I decided to spend this weekend trying out some new recipes from a Sylvia Weinstock book I bought a few weeks ago. I'm a novice decorator so all of these recipes were definitely a challenge. I started at 9 PM last night and managed over the course of the past 24 hours to make chocolate mousse, two 9" chocolate fudge cakes, an espresso simple syrup, and a HUGE batch of Italian BC!!! I was so proud. The BC was a complete mess (I have BC in places you shouldn't have BC) and it was a little soupy but it was still useable as I'm just experimenting and the cake will just be eaten by friends at work.

So tonight I spent 2 hours torting, filling, icing, and decorating the cake. I took the opportunity to practice roses, tiffany pearls, and was just getting ready to do some brush embroidery on the side when BAM!!!! My cake slid off the tilt-able cake stand I have and crashed onto the kitchen counter. I caught it as it hit but that didn't seem to help...hands gripping the sides of a 6" tall chocolate fudge cake can't stop the pending disaster as it ricocheted off the microwave and onto the toaster.

O.M.G. I screamed for my husband and he came running to help adjust the cake stand back to level and I plopped the cake back on. Then I spent 20 minutes wiping BC off of my microwave, cabinets, mixer, floor, etc. before fixing the cake as much as I could. It's now just a plain cake with a few roses on top but it's edible.

So I learned a lot this weekend. Don't use 3 packets of gelatin in your mousse or you'll have a solid blob of chocolate goodness. Make 1/2 of the BC recipe unless you have a commercial sized mixer or you'll end up wearing it. Sugar gets REALLY hot at the soft ball stage. The best lesson: keep trying new things and don't give up.

I love your story! Of course, I am sorry your cake slid off into your hands, microwave, etc.
Practice makes perfect, and it is always a learning experience when we try new recipes.
Hope tomorrow is a better day!!

You know, all you can do is stand back and laugh. I had a similar story about the How to Train Your Dragon cake I made. The dragon and boy were made out of GP, the boy turned out great the first time. The dragon a different story, my husband made the first dragon and the second day he didn't quite like it so he made another. A little while later we heard a scream from my oldest, the 2 year old had bitten the tail OFF! We went in to see it and asked where the other one was, he had completely eaten/demolished the poor little thing, it was a slimy mess with teeth marks. Lesson learned keep projects on top of the fridge where he can't climb. )