WARNING: LONG!!!!!!!!!!!
I think I had the most incredible stroke of luck happen to me yesterday.
Some months ago, I took an order for a "union ceremony" cake and the entire dessert table. I was excited about this order because I could expand my list of services and it just sounded creative and fun (and lucrative). After much thought, much research, and much planning, I spent too much money, too much time, and did too much back-breaking work to make any money at all. It was overwhelming and exhausting...and definitely not lucrative. However, I learned a lot and will be much, much wiser if I ever embark upon such a formidible order again.
This huge order, including a 3-tiered "commitment ceremony" cake, plus set-up and tear-down, happened on Saturday. I went the longest time EVER without sleep - three days - working non-stop and ended up with a searing, blinding migraine by the time I got to the event location to set everything up. I got home Saturday night after tearing it all down, bleary beyond belief, and was confronted by my kitchen and dining room, which had exploded. I think every cooking utensil and appliance I own was dirty. I had a wedding cake due Sunday and I intended to at least make the icing after returning home so all I had to do was ice, decorate, and deliver the cake on Sunday, but I was way too tired. I figured I didn't have to leave to deliver the cake until 3 PM, so I asked my husband to set the alarm for 9 AM. The cakes were all baked, so I was confident I'd have enough time.
9 AM came and the snooze button was hit repeatedly. At 10 AM, I got up, got coffee, and wandered into the living room to look for my notebook, which had all the details of the order. I found the order and OH MY GOD, THE WEDDING CEREMONY IS AT 11 AM. It is exacty 10:05 AM when I discovered this, and the venue is 45 minutes away. After my heart nearly exploded with adrenalin, I washed my mixer bowl and some spatulas, got the cold butter out of the fridge to make buttercream, worked it in the mixer for 10 minutes to soften it up, made icing, and started icing the cakes. 6" top tier, done. Cornelli lace on the whole tier, tip 104 ruffle border, tip 3 bead border on top of the ruffle, and reverse shell as the top border. Luckily for the middle tier (9" heart), I had chocolate buttercream in the fridge already made. I had my husband stir it vigorously to work it to a spreadable consistency and completed the middle tier (she opted for one chocolate tier in lieu of a groom's cake). The decorating was identical to the top tier. On to the base tier...
The base tier was two 2-inch tall, 14" hearts, both of which had cracked...dangerously. After they had baked, I pressed a LEETLE too much on them to flatten the crown...and they cracked. I smeared icing into the cracks and prayed, placed the base board on it, flipped it and prayed, and then iced it...and it stayed intact. I then leveled the other 2" layer and wow, the cracks were much more pronouced. I smeared icing into them, prayed, flipped it onto a large poly cutting board covered with a piece of parchment paper, and managed to execute the most incredibly perfect sliding of this dangerously structurally unstable layer onto the other layer. Prayed some more, and iced it...and it stayed perfectly intact. WHEW!! Hubby was dumbfounded. We were both sure that layer was going to break into 4 large chunks.
Oops, I have a lot of cornelli lace and ruffles to do on this tier, and I'm now out of icing. Hubby weighs/measures everything out for me and icing is made. Base tier decorated. Plates and pillars and fountain and extension cord and camera and anniversary tier box and bowls of extra icing and repair kit get packed, and within a few minutes of being decorated, the cakes are placed into the Suburban for the 45 minute journey to the venue. I knew for certain that with the ruffles and cornelli lace - being so fresh and having had no time to set up or crust over - would probably slide right off.
We get to the location, walk in, and THEY'RE JUST ROLLING OUT THE TABLES TO SET UP THE RECEPTION!!! What a brilliant stroke of luck! Not only had the bride changed the time of her wedding (unbeknownst to me) but the minister was very late, and the venue could not set up the reception area until after the wedding ceremony had taken place!! HAHAHAHAHAHA! I was able to designate where they set up the table (I needed electricity for the fountain) and set the cake up before the bride walked out to see it! *WHEW!* Oh, and not a single molecule of that cake slid, fell, crumbled, buckled, puckered, or otherwise moved. It was picture perfect. Isn't that the craziest thing ever?? LOL
I know this was my one and only miraculous stroke of good fortune. Thank God it was a simple design.
Oh, incidentally, from the first "OH MY GOD" at 10:05 AM until that cake was completely set up and we took our pictures of it, was about 3 hours and 45 minutes, including drive time.
I think I had the most incredible stroke of luck happen to me yesterday.
Some months ago, I took an order for a "union ceremony" cake and the entire dessert table. I was excited about this order because I could expand my list of services and it just sounded creative and fun (and lucrative). After much thought, much research, and much planning, I spent too much money, too much time, and did too much back-breaking work to make any money at all. It was overwhelming and exhausting...and definitely not lucrative. However, I learned a lot and will be much, much wiser if I ever embark upon such a formidible order again.
This huge order, including a 3-tiered "commitment ceremony" cake, plus set-up and tear-down, happened on Saturday. I went the longest time EVER without sleep - three days - working non-stop and ended up with a searing, blinding migraine by the time I got to the event location to set everything up. I got home Saturday night after tearing it all down, bleary beyond belief, and was confronted by my kitchen and dining room, which had exploded. I think every cooking utensil and appliance I own was dirty. I had a wedding cake due Sunday and I intended to at least make the icing after returning home so all I had to do was ice, decorate, and deliver the cake on Sunday, but I was way too tired. I figured I didn't have to leave to deliver the cake until 3 PM, so I asked my husband to set the alarm for 9 AM. The cakes were all baked, so I was confident I'd have enough time.
9 AM came and the snooze button was hit repeatedly. At 10 AM, I got up, got coffee, and wandered into the living room to look for my notebook, which had all the details of the order. I found the order and OH MY GOD, THE WEDDING CEREMONY IS AT 11 AM. It is exacty 10:05 AM when I discovered this, and the venue is 45 minutes away. After my heart nearly exploded with adrenalin, I washed my mixer bowl and some spatulas, got the cold butter out of the fridge to make buttercream, worked it in the mixer for 10 minutes to soften it up, made icing, and started icing the cakes. 6" top tier, done. Cornelli lace on the whole tier, tip 104 ruffle border, tip 3 bead border on top of the ruffle, and reverse shell as the top border. Luckily for the middle tier (9" heart), I had chocolate buttercream in the fridge already made. I had my husband stir it vigorously to work it to a spreadable consistency and completed the middle tier (she opted for one chocolate tier in lieu of a groom's cake). The decorating was identical to the top tier. On to the base tier...
The base tier was two 2-inch tall, 14" hearts, both of which had cracked...dangerously. After they had baked, I pressed a LEETLE too much on them to flatten the crown...and they cracked. I smeared icing into the cracks and prayed, placed the base board on it, flipped it and prayed, and then iced it...and it stayed intact. I then leveled the other 2" layer and wow, the cracks were much more pronouced. I smeared icing into them, prayed, flipped it onto a large poly cutting board covered with a piece of parchment paper, and managed to execute the most incredibly perfect sliding of this dangerously structurally unstable layer onto the other layer. Prayed some more, and iced it...and it stayed perfectly intact. WHEW!! Hubby was dumbfounded. We were both sure that layer was going to break into 4 large chunks.
Oops, I have a lot of cornelli lace and ruffles to do on this tier, and I'm now out of icing. Hubby weighs/measures everything out for me and icing is made. Base tier decorated. Plates and pillars and fountain and extension cord and camera and anniversary tier box and bowls of extra icing and repair kit get packed, and within a few minutes of being decorated, the cakes are placed into the Suburban for the 45 minute journey to the venue. I knew for certain that with the ruffles and cornelli lace - being so fresh and having had no time to set up or crust over - would probably slide right off.
We get to the location, walk in, and THEY'RE JUST ROLLING OUT THE TABLES TO SET UP THE RECEPTION!!! What a brilliant stroke of luck! Not only had the bride changed the time of her wedding (unbeknownst to me) but the minister was very late, and the venue could not set up the reception area until after the wedding ceremony had taken place!! HAHAHAHAHAHA! I was able to designate where they set up the table (I needed electricity for the fountain) and set the cake up before the bride walked out to see it! *WHEW!* Oh, and not a single molecule of that cake slid, fell, crumbled, buckled, puckered, or otherwise moved. It was picture perfect. Isn't that the craziest thing ever?? LOL
I know this was my one and only miraculous stroke of good fortune. Thank God it was a simple design.
Oh, incidentally, from the first "OH MY GOD" at 10:05 AM until that cake was completely set up and we took our pictures of it, was about 3 hours and 45 minutes, including drive time.
~ Sherri
~ Sherri
If you didn't then go home and have a major nervous breakdown, I'd be amazed!!! That was one amazing feat and a great looking cake to boot - I think you must be Wonder Woman in disguise 
. Well Done You! 
