I feel so awful, this is my first post here but I know my cake centralites will understand.

a lady ordered a cake on Monday for delivery today. I like to use fondant icing but she wanted buttercream. I warned her that I'm not that great at buttercream. Anyway she wanted a racing car cake for her daughters go karting party but not in pink. She suggested purple, I wasn't keen but thought well that's what she wants.

I've made a racing car cake before but with fondant. Anyway to cut a long story short, the colour was awful and I couldn't get the buttercream to be smooth. It looked so amateur but I didn't have time to fix it as I need to finish another cake for tomo. 

The nanny took delivery of the cake and the client sent payment via bank transfer as soon as she got home but I can't help thinking she must be disappointed. Especially since she has seen my previous standard many times. 

I so wanted the cake to be perfect and I feel awful grrr I won't sleep tonight.

thanks for reading, natasha xx

AThere's a really simple solution for next time. You work with the medium you are confident with, and will give the best results. And if the client protests, explain why.

Exactly what AZCouture said.  Next time you will direct the client on how the cake will look--the client will not tell you how to do your job.  Try not to beat yourself up on this one...it was a learning lesson.  To put it in perspective, if you went to your accountant and told them not use an abacus instead of a calculator to do your taxes because you don't like calculators (and accurate work)--that wouldn't be a case of 'the customer is always right', it would be crazy!   You'd expect the professional you hired to give you their professional opinion on how to achieve the desired outcome.  If the customer truly hated fondant or didn't have the budget for it, then you could discuss how to create a themed cake in buttercream that you knew that you could do (say a b/c finished cake with fondant car cut outs?)  

did u hear anything from the customer? 

I so appreciate your kind replies and a lesson in confidence. I really must speak up beforehand.

It turns out the customer loved it. She has sent me some lovely pics of her daughter. I'm my own worst critic and I don't think it was a good standard at all. She liked it and that's what matters. I am sticking to my guns and not doing buttercream cakes unless I know I can get it right.

thanks for your support x

Lol, I like that expression "died a thousand deaths" as that is really how I felt. 

Its weird isn't it that we don't realise how much someone else appreciates what we can do.

i think they expect to receive a cake that looks like a car

and we expect to deliver a car that oh by the way you can slice & serve as a cake too

it's ok for some of our creations to look like and be cake no say it ain't so!!

but it's so much more fun to avoid that whole cake thing!!!

i did a louis v purse cake for a silent auction and i asked my friends if they saw my cake

and nobody saw it because they saw the purse

yes!! mission accomplished hahahahaha

Did she give you any feedback? You never know you may have been too crtitical of your own work? She may have loved it!!

AI had a similar problem at the weekend lady asked for a double decker bus at short notice (someone had let her down) I made the cake and thought it looked awfull finished just before lady collected cake explained to her I wasn't happy with it and if I had more time would try and fix it she said it was fine looked like a bus to her. I got feedback the next day saying cake tasted wonderful and decoration was good considering the time given. i offered her a discount on her next cake just because I wasn't happy with it

Sometimes I tell the customer that I can put extra buttercream under the fondant so they can just peel the fondant off and eat the cake with the buttercream. That way it looks great, but they still get the taste they want. 

My Horror story is an oscar the grouch cake, i make the can from cake and the head out of rice crispys....his top half fell off even though I  tried to support it with a dowel rod. I was mortified but my customer still loved it. 

I agree with Krystina Cakes...I also tell my customers that I can add a little extra buttercream underneath the fondant if they are looking for something that I dont think I can achieve with buttercream.  However, you can also do a texture cake with the buttercream and use a small star tip or something like that all over the cake.  That way you dont have to worry about smoothing the fondant down, and you also get a really nice consistent looking cake. :)    But, also, practicing with the buttercream makes a huge difference...and if you dont get it quite as smooth as you want, p

parchment paper does wonders once your butter cream has crusted. 

Just lay it on top and smooth the frosting down! :)