Well it first started with the baking, 2 of the cakes did not rise high enough for me to get good layers so I had to rebake them. Next I thought I was doing well after torting and crumb coating, I put them in the fridge overnite. I layed the fondant on each tier the next day. The following day I went to do the piping work and I had several air bubbles in the fondant and also it had slide down and was bunching up on several sides.

I used a pin to get the air bubbles out and tried to re-smooth the fondant as much as possible. It was still looking at least decent at this point. Later when I went to stack and finish decorating the cakes the air bubbles and bunching was back... sighhhhhhhhhh...

I tried to smooth as best I could but the fondant was already dried and this caused many cracks. I spackled with RI as best I could and added the fondant drape and gumpaste roses to hide the inperfections on the front of the cake. (least the piping did not crack!)

I don't know what happned this time to have so many fondant problems, I did really well on the last cakes I made.

anyway in the end I could not even lift it to put it in the box, had to get the hubbys help. I always see the girls on Ace of Cakes carrying 3 tier or more cakes so I thought it would not be that bad.... guess again.. thththth

in closing I purchased the fondant and stacking dvd's from sugarshack the other day... SURE WISH I WOULD HAVE HAD THEM FOR THIS CAKE..

Thanks for letting me vent
Sherri

It's so pretty. I would love to have that cake. Sorry, it gave you such fits but you really pulled it off.

Your cake is beautiful!!! I know what you mean about everything going wrong with a cake. I also know that they weigh alot more than they look like they do...found that out the hard way

Thanks for the support you guys.. I really appreciate it..

I think it turned out nicely. I love your scrolls with the pearl accents! Very nice!

Thank you.. scroll work is hard for me.. I can't freehand it so I use acetate sheets w the design underneeth,I pipe it backwards on the sheet with piping gel, then press it on the cake

then I go over it with RI, time comsuming but it works pretty good..

I never thought of doing it that way. It's obvious that it's a technique that definitely produces excellent results. Thanks for sharing that technique!

Ah, the cake gods were having some fun this week, weren't they? Had my own disaster too.

This cake is so pretty! You did a wonderful job, you cannot even tell there were any problems.

Thank you for sharing your technique for putting scrolls on! I too am horrid at freehand, this tip will most definately come in handy in the future!

Beautiful cake, you should be proud!

Was it humid there? I had a disaster wedding cake this week due to humidity and heat! Definitely learned alot from people on this forum, but wish I could do it all over again--the RIGHT way this time!

[quote="disp4so"]

Amen!

Cold goes to heat, so I wonder if you had the cakes in the frig and they got really cold? Then you put the fondant over them and in effect "sealed" them, then as the cold was leaving the cake it had no where to go so the bubbles formed?

That has been my experience in the past so as a result I ice and chill my cakes for only about 15 minutes before covering w/ fondant.

Maybe that helps? Your cake still turned out great - sometimes we are our own worst critics!

Dispite your problems the cake turned out very pretty. Just remember that the customer is not going to see all of your flaws. You are just harder on yourself because you know exactly where they are.
Great job on the cake and it looks like you did a nice job repairing it.

no not humid... I think it was just an overestimation of my skill level....seems no mater how many cakes you do.. there is always more to learn...

I agree with millermom.....I bet to say that the majority of us have tried a technique above our skill level and had good results....and if it's not quite what we expect of ourselves.....(others done see our flaws like we do) you look at it a say "the next time I have to do this.......or I should have done it that way........" That's how we grow............


Sherri.....your cake is beautiful.....nice repair job

Great job anyway!! Sounds like you might have had too much buttercream and/or too thick fondant...