Hello -

I ask this question with hesitance...because of all the Nasty Nasty-kins that are lurking out there. But, I'm hoping I'll get some positive things to think about.

Please look at the last cake posted in my pictures. It was a cake meant to be in a clown themed environment. It has balloon shaped sugar cookies on a stick all around it.

Any hoooo - I have always had trouble with multiple colors. While I'm closing in on my final tweaks regarding cake basics like level cake assembly & structural cake stacking issues...I'm trying to define a personal style. Now - what I see is:

(1) I do like my bottom tier...but should I have put something in the solid yellow space? A texture element? Not necessarily another color...but maybe an impression mat?
(2) the orange ruffle on the middle cake may have looked better red?
(3) on the middle cake again....should the balloons have been another size? does the scale make sense? Should there have been more balloons on that middle tier?
(4) my circus tent looks like it belongs to another cake. Perhaps I should have incorporated more colors or other colors with thinner panels.
(5) my balloon shoosty thingys....would you have put more? I feel like I would have liked the curly wires better. I was afraid of them though...is it just a matter of inserting them into coffee straws? Wrapping them in floral tape...THEN, inserting them into coffee straws? And, now thinking of it...balloons wouldn't have made sense with the curly wires. Would they?

Please let me know what YOU would have done differently to improve the design/color scheme.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts...

I found the cake really cute even though I don't like clowns! The orange could have been red, but it was fine the way it was. I would not have put more balloons in the middle tier or anything else in the yellow area. The balloons on top could have been put on wires so they "float" out instead of going straight, but then again, I always cringe when someone wants those in there cakes. Even though I put them in straws, I just don't like to do it. The tent looks fine on there too. While looking at it, I saw you had half circle under the top that could have been switched red/blue, instead of red/red. That would break it up a bit. I think any little one would love the cake just the way it is. We are our worst critics though. I always question everything I do too!

To tell you the truth, I found absolutely nothing wrong with the cake. The color scheme matches the theme perfectly, there are not small mistakes to pick out that I can see. The balloon cookies or candy give the cake a whimsical feel.

You're "improvments" I think would have overloaded the cake with too many things going on for the human eye. Sometimes there is beauty in simplicity. It was correct to leave the yellow space empty, anything you would have put there would have shot the cake up to "over-the-top" category.

Great job and amazing skills. Props!

The cake looks great, first of all. The tent does draw the attention first. Maybe adding more of the corresponding colors or making one of the cakes higher in height to draw the attention up the cake. The bottom tier, instead of the border being in yellow maybe have used the primary colors. One thought comes to mind is since it is a circus theme, cut out animal silouttes to go around the bottom tier. The wires woould have been a great way for the balloons. With wires, you just use coffee stirrer/straws.

I agree with dantherex, your buttercream looks great, nice and clean, the colors match the decor. There is beauty in simplicity.

Thanks everyone. I have soooo much trouble with multiple colors. I think my whole trouble is that circus tent. Both of the other tiers have lots of colors. The tent only has two.

I was a little nervous for this cake, as it was my FIRST three tier. I had a last minute order to add & it took time away from the tent. I just ran out of gas I think.

If I would have incorporated 4 colors in the tent panels & rotated the half circle scallop details so they weren't on their own color...I think it would have been as festive as the rest of the cake.

Making it even more fun would have been varying the height's a little. I like that "draw your eye up" with a tall cake concept. I really like the drama that comes with different shaped and heights of cake tiers. I think that's a lesson for later. My "check box accounting" brain may explode if I introduce too many creative ideas at once!

I LOVE simple. My brain just has a tendency to overshoot. Thanks so much for the input I really really appreciate it. Again...I over thought the issue. The other tiers were sufficient. I just didn't carry the same multiple color approach on the top tier. That would have solved it!

Thanks!