SO last year, in July, my sister called me and told me about a co-worker of hers who was getting married and needed a cake, and asked if I was interested. After talking to the girl (who didn't even WANT a cake, but was told by her bridesmaids that she needed one) I decided that since she was so low-key about it I would do it. I met with her a week later and we both decided on a 4-tier wedding cake with 3 satellites. All fondant: Pale pink with brown polka-dots, and hot pink bows with brown ribbon round the base of the cakes. Cute. This was due in late September. Then I found out I was pregnant - 3 weeks before cake was due. I had the WORST morning sickness EVER (unbeknown to me my gall bladder was also failing). On top of this, the smell of cake batter made me sick. Ugh. SOOOO - my best friend offered to help me out. She is also a cake decorator and had some experience with wedding cakes.
On the baking day, another friend of mine baked all the cakes at an off-site location that had room for storing them. A couple of days later, I came to pick them up and her husband had STACKED THEM IN PAPER BAGS!!! Oh. My. God.
ALL the satellites and 3 of the tiers were lopsided. I had NO TIME to bake more. I went to my friend's house to decorate and was so sick from the smell of the cakes in my car, I had to sit down when I got there. Eventually, the nausea passed and we began to ice the cakes and prepare them for stacking.
No problem there.
Then came the satellites. How was I going to fix this??? They were so beyond repair and I couldn't bring myself to bake more.
We moved on to the fondant. I dyed it light pink and began to place it on top of the base. It tore. I tried again. It tore. I got another batch going. IT TORE AGAIN! I moved on and covered the tears with the polka-dots.
I had made all my bows ahead of time so they had time to harden. However, they started to break when I put them on the cake. I was about to cry at this point. Then, I went to wash my hands and after washing them, I shook them and nailed my index finger on the edge of a VERY sharp knife. So now I'm bleeding profusely, overcome with morning sickness, and ready to call this girl and say (forget it - full refund). Did I mention she also had asked for a groom's cake to look like a newspaper with their picture on it???? I had the edible image done for me and when I got it out of the package, there was a HUGE line going through the middle of it from their ink cartridge. SERIOUSLY? Could anything else possibly go wrong?
So here I am with lopsided cakes, tearing fondant, a badly injured finger, and horrible morning sickness. The cakes finally got covered and now it was time to stack. No go. They kept sinking or leaning. I put more dowels in. It made no difference. Oh well. I had to leave to deliver the cake at this point.
In the end, the MOB and MOG LOVED it. I hated it. I also had to refund the bride $50 for her missing satellites. No more wedding cakes. EVER.
On the baking day, another friend of mine baked all the cakes at an off-site location that had room for storing them. A couple of days later, I came to pick them up and her husband had STACKED THEM IN PAPER BAGS!!! Oh. My. God.
ALL the satellites and 3 of the tiers were lopsided. I had NO TIME to bake more. I went to my friend's house to decorate and was so sick from the smell of the cakes in my car, I had to sit down when I got there. Eventually, the nausea passed and we began to ice the cakes and prepare them for stacking.
No problem there.
Then came the satellites. How was I going to fix this??? They were so beyond repair and I couldn't bring myself to bake more.
We moved on to the fondant. I dyed it light pink and began to place it on top of the base. It tore. I tried again. It tore. I got another batch going. IT TORE AGAIN! I moved on and covered the tears with the polka-dots.
I had made all my bows ahead of time so they had time to harden. However, they started to break when I put them on the cake. I was about to cry at this point. Then, I went to wash my hands and after washing them, I shook them and nailed my index finger on the edge of a VERY sharp knife. So now I'm bleeding profusely, overcome with morning sickness, and ready to call this girl and say (forget it - full refund). Did I mention she also had asked for a groom's cake to look like a newspaper with their picture on it???? I had the edible image done for me and when I got it out of the package, there was a HUGE line going through the middle of it from their ink cartridge. SERIOUSLY? Could anything else possibly go wrong?
So here I am with lopsided cakes, tearing fondant, a badly injured finger, and horrible morning sickness. The cakes finally got covered and now it was time to stack. No go. They kept sinking or leaning. I put more dowels in. It made no difference. Oh well. I had to leave to deliver the cake at this point.
In the end, the MOB and MOG LOVED it. I hated it. I also had to refund the bride $50 for her missing satellites. No more wedding cakes. EVER.
