Cake Decorating Community - Cakes We Bake

hi, made a cake for a friends son for today and the cake didn't quite go as i expected it and have felt quite low about it today.  It was a skateboard cake.  I researched on line for ideas and had this idea in my head, but it didn't quite work out how i had envisaged.  i had decided to out the wheels on the bottom (although most photos i had seem had the skateboard upsidedown (i now see why)).  I had 1st decided to make it black as mum wanted skull and crossbones, that was no prob.  then i thought i might do flames, so mixed my fondant to look like flames, but it just didn't look right. so scratched that idea (after several tries).  so i just did the skull and crossbones, then after making the wheels and using my dowels put the wheels on. (i also had cardboard under the cake, so it wouldn't sag)But the dowels started to come through to the top of the cake, which i saved just in time.  don't know why i didn't forsee this would happen.  So rethought all of this, (very late last night) and made a ramp and repostiioned the cake on it and put the wheels on the side, but the wheels had holes in them so had to patch them up and covered them with the age of the boy in fondant.  Just felt a bit embarrassed giving the cake to my friend.  Felt embarrassed charging her for it.  Please tell me some of you have felt like this in the beginning.  Was seriously thinking today, maybe i'm just not cut out at making cakes like this.

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Amanda, I don't know of one cake artist that has not had their fair share of disasters-especially in the beginning of the learning process. I made a clown face cake for my nephew at least 20 years ago, and it was absolutely adorable! The colors were bright and vivid and he had a ruffle around his neck.....well, I decided since it was for my nephew, I wanted it to be nice and fresh when we cut into it, so I froze it over night. Took it out of the freezer the next day, headed over to my brother's house for the party, and once we got there, this poor clowns face was a weeping mess! All of the colors ran into each other into puddles that were turning an ugly brown by this time. It looked like the poor guy was weeping blood down his cheeks since I had used a very vivid red over his eyes as make-up. Of course, my five or six year old nephew thought it was the coolest cake ever because it was so gross, but I was mortified. I did not want any of my family seeing that cake, I was so embarrassed. And, being family, they teased me relentlessly for years over that poor 'evil' looking clown cake. We have all been there, believe me. The key, is learn from the mistake, get back up on the horse and try again.

Amanda welcome!!!!...welcome to the world where we have cake wrecks...I sure had my fair share but I will never give up!!!

 

Just as Linda said...learn from it...pick yourself up and make the next one!!! it gets better with time...btw I owe you some fruit cake tips...what would you like to know...I hope I have the right person....:)

Amandai think we've all been there at some point! Just this week I made a drum cake to a customer's specifications only to have her tell me how horrible it looked. It made me want to abandon caking as well, but I realized ok, we just need to keep going! Chin up! Next time will definitely be better!
Hi Amanda,
Anyone who can make The Golden Snitch look as good as you did from sugar must NOT give up. You've had a bad experience with this one cake......wow, we've all had them I'm sure. Mine have been mostly down to using the wrong type of product or just my inexperience in using it correctly. I'm sure it doesn't look terrible, I know that I'm my worst critic most of the time. A skateboard isn't an easy cake as you are creating something rigid. Is the board cake or is it a sugar model sitting on the cake? If it's a model what kind of sugar did you use? I think I'd have used flower paste for it and let the board dry for about a week totally flat. Same with the wheels. Can you post a picture? We are all here ready to help....a problem shared is a problem halved - hey, just like cake.
Chin up & keep caking.
Hugs, Tracy x
Thank-you every1 for your kind words. It's gd 2 know that its not just me. This cake did knock my confidence. H-l post photos of the cake & 2 b honest in the photo it looks gd, but you know yourself, you can see the imperfections. I feel bit better 2day & will learn frm it. Thanx so much again. X
Hi teneisha, it was me who asked about the fruit cake. Just asked, do you have to soak the fruit in alcohol b4hand, cos I don't drink & don't like the taste of it. So should I just soak it in water so is there anything else you can recommend to soak it in.
Teneisha Williams said:

Amanda welcome!!!!...welcome to the world where we have cake wrecks...I sure had my fair share but I will never give up!!!

 

Just as Linda said...learn from it...pick yourself up and make the next one!!! it gets better with time...btw I owe you some fruit cake tips...what would you like to know...I hope I have the right person....:)

Amanda,

 

Use grape juice or grapefruit juice. Steam the fruits in some of the juice and blend till you achieve the the roughness/smoothness preferred.

 

Teneisha

Oh Amanda

Don't get discouraged. We have ALL been there, done that. We beat ourselves up more than anyone else.  It is inevitiable that there will be failures, but like Linda said, you learn from your mistakes. Trust me, Iv'e had my share. I remember The Cake Boss saying, there is NO perfect cakes, they all have flaws, thats what decorations & embellishments are for, to cover them!! Actually, I have one nasty mistake, long story, but honestly, I learned so much from that mistake that had I not had it, would never had learned a new technique.  This was also someone I knew quite well, and of all people, especially knowing you are new to this art, they should understand.  Funny thing, she didn't even notice the 'flaw" on her wedding cake, although I thought it "jumped" out at you the minute you laid eyes on it.  I got nothing but comlpiments.  SOoooo, even though it didn't meet my expectations in my head, it was a nice cake, not perfect, and customer was happy.

Don't dwell on it too long Amanda.  As they say,...Pick your self up, dust yourself off, start all over again. :)

 

thanx june.  I did cover up my mistakes with fondant pieces, such as the boys name and age and it so encouraging to hear i'm not the only one who goes through this and your right, i need to not let this one get me down, pick myself up and get on with the next one, which is a bit easier and i'm gonna make sure it is a good one lol. you're also right about the recipient not seeing the flaws, just me.  Thanx again. x

June Kowalczyk said:

Oh Amanda

Don't get discouraged. We have ALL been there, done that. We beat ourselves up more than anyone else.  It is inevitiable that there will be failures, but like Linda said, you learn from your mistakes. Trust me, Iv'e had my share. I remember The Cake Boss saying, there is NO perfect cakes, they all have flaws, thats what decorations & embellishments are for, to cover them!! Actually, I have one nasty mistake, long story, but honestly, I learned so much from that mistake that had I not had it, would never had learned a new technique.  This was also someone I knew quite well, and of all people, especially knowing you are new to this art, they should understand.  Funny thing, she didn't even notice the 'flaw" on her wedding cake, although I thought it "jumped" out at you the minute you laid eyes on it.  I got nothing but comlpiments.  SOoooo, even though it didn't meet my expectations in my head, it was a nice cake, not perfect, and customer was happy.

Don't dwell on it too long Amanda.  As they say,...Pick your self up, dust yourself off, start all over again. :)

 

I have to jump in as well. My first pillow cake fell to the floor and I had to rebake it again. Talk about a headache. Just last nite, I was helping my girlfriend with a Patrone bottle cake. When I did mine, I didnt have a problem. Well, her fondant was too soft. After we drizzled tequilla over the cake, then covered it in fondant, it just wasnt going well. We can see the grove where we put the cake together. Took the fondant off, and some of the cake came with it. She had to rebake another cake. So, things like this has happend to us, maybe more then one time. We do however, hopefully learn from our mistakes. Something will happen again. I'm pretty sure of it. Its called "cake life". Hang in there, we all do!

I just got home from setting up a wedding cake, stayed up most of the night worrying about it..because the groom drew a picture of a cake that looked like some sort of building and he wanted me to make it a cake (a wedding cake mind you) it was so ugly that i told the lady that ownes the reception sight not to tell anyone who made the cake!! LOL My husband said it wasn't that bad, just not one of my cakes. Some times they just don't work the way you would like. In this business you just have to learn to get over the bad ones and take plenty of pictures of the good ones!!! I still love my job!!!! :-)

 

Oh Tina, that reminds me of my granddaughter's birthday cake this last September! She wanted a smiley face ball cake, and I didn't particularly want to make it. It just sounded dumb to me, not to mention it wasn't going to be enough for our family to eat...but she insisted. So, I had to place the smiley face 'head' on top of a square cake so we would have enough, but it was the most hideous cake I have ever made! It looked grotesque, as if this head was coming out of the square cake like a box. I wouldn't even let my husband take a picture of it (although, later I discovered that he did). Horrid is the only word for that cake. But, my 15 year old granddaughter thought it looked 'cool' because it actually did look like a head coming out of a box or whatever. She's into all the vampire/goth stuff, so go figure.


So, yeah, you get stuff you don't actually want to make as well as disasters too.
tina konkler said:

I just got home from setting up a wedding cake, stayed up most of the night worrying about it..because the groom drew a picture of a cake that looked like some sort of building and he wanted me to make it a cake (a wedding cake mind you) it was so ugly that i told the lady that ownes the reception sight not to tell anyone who made the cake!! LOL My husband said it wasn't that bad, just not one of my cakes. Some times they just don't work the way you would like. In this business you just have to learn to get over the bad ones and take plenty of pictures of the good ones!!! I still love my job!!!! :-)

 

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