I will start with an idea I have gotten from a picture, and when I am trying to decorate the cake it fights me. I mean, rip the fondant off and start all over again fights me.
When I give up and say what I come up with I come up with I end up with something I didn't expect, and it perfectly fits the person it was made for.
And I have no idea what it is really going to look like till I am done.
The birthday cake I just did, the little girl wanted white, blue, green. Her favorite color is purple. She loves peace signs and Justine something or other.
I wanted to do peach sign suckers, tinted purple, placed in various areas, no peace sign mold. Then I figured I'd just cut them from fondant or gumpaste, yeah that was a disaster. I knew what colors I wanted to cover the layers with and that went great, so did placing the "ribbon" on each layer.
I wanted to use roping at the base of each layer, do a ribbon topper, and have it come down the cake. Um, yeah, the ribbon didn't work, but the cascading part did. The roping was a laugh. So I just gave up and all of a sudden, I started making balls, placing them around the base of the layers, made curly q ribbon, placed the balls on the top with some curly q ribbon, then made daisys. Have no idea where the daisy came from, and randomly placed them.
The thing is, I started to make the balls earlier and stopped thinking I want to do ropes not balls. I want a ribbon on the top. I want to do polka dots on the layers. Each time I went to do something I "wanted" it was a pure pain in the rear end, when I just went with it not thinking, I ended up with a beautiful cake, and the little girl's favorite flower is a daisy.
So I tell people I don't design the cake, it designs itself. I do it all the time and have never missed, yet.
It fits the person with a conversation. Does anyone else do that?
There was actually an article in the Cake Central Magazine exactly about this! It went from a design that she had with colored markers to what the cake actually turned out like. She had a clock that was suppose to be on it but once she stuck it on there it didnt look quite right. Throwing off the balance on the cake. The color of the board changed also.
I think sometimes we get these ideas in our heads and sometimes they work and sometimes they dont. So when they dont we have to come up with a plan B. Sometimes a plan C. I had a wedding cake that the bride wanted and the color of the ribbon was an odd color lavender. I couldnt find it anywhere! So my first thought was to make it using Sugarveil. Well the first batch ended up getting darker later than it was suppose to. Second batch came out the right color and had air bubbles all over it. Third batch and the last of it I had came out the right color and no air bubbles. Went to put it on the cake and it looked horrible! Not to mention you could see the matching ends and things. Took that off and decided to go with real ribbon. Not the exact color she wanted. She first wanted orchids and then at the last minute changed her mind. The design she wanted had ribbons that criss crossed all over the tier. Without the flowers on it you can see where they met at. So I put the orchids on there. And Im glad I did! It turned out beautiful. I dont think she minded the slight changes!
One of the 1st cakes I made was for 2 sisters. One was 18 & one was 21 with close birthdays & the nan ordered a joint cake. She never gave me any idea on theme colour or anything. I just went with my instinct & chose lilac for one sisters side & pale lemon for the other sisters side. They loved it & I got each sisters favourite colour right to boot!
I always go with my instinct now if people don't tell me what they want & sometimes if they do & I haven't had any complaints so far. I think you have to, cake decorating is an art & at the end of the day you have to go with what comes naturally to you & create your own masterpiece. Even if you do have to make a million mistakes & go all the way there to come back again to find it out 
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