I agreed to make a castle cake for a friend's sister's birthday. We really needed the money, so i was going to get $40 for the cake, and $10 for delivery since it was 50 miles away.

I baked the cakes Friday and then torted, filled and decorated all day yesterday. It was a 4-layer strawberry 8" filled with vanilla pudding, and a 3-layer oval filled with vanilla pudding. Iced with buttercream. I used half butter instead of shortening for the first time. It was very tasty. I, of course, didn't take any pictures before the whole thing got on the road.

By the time i had almost gotten there, almost all of the icing on the bottom layer had slid onto the cake board. Thank heavens i had used a larger board. it was basically a puddle around the cake. Then, i was less than a mile away, and i had to..... slam on my brakes. I actually had to GRAB THE CAKE to prevent it from flying onto the floor. two of the towers did fly onto the floor, somehow i caught the other two, but managed to tear a chunk of cake out. Hooray!

I didn't cry (i was rather proud of myself) I calmly called my husband and explained what happened. He asked if it could be repaired when i got there. I wasn't terribly sure.

I got to my friend's dad's house.... and there was no one there. I called my friend, she sent her son on his bike, about ten minutes she assured me, and he would let me in.

I finally got the cake in the house. I put the other half in the fridge, which was miraculously mostly intact, except for the place where one of the towers hit it on its way to the ground. I scraped off what i could of the bottom, re-iced and tried to redecorate as best i could. they were two different colors, and the green i had on the vines were kinda intermingled in the pink. I finally got it all put back together and the birthday princess said she had never had a cake that was so pretty.

Unfortunately, the person with the money never showed, so i was only able to get $20 total, which barely covered my gas. but, at least she got her cake and seemed happy with it. the only one that commented that the two halves were different colors was my friend's son, but he was the only one who saw it completely destroyed. Thanks for listening (reading).

I finally finished my first castle.

Wow I think it looks great and if I had not see the disater pics I would have never known!

How on earth did you manage to turn this 'disaster' into such a fabulous cake, particularly as it wasn't in your house with all your bits (presumably). I think you're a genius! I would have joined the icing & been in a heap too!! Congratulations on such a fantastic recovery ... and if you don't receive FULL payment for this cake, then your friend ought to be ashamed!

I'm SO sorry for what you went through!!! It looks great in the after photo though!! You'd never know it was a fixer upper!

Well, i can't be TOO mad at her, she is my best friend, and her mom was supposed to pay, and she has assured me that she will send the rest of the money Tuesday (i'll gladly pay you tuesday for a castle cake today)

wow! That is amazing. It does not look like a fixer upper at all. Great job!

I really just can't BELIEVE that is a "repair" job. It looks fabulous!

I can't imagine how that must have felt to see your work sliding off the cake like that...

I'm proud to see (read) that you handled it like a pro--I would have been in a quivering heap on the floor...

--Knox--

Thanks everyone. You guys (gals) are always so supportive! I love this place.

You must be a very confident person to have taken this all in stride and turned this disaster into a beautiful cake again. To top it all off, you seem cool and collected about not getting your money.

"Atta Girl" many times over from me. I hope your friend knows what a gem she has in you.

Diane

So proud of you for not crying...I think I would have. When disasters strike me, I always feel like its the end of the world. I will have to think of your fabulous cake when I hit a bump. It soo doesn't look messed up at all. I agree with others, if you wouldn't have put the damaged pics, I would not have been able to tell. Gold star for you!!

That cake is adorable. Good fix!

Awesome recovery! It looks mahvelous dahling. Simply mahvelous.

Thanks for the encouragement everyone. You guys ROCK!!

That is absolutely gorgeous! Good job keeping your wits about you!

What an amazing save! The 2 colors look like you intended it pretty much. I can't believe you were able to get it back together so well based on how damaged it was. Good for you!

Oh, I really hope that you got full payment!

Sarah

Great cake. You cannot even tell that it is a "repair"!! I like the two tone colors. Beautiful job.

You did an amazing job fixing the cake! I would never had known. Lovely cake!!!

You go, Girl. Fabulous job!!!

And you deserve full payment, too.

I had a similiar experience with the icing melting when I did the 50/50 thing. From that time on, I always do 75% Crisco and 25% butter.

First of all, the finished cake is beautiful and I NEVER would have guessed it was a repair job at all. I would have fallen apart and been in tears for sure. Secondly, you could definitely charge more than $40 (+ the $10 delivery) for that cake. I can only hope I would be able to make a cake like that someday! You handled everything really well - I'm impressed.

I NEVER would have known it was repaired from the picture......sometimes a great cake decorator is not measured by what they can do in the comfort of their kitchen, but what they can fix after disaster strikes! (I think that might be an aprilism).

Congratulations on a job well done!

april

Unbelievable!! If your friend's son had not seen the damage, there is no way anyone would have known that it ever was intended to look different than it did. Very, very impressive!!!!!!!!!

The cake looks great. I once put a cake on the front seat and nver again. It seems like a good Idea because you can see it but its not. My rear of my SUV is now all faomed out with anti skid mats to prevent disaster. Again you did a great job!

I don't really have the option of putting it anywhere but the front seat. I have a Honda and NO space in the trunk for cake! 2 Big Ol car seats in the back seat too. And it looks like i won't be getting the $10 delivery, darn it, but i should get the other $20 tomorrow.

Thanks again everyone. You are all too kind

Great save!

I feel bad for wanting to pressure her to get the $10. I know that she shouldn't have agreed to the money unless she could afford it, but she has lots of self-inflicted drama going on right now. Her mom was supposed to be the one paying, and she hasn't shown up or payed. She had to borrow money from the birthday girl (who had to get the $ out of her birthday card) to even give me the $10.