Hi....I posted a photo of a wedding cake I did this weekend along with a rant about how much trouble it gave me. I was so frustrated with this cake.
It was an all buttercream, 3 tiered stacked cake. 2 of the tiers were vanilla cake with raspberry, and the middle tier was tiramisu cake.
First of all, I baked most of the layers the Sunday before the wedding, and put them in the freezer. I only had one more layer to bake, and it was the 16 inch bottom layer. Well, I baked it Thursday night. It was finally cooled down around midnight. I put it top down on a cardboard round and went to bed, not cutting off the "dome" before doing so, figuring I'd get to it the next day.
Well, Friday comes, and I go to assemble the bottom layer. The "dome" part was stuck to the cardboard round and pulled the entire cake apart. I had to rebake that layer, so I did.
In the meantime, I whipped up the marscapone cheese for the tiramisu filling. I just mixed it with a little powdered sugar. It started separating!! We are talking about 15 dollars worth of cheese!! I eventually let it whip through the blender for a half an hour and it came back together, but it was not as smooth as I would have preferred.
I also started frosting the other layers. Well, I completely forgot to add my icing damn to the smallest raspberry/white choc level...and sure enough, I had a white chocolate mess oozing out of the sides of the cake. I had to take an extra hour on damage control.
I then started frosting the top two layers while the bottom layer was cooling down. I began piping and almost finished with the first cake. I was wondering why my # 3 tip was pushing out huge dots instead of the dainty little dots in the picture. I look again at the tip: I accidentally put on a # 6 tip by mistake!!!! At that point, I said "oh well, it doesn't look bad."
The bottom tier was cooled down. I finally got to assembling the bottom layer of the cake. I got it filled and crumb coated, and then I measured it in height. Wouldn't you know? That sucker was 1 inch shorter than the other two tiers!!??!!! AHHHHHH!!!!
It was 2:30 am at this point, and I decided to just go to bed, get some sleep, because I started to cry and knew that I would just start making mistakes.
I woke up at 8am, feeling tired, but I felt that I had all day to rebake yet again, the bottom level. I sent my husband out for more ingredients, and I got to baking. I put one layer in my upstairs oven, one in my downstairs.
The upstairs level layer came out perfectly. The layer baked in the downstairs oven, well, lets just say the oven doesn't work right. It burnt the outer edges, and yet did not cook the inside well enough. It was noon by this point. I started crying again.
Finally, I decided, screw it: I'll bake the final level in the upstairs oven, and hopefully, it will done by 4pm to take to the hall. I literally was praying to God on this, that the bride would get the cake she deserved on her wedding day!!
It came out beautifully; I had it iced, filled, decorated by 4pm, and the cake finally got set up.
WHEW!! It was an ordeal I will never forget....but I learned so much also.
The bride's mother called to tell me that people were raving about how beautiful and delicious the cake was, how rich and moist it was, and people were taking my cards left and right. I guess they finished it off completely!
So, I am really glad I worked for it; it was all worth it!!!!!!
Oh, and the bottom layer that was too short? I ended up giving it a quick decorating job and took it to a Christmas party that night, and ended up with some new customers!
Sorry for the long rant!! :X
The cake is posted in the galleries!
Ellen
llee815 Forum Addict
Joined: Mar 16, 2005
Posts: 904
Location: Illinois
Birthday: Aug 15
Posted:
Mon Dec 19, 2005 7:16 am
Wow! Sorry you had to go through all that, but, by the sound of it, everything was well worth it! Your cake looks beautiful! Great job!
ellepal Forum Addict
Joined: May 21, 2005
Posts: 952
Posted:
Mon Dec 19, 2005 7:26 am
Thanks! I did not realize how long-winded this message was....my apologies!
cakebybek Frequent Member
Joined: Sep 08, 2005
Posts: 388
Posted:
Mon Dec 19, 2005 7:43 am
Your cake is beautiful, very nice job. God does answer our prayers in the the end it all turned out beautiful.
bubblezmom Forum Addict
Joined: Jul 26, 2005
Posts: 766
Posted:
Mon Dec 19, 2005 7:53 am
Well, I guess the upside would be that you learned a lot about baking? I'm happy that you didn't have a nervous breakdown and that the family told you how wonderful the cake was. The cake did turn out beautiful.
ihavasweet2th Frequent Member
Joined: Jan 11, 2005
Posts: 270
Posted:
Mon Dec 19, 2005 7:57 am
Hey Elle,
Your cakes are beautiful, you do VERY NICE work!! By looking at the cake no one would ever know the troubles you had!! It seems like the cakes you thing will be the easiest, turn out to give us the most trouble. In fact, I scare myself and my husband when I say, Oh, this will be an easy one!! Seems like it is worse than the more difficult ones! Maybe it is all psychological!!
Anyway, sorry you had so much trouble, I know if you cried it was bad, been there!! Running on no sleep and high emotions and against the clock are a bad combo!!
Again, your cakes are awesome!!
~luraleigh~
ihavasweet2th Frequent Member
Joined: Jan 11, 2005
Posts: 270
Posted:
Mon Dec 19, 2005 7:58 am
Hey Elle,
Your cakes are beautiful, you do VERY NICE work!! By looking at the cake no one would ever know the troubles you had!! It seems like the cakes you thing will be the easiest, turn out to give us the most trouble. In fact, I scare myself and my husband when I say, Oh, this will be an easy one!! Seems like it is worse than the more difficult ones! Maybe it is all psychological!!
Anyway, sorry you had so much trouble, I know if you cried it was bad, been there!! Running on no sleep and high emotions and against the clock are a bad combo!!
Again, your cakes are awesome!!
~luraleigh~
bubblezmom Forum Addict
Joined: Jul 26, 2005
Posts: 766
Posted:
Mon Dec 19, 2005 8:01 am
Forgot to add: I use cream cheese for my tiramisu and no one has noticed any difference. The cream cheese has to soften or it will not blend well. I found that out this wkend when I made tiramisu for a Christmas party.
ellepal Forum Addict
Joined: May 21, 2005
Posts: 952
Posted:
Mon Dec 19, 2005 8:30 am
thank-you for this advice! bubble, I had no idea!! So all I had to do was let the marscapone get to room temp and it would have blended well? AHHH!!!! LOL Oh well, live and learn!!
rachaelwelch Junior Member
Joined: Oct 11, 2005
Posts: 60
Location: Tennessee
Posted:
Mon Dec 19, 2005 8:36 am
Elle - Just saw the cake in your gallery and it is BEAUTIFUL!!! Sorry you had to go thru so much, but it sounds like it all worked out wonderfully in the end. Now - Get some rest!!!
sweetbaker Forum Fanatic
Joined: Sep 23, 2004
Posts: 1090
Location: Montgomery County, Maryland
Sorry about the troubles you had but glad it turned out for you. It is a beautiful cake!!
loriemoms Forum SuperStar!
Joined: Nov 09, 2005
Posts: 2206
Location: Cary, North Carolina
Birthday: Feb 12
Posted:
Fri Dec 23, 2005 7:35 am
I agree, you did a incrediable job! That is a very beautiful cake! All your cakes are amazing..I love your rose wedding cake!
traci Forum SuperStar!
Joined: May 07, 2005
Posts: 2239
Location: Houston,Texas
Posted:
Fri Dec 23, 2005 5:11 pm
The cake looks gorgeous especially with the red flowers! I like the bigger swiss dots...I would have never know that you did not do it on purpose! All your cakes are so creative...keep up the great work!
Chrystal Regular Member
Joined: Apr 21, 2005
Posts: 110
Posted:
Sat Dec 24, 2005 2:06 pm
wow...good job.. be proud of your work...i can't wait to see pictures.
ellepal Forum Addict
Joined: May 21, 2005
Posts: 952
Posted:
Sat Dec 24, 2005 7:56 pm
thanks everyone!! The bride emailed and said that she can't even say how many people approached her, wanting to know who did the cake! YAY!!!!!!! I think it was worth the 3 bakes!! I at least have 3 other commissions out of the order, so we'll see what happens!
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:X
I'm happy that you didn't have a nervous breakdown and that the family told you how wonderful the cake was. The cake did turn out beautiful. 
