guests and a panel of judges.
Cake decoration themes ran the gamut – from Earth Day to princesses.
“I tell them when you have a bakery, people come to you with a theme – they have to design the cake with that theme in mind,” Hail said. “Once they design the cake, they put it on poster board. When they go to bake the cake, they have to make it look like the poster board. They can’t just go off the deep end and not make it look like the picture.”
Hail was a wedding planner before she became a home economics teacher, taking over the class for her mother who taught at El Rancho for 17 years. She’s coordinated hundreds of weddings, so the cake-baking assignment was a natural. But it’s just part of a well-rounded program.
“The class does everything from sewing to crafting to child development to culinary – everything from sushi, to lasagna to cake decorating,” Hail said. “They also run a restaurant for a night. For a lot of them, it’s their first job. I teach from serving, to cooking, to busing, to maitre d’.
“Obviously, these are life skills they need for the future.”