WELL IT JUST WASN'T MEANT TO BE

I've been busy making the two cakes I've told you about.

I had not been feeling good the past few days but, the girl who ordered the cake from me is so nice and I have made many cakes in the past for her so, I agreed to help her out with these cakes.

I should have listened to myself and just said no. Oh well, live and learn.

I can't believe I'm going to share these photos with you but heck, we all mess up now.

The little boy was having a baseball theme cake and wanted blue and white. So that's what he got.

The top is his photo turned into a baseball card, just like the pros. Then I had it printed onto an icing sheet and used it as the topper along with a little baseball and glove.

The bats say Happy Birthday. Everything on this cake can be eaten.

The mom and little boy were thrilled with this cake. All I notice is how I didn't center the cake! Of course they didn't even notice that. But, I only see the flaws.

Also, the topper was the same color as the cake. For some reason this photo makes it look washed out. It wasn't.


So here is the nightmare cake! From the get go it gave me problems. So many problems. I wanted to just throw it in the trash.

It started with not being able to find the right candy. I had to go to several shops and my sister even went to Disneyland to get the suckers I wanted.

They were going to go on the top and one would say HAPPY and the other one BIRTHDAY with tootsie pops that spelled out the little girls name.

The cake was done and I was finally able to go to bed late last night. I got up early and woke up to the above. The Golden Ticket had cracked and the cake was starting to sink.

I had put dowels in to keep this from happening but it still was sinking and starting to lean.

OK, no problems. I propped it back up, put some edible butterflies on to hid the cracks and got it loaded up in the car.

I brought a repair kit with me in case anything should happen in transport. As I was driving I heard ping, ping, ping. I knew it was the chocolate squares falling off the cake.

No problem I thought. I was prepared with my fix it kit. I had extra candy, icing and was ready for anything. Or so I thought.

I opened up the back of the SUV to take a look and fix anything that needed to be fixed before I delivered the cake.

This is what I saw.....


Yes, that was the candy cake. Smashed open and all over the car.

Here is the top, in the trash! I guess it's true about being careful for what you wish for. After all, I did wish I could just throw the cake in the trash.

Now I know this happens to everyone sooner or later. I've seen it on TV shows several times and knew that one day, my turn would come.

I should have known it was going to be this cake. This cake gave me more problems then all the other cakes put together.

So, sadly there was no Willy Wonka cake for the little girl. The party planner did find a bakery where they picked up a simple plain cake.

I didn't get photos of either cake set up at the party all finished up. I was to upset to even think about taking photos there.

I felt bad. Really bad. But life goes on. Oh, and of course I did not charge her for the smashed up cake. So, I lost the money I put out and three days of work.

Lesson learned.

BAKING CAKES

The next few days I am going to busy baking cakes. Yes, I said cakeS. Not just a cake but two cakes. Two big cakes.

I got a call from a local party planner asking me to help her out with two big parties she is working on.

One is a Willy Wonka theme and the other is a Baseball theme. Both are for kids.

I can't get over how many parents are willing to pay $350+ for a kids birthday cake.

I agreed to do them. I don't know why. I get so stressed when I make cakes where I get paid hundreds for them. I mean really, that's a lot of money for cake. At least to me it is.

I always worry that no matter what I do it won't be good enough to make the customer happy. But, I guess they are because I do get repeat customers and referrals.

When I do a cake all I see are the flaws. I pick apart everything and have never made a cake I was really happy with. I'm my own worst critic.

So, if I'm not around for a day or two, you know it's because I'm stressing over the cakes.

It's funny because I wanted to learn cake decorating just for fun. It is fun. Though when I get paid to do a cake it becomes a job and sort of takes the fun out of it.

Oh why do I do this to myself.....