Stupid Is As Stupid Does...

Decorating By cazza1 Updated 16 Apr 2014 , 11:23am by cazza1

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cazza1 Posted 14 Apr 2014 , 8:17am
post #1 of 14

The Gods are not smiling on me today.  And I think my brain stopped working at about the same time.  I had 2 cakes on the go. A hidden surprise carrot cake and a hopefully pretty cake with some 'onlays' around it.  All was going well, with both cakes made.  HA HA, I lulled myself in to a false sense of security.

 

The hidden surprise cake looks reasonably cute with bunnies on the top in the carrot patch but when I cut it to see my carrots I realised that I had left my brain somewhere.  I had made orange carrot tops to stick the greenery in and had not levelled the top of the cake back to the carrots.  The mix had run under the carrots and they had risen in the tin (a fitting thing to do at Easter but not appreciated by me) .  Now the inside of my cake just looked like orange blobs floating in chocolate with no relationship to carrots what so ever.  Oh well, I used some buttercream and stuck the slice back on and people can just admire the outside at work tomorrow.  Mind you the bunnies are turning a greenish color as the black dye in the grey goes weird so who knows what they will look like by then.

 

NOW for the real DISASTER.  After saying on another thread that I never have trouble with my white ganache setting up (even at 28C like it was today) I used a different brand of chocolate and it was too soft.  Stop, common sense would say , but no, I had no more chocolate and so plowed ahead.  I stuck the cake in the fridge overnight to harden.  All reved up this morning I pulled it out of the fridge and iced by 8 o'clock.  Yes,well!  The fondant broke out in a sweat that even one of my hot flushes could not rival.  No time for the fan that Bluehue advised at another time, I'm on a 'stupid' roll.  Couldn't touch the cake it is so wet so stuck it out in the sun to dry.  Checked it 10 minutes later and it is coming along nicely.  Checked it 10 more minutes later and its developed all these cracks as the ganache that wouldn't set properly melted and the fondant tried to slide off.  O.K. , no drama, I cut the extra fondant that had pooled around the bottom off and thought to myself that the onlays would hide a multitude of sins.  It looked fine when I went to put the onlays on a few hours later (well not really but it did look stable).  When I pressed the onlay on I discovered that there was an enormous air bubble surrounding the entire cake and that nothing was supporting the fondant at all.  Needless to say it all caved in.  At this point common sense finally prevailed.  I pulled the crappy fondant off and fixed the fine layer of ganache that was left, after tasting to make sure it was alright.  The funny thing is that I am serving it with mascarpone ice-cream and mango puree (it's a  white chocolate mango mud cake) tomorrow night and it will probably be heaps better without having to fight the fondant off but I did SOOOOOOO much want to play.

 

Feel free to jump in a tell me what an idiot I am.  I am the first to acknowledge it.  But HEY, I'm still smiling and laughing at just how stupid I can be when I get on a roll.

13 replies
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Mimimakescakes Posted 14 Apr 2014 , 8:20am
post #2 of 14

Ahhh Cazza , I am so sorry , I will send up a few prayers to St Honore the Patron saint of cake decorators for you. On the other hand I am dying to know how the mango mud tastes. 

 

 

Hugs my dear at least you are still laughing. 

Chelle

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Mimimakescakes Posted 14 Apr 2014 , 8:23am
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PS , I had a similar disaster with white ganache on a wedding cake I did in December , I ended up scraping off the white and just doing dark . Thank heavens I did as the aircon broke in the venue and it was 45 degrees that night. The cake stood up to it.  Amazingly. 

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cazza1 Posted 14 Apr 2014 , 10:28am
post #4 of 14

Bunnies in the carrot patch


This is the failed hidden surprise cake.

 

Chelle, the mango mud cake is divine.  I didn't have quite enough buttermilk so I made up the difference with some extra mango puree (mushed up slices from a tin) and then added some mango flavoring for good measure.  I have been eating the offcuts from when I trimmed the cake.  I always reckon the sugary top that you cut off is the best bit.  It is very sweet as I had run out of my usual Callebaut white chocolate and used Nestle instead and the difference in sugar content in both the cake and the ganache is very noticeable.  I'm going back to Callebaut.  I have just been waiting for cooler weather as I have to order it from Victoria.  I also added some mango flavoring to the ganache that I torted with so I shall get back to you on what that was like.

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AZCouture Posted 14 Apr 2014 , 3:59pm
post #5 of 14

AMango mudcake? Sounds very interesting! I must try this.

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Krypto Posted 14 Apr 2014 , 6:00pm
post #6 of 14

AYour bunnies are adorable!

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MBalaska Posted 14 Apr 2014 , 7:23pm
post #7 of 14

Cazza1, I love that cake!!  You know......even Hercules had bad days, so chin up.  I'd happily take any of your disasters and make a beautiful feast and eat it all with a spoon.:D

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Crazy-Gray Posted 14 Apr 2014 , 8:04pm
post #8 of 14

AI think I'd have stamped my feet in an 'I don't know what to do' moment then lost my temper and thrown in the towel... I couldn't have fixed it... You did amazing!

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howsweet Posted 14 Apr 2014 , 9:43pm
post #9 of 14

Your bunny is so cute!! So sorry about your day.

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Mimimakescakes Posted 14 Apr 2014 , 10:28pm
post #10 of 14

Cazza, It was the damn nestle melts that caused my ganache disaster , I have found them to be way too sweet , I had some that had been given to me so thought I would use them up.  I used the rest in one of my passionfruit muds and I found it to be too sweet , where it is usually that nice balance of sweet and tart. I prefer dark chocolate ganache with the passionfruit mud though so that sort of balanced it out. 

 

Your bunny cake is far from disaster nice save , it is just adorable. 

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Rfisher Posted 15 Apr 2014 , 12:54am
post #11 of 14

AMango in the cake batter, or as a filling? If its in the cake batter, are you just adding chunks or purée to a white chocolate mud recipe? Or is there more altering to it? I'm curious.... Thanks.!

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cazza1 Posted 15 Apr 2014 , 9:00am
post #12 of 14

Rfisher, Chelle gave me a great white mudcake recipe that has buttermilk and water/booze.  I substituted mango puree for the water part and also for some of the buttermilk as I did not have quite enough.  I also added some mango flavouring to the batter.  In addition I also added some mango flavouring to the ganache that I torted the cake with.

 

Crazy-Gray, hubby was home for the day and he could not believe that I had not spat the dummy.  Not even swearing.  Not like me at all but it was such a momentous disaster that all I could do was shake my head and laugh.  If the problems had been smaller I don't think I would have coped as well.  Some things are just not meant to be.  And that includes using Nestle white chocolate ever again.

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810whitechoc Posted 15 Apr 2014 , 9:57am
post #13 of 14

Ahhh that @&*&&*$!!!! Nestle white choc strikes again.  I did a similar thing a while back, was short on good white choc and made up the shortfall with Nestle, the Ganache just did not set.  I was laughing as I read this because I kept going to until my sensible brain took over my scrambled one and said STOP NOW, you know this is not going to work!  Grrr lesson learned, don't use the Nestle for Ganache.  At least you are laughing and your bunny is cute, though now you have me thinking mmmm Mango Mud Cake.

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cazza1 Posted 16 Apr 2014 , 11:23am
post #14 of 14

Nothing quite like good old recycling.  One of the ladies I work with took the bunny, bunny bums, and carrot tops home to put on a cake for her kids for Easter.  She said there will be a big blue afterwards over who gets to put the bunny on their dresser.  I had better make 2 next time.  Don't want to start a civil war at their place.

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