Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Cake Wreck!!!!

I'm getting ready to post pictures of the latest cakes that I've made...and was going to just stick to posting the pictures and adding a little briefing about what materials were involved. You know, basically just do what I've been doing.
Then I remembered why I started this whole blog.
It really wasn't to showcase my cakes, nope. It was to showcase what I've learned, the trials and errors, the masterpieces and the epic failures, it was to blog about the journey this messy hobby takes me!
I've got to get back to my blog roots....therefore....
I've got to blog about a cake wreck I had over the weekend.

I took on the challenge of making two cakes and twenty four cupcakes last weekend, mistake number one (please remember, this is my hobby, I also have a full time job, a dog, a husband, and household chores!). I thought I had a pretty good head start come Wednesday. I had the fondant colored and ready. I had the cakes drawn out and designed on paper. I had all of my baking and decorating materials laid out. Thursday was looking good, I got started on the fondant decorations and had all of the cakes baked and in the freezer (one day I'll explain that whole process). Then Friday came around, my plan was to run to the supply store on my lunch break and get the boxes for the cakes and cupcakes, I also needed a color I did not have in disco dust. However, Friday was the day my work decided to treat us to lunch and I was unable to run my errand. This left me rushing to the cake supply story after work, rushing home to start the decorating process and packing my bags to drive over an hour to the upstate. Did I mention the cakes were for individuals that lived over an hour away?

I completed the cakes at...midnight! Packed the car, secured the cakes, and took off up the road. I did NOT pack any emergency cake fixing materials, mistake number two. When we arrived at my in-laws it was close to 2am. I was exhausted. I placed the cakes in a secure spot, high on a shelf, in a cool area, and went to bed.
We woke early Saturday morning to deliver the first cake. As I walked upstairs, groggy and sleep deprived, my sweet husband met me with a smile and then said the words I DREAD hearing "Uhmmm, a huge chunk of your cake fell".

"WHAT!!"
I ran over to survey the damage and he was correct. On one of the cakes, a my little pony cake, I had piped huge, white, fluffy clouds, out of butter cream icing. Apparently the icing, the drive and maybe the temperature were enough to cause the butter cream to actually slide right off of the cake. The cloud and all of the icing it took along with it were in a pile on the bottom of the cake box. I think I cried, I can't remember.
I also DID NOT take pictures...sorry.

We went to deliver the first cake, the whole time my mind was racing on how to fix my cake disaster, and on our way back it hit me. I had my husband run me to Michael's and I made my way to the cake section. I grabbed up a decorating bag, a coupler, and two different kinds of white icing (Wilton butter cream and duff's decorating icing in a bag). We rushed back to the cake and I did what I could to repair and save the cake. Thankfully, the cake that bit the dust was my best friends, little girls, cake. Therefore I was able to admit to my epic fail and then warn her that one cloud was not going to taste exactly like the others...because of course the rest of the clouds were made out of my homemade butter cream icing and the repaired cloud ended up being a mix of both icings I purchased at Michael's.

I learned a few lessons from this and I've actually started supporting my cakes a little differently now. I'll post about my new support structure later...until then, it's back to the kitchen for me! I have a cake due next week. I'll post pictures of both of the cakes I made last weekend asap.

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