This weekend I delivered my first solo wedding cake (gift for my husband's long time best friend) and let me tell you it was full of tears, hyperventilation, and relief, then panic, problem solving, then relief, the panic problem solving, than relief all over again.
I already had some issues prior to delivery, like being overly ambitious and using ganache for the first time (I had so much trouble smoothing it), running out of MFF, no time to make more, and no store open to buy premade (2am) so I had to "stretch" the fondant by rolling it thinner, causing cracks and showing all the flaws of the "almost" smooth ganache, and attempting my first tall tier (let me tell you, square tall tiers are a PITA to cover in fondant).
Well, after all the tiers were boxed up & loaded in the SUV, we headed down to the hotel we were staying at the night before (100 miles away). I've never had problems delivering prestacked 3 tier cakes before so I didn't think twice about letting DH drive with an unstacked cake in the back, especially lined with non-slip liner.
When we got to the hotel, we opened the back and the first thing I see is the tall tier leaning & collapsing against the box. I start freaking internally but I try to keep calm until I asses the damage when we get to the hotel room. When I opened the box sides, I saw how bad it was leaning since the design had stripes, plus the bottom edge was really bulging. I thought the whole tier was a gonner and the tears started to fall, but I thought, what the hell, there's a separator midway through the tier, maybe part of it could be saved...
So I commenced the "emergency surgery" and cut the fondant where the board was to try and salvage what I could. When my MIL and I lifted the top half, the bottom crumbled and collapsed all over the desk and floor, but the top half didn't look half bad.
When I assembled it in the ballroom, I covered up the edge of the cut with a 1.5" wide satin ribbon rather than the originally planned thinner ribbon and the bride and groom were so ecstatic about the cake since the design was left up to me, and only a select few knew what had happened..
The final result.. http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1738178
I know what to do next time and even more drama happened between the assembly and the reception, but this story's already so long so I won't get into further details. =P
I already had some issues prior to delivery, like being overly ambitious and using ganache for the first time (I had so much trouble smoothing it), running out of MFF, no time to make more, and no store open to buy premade (2am) so I had to "stretch" the fondant by rolling it thinner, causing cracks and showing all the flaws of the "almost" smooth ganache, and attempting my first tall tier (let me tell you, square tall tiers are a PITA to cover in fondant).
Well, after all the tiers were boxed up & loaded in the SUV, we headed down to the hotel we were staying at the night before (100 miles away). I've never had problems delivering prestacked 3 tier cakes before so I didn't think twice about letting DH drive with an unstacked cake in the back, especially lined with non-slip liner.
When we got to the hotel, we opened the back and the first thing I see is the tall tier leaning & collapsing against the box. I start freaking internally but I try to keep calm until I asses the damage when we get to the hotel room. When I opened the box sides, I saw how bad it was leaning since the design had stripes, plus the bottom edge was really bulging. I thought the whole tier was a gonner and the tears started to fall, but I thought, what the hell, there's a separator midway through the tier, maybe part of it could be saved...
So I commenced the "emergency surgery" and cut the fondant where the board was to try and salvage what I could. When my MIL and I lifted the top half, the bottom crumbled and collapsed all over the desk and floor, but the top half didn't look half bad.
When I assembled it in the ballroom, I covered up the edge of the cut with a 1.5" wide satin ribbon rather than the originally planned thinner ribbon and the bride and groom were so ecstatic about the cake since the design was left up to me, and only a select few knew what had happened..
The final result.. http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1738178
I know what to do next time and even more drama happened between the assembly and the reception, but this story's already so long so I won't get into further details. =P
