I was so frantic and it was so unbelievable! Just one of those times that you say, "WHY!?!?!?"

First, I didn't get to start on the cake until 11 pm and this is bad because I was already WAY behind on sleep. Second, after I got out all pans (I was going to stack a 13 inch over with a 9 inch oval and offset the top tier (double layer for the bottom, single for the top). OK, I have the pans, I have my image for the FBCT and then I realize that DUH! I hadn't gotten the butter or eggs or milk out to warm to room temperature! Ugh!

So, I get those out and I see I have 6 eggs left. I need 12 for what I'm doing!!! I could have SWORN I had a a dozen and a half eggs!!! Dh had just informed me he was going to be playing in an online tournament game and so running to the store wasn't possible because I needed to be there in case the 20 month old woke up (which he does)... OK, back to the drawing board - 6 eggs.

Well, since I'm tired I can't think fast or clearly and it took me until past midnight to figure out what I'm going to do - a sheet cake - 13 by 19. But now my image is too small, so I go upstairs and resize it. Come back down and grease the pans... just then the little guy woke up! DH had finished his game by then, so he took care of him while I mixed the cake. So, I mix and add more, and mix and add more. I put in the heating core, load it up and tell DH I can take over as I can see it's not going well upstairs.

I spent the next 45 minutes trying to convince my toddler to go back to sleep. Finally I had to come down. the cake still had a bit more cooking to do - it was rising nicely (to the rim of the pan) and seemed to be cooking evenly - all good signs, YAY!!! I take it out and I realize I don't have a cooling rack big enough for that cake? I had thought about cake plates (put three cardboard layers and then wrapped), but not a cooling rack...

I was terrified to flip it over (I've never made a cake bigger than a 12" square), but my plan was to put my spare cake separator over the top and flip it. It worked!!! No breaking!! SUCCESS (about the only success I had), but very quickly I saw how deflated my cake was becoming. It was sooooo short! Only a little over an inch tall!!!! UGH!!! What now? I had nowhere to cool other than that cardboard piece and I just had to hope the cardboard would pull away from the cake tomorrow
(it did!!!}

While it was cooling, I started on FBCT. it was just an outline of the Momsclub logo. the icing was WAY too firm, but I was so tired and my DH is not able to convince the toddler back to sleep and is now downstairs GLARING at me to finish (and hating even more that I'm up making a cake - that he was up playing games seems to be fine with him though! MEN!!!). So, I finish, toss it in the freezer and hope for the best.

I got all of 2 hours of sleep last night. My toddler only 5. We woke at 7 am, got my older son and husband off for the morning, fed the toddler and then started on my cake. It's 8 am and it needs to be done by 9:45 am. I still haven't made the buttercream, iced it, smoothed it or decorated it!!!

I still couldn't understand WHY it was so flat! I looked at my recipe again. Flour, OK, eggs, OK, sugar, OK, baking powder OK, Butter, OK, Milk??? OMGOODNESS!!!! I DOUBLED the milk!! I had initially needed 5 cups of milk when I was making my first plan, I hadn't put 1/2 the milk back when I cut my recipe down because of the lack of eggs!!! UGH!!!! It seemed a "LITTLE" wetter than usual, but not soooo wet! UGH! I took a fork and went to the center and took a good knick out of it. Hmm... it was dense, but it was cooked and tasted good... But how to explain???

I decided to put apricot jam over the top of the cake as there was no way I could tort this cake and I needed to try anything to try to improve my disaster. Then I used the icer tip to put on the buttercream... Icing was pretty straight forward desptie the top being a bit more slippery than usual.

OK, now I get my FBCT and put in on top of the cake. Now, I've done this before, but not just an outline... but it won't come off the transfer!!!! I try and try and NO WAY!!! UGH!!! the icing was too stiff I think, but I pressed it into the icng and it left it's traces, and a slight red tinting to it... I couldn't scrap the idea since the red had transfered (as well as a couple little pieces). So, I decided to freehand it, again with my too stiff icing as I'm RUNNING OUT OF TIME!!! I do it and while it's OK, I'm not satisfied.

Then, time to write... I'm A TERRIBLE WRITER!!! I do it, and its 9:30 am!!! I'm finished at 9:40 am and I have to load the cake, my son and the supplies for the meeting into the car. I pull up just at 10 am.

Now, this cake was supposed to be my "see what you prez of Moms Club can do? Don't you want to hire her for your little one's bday party?" ALSO, a lady I was already contacted for making a 1st bday cake was going to be there and we were finalizing the deal! If she saw my disaster???? Would I lose even that opportunity!?!?!? UGH!!!

But, I very calmly said we had a rough night and I didn't get the cake done until minutes before getting there. I told people casually I had tried a new recipe and it's a dense recipe similar to a pound cake, but with more milk instead of butter making it less fattening, yet super moist. Plus, it crumbs less and I thought that might be better with so many little kids (I said this after trying a full piece and realizing it tasted good, but seemed really heavy and not crumbly.) I also said I wasn't sure if I liked this recipe and was trying it out just to see since it was so different.

EVERYONE LOVED IT!!!! They said it was so moist and loved the tiny hint of the apricot tang. A couple people thougth it was store bought when the saw the decorating and was surprised I did it. AND the lady who contacted me about the cake LOVED IT and so did her son!!! And she not only followed through on that cake, but asked me to do her older son's cake the following month after that!

WHAT THE HECK!!!

I was so bullcrapping my through that one and it was so far below my norm for flavor and texture and even the smoothing was rushed (and I don't have the really large spatula to reach all the way across), and so on...

I know we are our own worst critic, but OMGOODESS!!!!

Sorry this was sooooooo long, but Ihad to get it out of my system! LOL

Melissa (I'll post the pic later!)

Awesome! Glad it all worked out after all. : )

Just added the pic in my photos... I need to find some stencils to trace, geez!

I just love a happy ending!!!

Congratulations! You just won first prize in "CYA BS"! Way to make lemonade out of those lemons!

Amber

Oh my goodness, I just got an email from the lady I'm making the cake for this weekend and she wants me to use the same cake as the FLOP one for the bday cake. I told her I couldn't because making it into tiers would be difficult since it is SOOOOO dense and fragile! LOL I guess I'll make a 1/2 flop and see how it turns out... instead of double the milk, maybe only 1.5 times? Good grief!

It did taste good though! I guess so recipes are more forgiving than others, but I would be afraid to try to make this a standard recipe because it was soooooo moist that I would afraid next time I would have a soupy mess!

TOOOOOO FUNNY! I just created a new recipe by accident! LOL

Melissa

That is so funny, but I am sorry you were so stressed over the whole thing...but look what a great ending you have for the story!

Congrats. Janice

Hurray for you! I love a happy ending. I feel you with the toddler - my 5 year old still gets in bed with us EVERY night and my 22 month old still wakes up at least once a night. I know we should treasure this time but good grief... a little sleep would really help!
Good luck to you.
Melissa

Once again here is yet another story of how we see all our faults and the other people see only the beauty of our decorating. I have found that there is really no reason to get so upset over a cake. No matter how bad we think it turns out others love it. They only wish they could do 1/2 as good.

Glad everything turned out well for you!

Sorry about the lack of sleep though

You go girl! As they say, "Necessity is the Mother of invention." You made a silk purse out of a sow's ear and didn't even mean to.

As for smoothing the cake, have you tried Melvira's method with the foam roller? I swear by it now.

Congrats on everything turning out okay and a big congrats on getting the new cake orders.

Diane

I haven't tried the roller method. I've tried the fondant smoother and it tends to stick a bit, but what's worked somewhat is using a hot spatula....

This time I LITERALLY had NO TIME to do anything as I was soooo late. I wrote the letters and picked up the cake and ran to the car practically...

And about my son's sleeping ... I hope it gets better. On average twice a week with no "reason" behind it, he'll wake for 2 hours... he'll be kicking and pinching us TRYING to go back to sleep, but he just can't and it's ALWAYS for two hours and losing sleep between 2 and 6 am are like the WORST hours to lose, I swear!

melissa

Glad it worked out for you!! You just made a killer new recipe you may need to add to your list!

Isn't it funny how we can stress so much over "disasters" when really we are the only ones that consider it a disaster! Then you think "Woah, if only THEY KNEW the story behind this cake!!!"

Oh man I feel for you! My cakes turn out great and I have fun when I am making them for me... but when I am getting paid and on a time limit a disaster always seems to strike! With 4 young-ins I have learned to ALWAYS plan to be done WAY ahead of time (It nearly never happens) but I am trying to figure out the correct amount of sugar syrup to keep them moist so I can make them DAYS ahead of time...
I think you dida great job! It is so great when people love the work you even when you hate it

Well... I have ANOTHER person who ate that cake who loved it and wants me to make a cake for her son's party - the same cake! LOL

My husband said that my new "discovery" might be my cake fortune! Too funny!

Melissa