From the Cake Club! I'm struggling to find a flaw. The only thing, and this is so nit-picky! But the only thing I see is the piping of your borders is not perfect specifically on the bottom tier. But that's all I got! Beautiful cake!

PRCC--Love the hand painting. . . . so delicate. . . . and that may be the problem with the design overall. The large flowers seem to me to be too heavy for the delicacy of the hand painted vines. Perhaps fewer of the large flowers. If you focus on the areas where the smaller flowers are it seems more balanced between flower and vine. Hope thats helpful.

Very nice loose and whimsical vine design on the sides. The contrast between the asymmetrical design and the symmetrical shape of the cake is interesting.

I really like this cake. Love the painting. I agree with cakeyouverymuch on less larger flowers but what really sticks out to me is the large ribbon around the board. Because it is not tight and is too large for the board it detracts from the cake. Sometimes it's the little things that can make a big difference.

From the Cake Club: What might be missing is that it's very monochromatic, which is nice in one way, but it makes it look kind of faded out, know what I mean? I think that if you used some red or orange and painted some more details on the vines and leaves it would add some contrast without taking away from the overall feel of the design. You don't want to take away from the vintagey feel, but adding more depth to the greens would enhance the patterns.

You guys are awesome- I agree that the ribbon totally stunk! And same with the borders- I got so sick of looking at the cake and trying to figure out what was wrong that I quick finished it off just so I could get it out of the studio. :)
I'm not sure how to get red or orange on there- but I agree that the monochromatic issue is probably what makes it a "so-so" cake. Hmmmm.

From the Cake Club. If the ribbon had been the same depth as the border it would have blended in better. I think the big flowers arejust a bit stiff looking. Maybe if you had softened the edges a bit more. I absolutely love the hand painting. Wish I could do that.

I really like it. Yeah, the ribbon may not have been perfect, but the cake is pretty. I like simple, pretty designs.

Except for the ribbon....I like it a lot! Your painting is so good. Maybe less of the large flowers?

I can't decide whether I like it or not! I love the painting and the flowers but there is something that is "off". I think it may be that the flowers are just too large. And the ribbon ;-) I disagree about the monochromatic look being bad, but if you wanted to add a pop of color, I would use an orange flower, or an orange layer in the flower. Each element is gorgeous and well done, maybe just take the large flowers off, and add some orangy ones in their place, but save the flowers for another cake!

From the Cake Club: I just adore the painting! and the lines on it are very lovely and balanced (I like the middle tier being a bit taller). I think that there might be a bit of a disconnect with the 3D flowers being put on a painted vine. Maybe having a bit of the vine in a bas relief, or have some flower painted on that the 3D pops out of? I also think that for the lovely organic flow of the painting, the symmetrical Left-Right-Left-Right of the larger flowers seems out of sync.

Maybeitisjusttoomanyflowers?

This is a gorgeous cake and shows your skill. The ribbon is a jarring note from the perfection of the cake. For the tiny pops of color, perhaps you could have introduced tiny, hand-painted "buds" (budlings?) at the base of the vines/leaves and echoed that same color in the center of the flowers with either petal dust of dots of color in the flower centers. The side large flower on the top tier is the only one that I think should have been left off the cake. (This is like giving a critique of the Mona Lisa.)

This cake is stunning. The only things I saw were the ribbon is a bit off for this elegent of a cake and the large flowers seem a bit overpowering. I think if you stayed with the smaller flowers throughout you would have been happier with it.
That said, as a bride, I would have been thrilled to get this cake, your handpainting is perfection.

Your cake is a-maz-ing! I would not have changed a thing about the cake. I agree with some of the others on the cake board and ribbon. That just did not showcase the cake like that work of art deserved.

This cake is stunning :). Your hand-painting is lovely, I love the colors, love the unique flowers, love your sharp square corners, love love love! The ribbon is the only thing I see that even remotely detracts. Otherwise, beautiful!

Stunning cake, Iwould have had less flowers and more green in flowers,still lovely.x

I think this cake is gorgeous as is. I love the flowers and the handpainted vines and leaves. I think it's stunning....but I know how you feel when you're not 100 per cent behind it so I will look at it from that perspective as well. I agree your ribbon could be smaller...and perhaps a color to coordinate with your cake...maybe two ribbons...a wider brown satin with a thin green ribbon in the center. Perhaps you could have covered your cake board with an embossed green fondant...or at least continued the hand painting on the board to tie it all together. Also, perhaps you could do some 3-D leaves here and there to add dimension to the hand painting. Again...I LOVE the cake as is, but you sound like me...always looking at what could be done to make it better--or in this case a little different because it's beautiful like it is!

I think it's perfect. I would have added some color in the middle of the flower,perhaps green or some green leaves in fondant or candy clay peeking from under the flowers. But that's really being picky. Because honestly it's beautiful the way it is.

Cake Club: I would say I'd be happy putting my name on this, BUT, the bumpy ribbon on the bottom would have to be fixed. But seriously, as it is, it's great AND your tiers are nice and tall....nothing worse than a squatty (love that word) square.