I'm so serious that I don't even want to see another dragee for years. This cake I just finished delivering was a lot more labor intensive than I'd planned. So much so I started getting sloppy towards the end. I tried to pull it together, but that cake was tiring. If posted it in my photos if anyone wants to see it (Samantha cake). And, no, I didn't use the saliva adhesive.
So I get to the venue and have the cake all set up. The quinceñera's mom wasn't there, but we'd already talked about where to set up and all that. So as I'm leaving some random woman (probably a family member) says to me, "Can you separate the top tier from the rest of the cake?"
Me: "No"
Nosey Lady: "Why not?"
Me: "Well, because if I separate it then what's going to hold up the separated tier" (it's a stacked cake and I don't carry around separators for the fun of it)
Nosey Lady: "So how are they supposed to cut it?"
Me: "With a knife"
Nosey Lady: "It won't make it fall?"
Me: "No" (giving her the RCA dog look)
Nosey Lady: "So you can't separate it?"
Me: "The person who paid for this cake wanted it to look like this. This is what she paid for...who are you?"
Nosey Lady: "Um, okay."
I'm very proud of my hispanic heritage, but sometimes my own people can get on my last nerves. It's like they aspire to be the nosiest people on earth
I know! At first I thought she was one of those women who does cakes and hates on the other cake decorator because she didn't get the job. But when she looked confused when I explained that I would need something to hold up the separated tier, I figured she was just a moron.
She looked all mad, funny thing is I just found out her DH was asking me if I could do their daughter's quince cake...definitely not taking that one.
Man Tita... that is a lot of dragees! I really love how your gumpaste numbers turned out. You are too funny, the way you can just handle people! I'm totally laughing as I'm reading this! Don't you just hate people like that? Definitely dodged a bullet doing the cake for her daughter's quince. Oh, and don't we all just carry around separators for the heck of it? Jeez... some people. The mind wobbles! 
I'm so serious that I don't even want to see another dragee for years. This cake I just finished delivering was a lot more labor intensive than I'd planned. So much so I started getting sloppy towards the end. I tried to pull it together, but that cake was tiring. If posted it in my photos if anyone wants to see it (Samantha cake). And, no, I didn't use the saliva adhesive.
Now this is where the pets come in handy. Especially bulldogs. Next time you have to add the dragee's to the cake make sure you have one of them handy! 
Seriously, though you did a great job. I don't know how you got thru all of those dragees and your reply to the lady was too funny....
I know! At first I thought she was one of those women who does cakes and hates on the other cake decorator because she didn't get the job. But when she looked confused when I explained that I would need something to hold up the separated tier, I figured she was just a moron.
I believe the politically correct term for her (coined by indydebi) is cake civilian.
I'm probably being way too kind to the cake muggle, but could she have meant (and said in a very confusing way) that she wanted to know whether the top tier could be removed for cutting? In other words, not for display?
I know that I frequently like to separate the stacked tiers before cutting, not because of stability, but because I tend to make different flavored tiers and don't want to wait until I finish cutting one flavor to start on the next. (The chocolate tends to be the larger tier, so who wants to wait for that?)
Hi, I really like the cake and all but as I am nothing but a buttinski and no real relation to anyone and have not authority to change things, but would you please pull something out and fix the cake to my liking? I am sure the family planning this little party does not know what they want or how to go about getting it done, so please, I implore you, change the cake just for little ole me. I am sure you can just reach right up your... what is that place called? ... and pull some magic dust out and change it. Just what are people thinking? Oh, yeah, that's right, they are NOT thinking.
I know that I frequently like to separate the stacked tiers before cutting, not because of stability, but because I tend to make different flavored tiers and don't want to wait until I finish cutting one flavor to start on the next. (The chocolate tends to be the larger tier, so who wants to wait for that?)
Are you kidding? Are there people who cut a wedding cake from the top down? 
In 30 years, it never, ever would have occured to me to cut a cake that way. From day one, it's always been a natural assumption to take the cake apart and cut each tier as needed .... if it's all one flavor, you get rid of the biggest tier first.
If I saw someone cut a cake without dis-assembling it, I would stand there with my chin dragging the carpet.
Are you kidding? Are there people who cut a wedding cake from the top down?
In 30 years, it never, ever would have occurred to me to cut a cake that way. From day one, it's always been a natural assumption to take the cake apart and cut each tier as needed .... if it's all one flavor, you get rid of the biggest tier first.If I saw someone cut a cake without dis-assembling it, I would stand there with my chin dragging the carpet.
Well, the party guest did ask whether the cake would fall over when cut, which is what made me think she maybe wasn't asking to have the top tier separated for display, but rather disassembled for cutting.
A couple of times, i did leave the top tier on for cutting. For example, once I did it because I had doweled the heck out of the thing for transport on windy mountain roads in horrible weather. There were a few dowels going through the entire cake, which did NOT want to come out for unstacking.
I would never, ever, ever try to cut a three or more tier cake without unstacking. (But I haven't ever made a three or more tier cake, just two tiers quite often.)
I had one lady ask me "how do you cut a cake like that, do you just have really tall thin pieces?" Ya, that's right, 3 foot tall pieces. I actually had to explain that each tier is its own separate cake on a plate, take it apart and then slice as you would a normal 1 tier cake. Some people amaze me!
I had one lady ask me "how do you cut a cake like that, do you just have really tall thin pieces?"
Yeah, and each piece is served on a gigantic meat platter because it's such a long piece of cake!
I don't get people. What rational person would even think that?
It sounds like she was asking, because she's going to be having a tall cake like that for the daughter's party.
If I got the impression I was expected to take slices from the top tier of a 3 foot tall cake in place I wouldn't go with that baker. I'd want one who could put the tier on the table and cut it there.
Can you imagine the disaster that could happen?
That's why people order sheet cakes.
You know RedPanda, I did think that's what she meant when she first asked me, so I told her, there's plates under each tier you can take off as you're cutting (this is the party I was invited to just to cut the cake...LOL! They thought my $100 "staying at a stranger's party just to cut the cake" fee was a little much).
She told me, "No, have it sitting up apart from the rest of the cake"...that's when the conversation started. I, too, try to give people the benefit of the doubt, but I still end up walking away thinking that they're idiots.
I had one lady ask me "how do you cut a cake like that, do you just have really tall thin pieces?"
Yeah, and each piece is served on a gigantic meat platter because it's such a long piece of cake!
WOW! I wanna see the pan and oven that baked THAT cake!!
I know that I frequently like to separate the stacked tiers before cutting, not because of stability, but because I tend to make different flavored tiers and don't want to wait until I finish cutting one flavor to start on the next. (The chocolate tends to be the larger tier, so who wants to wait for that?)
Are you kidding? Are there people who cut a wedding cake from the top down?
In 30 years, it never, ever would have occured to me to cut a cake that way. From day one, it's always been a natural assumption to take the cake apart and cut each tier as needed .... if it's all one flavor, you get rid of the biggest tier first.If I saw someone cut a cake without dis-assembling it, I would stand there with my chin dragging the carpet.
Well, chin get to dragging, because that's how most of the people around here cut them. I always assumed that they took them apart and cut them, but I found out that most people start at the top and work their way down. I have to tell brides to check at the reception site to see how they do it, because I know they're not consistent from place to place.
I know that I frequently like to separate the stacked tiers before cutting, not because of stability, but because I tend to make different flavored tiers and don't want to wait until I finish cutting one flavor to start on the next. (The chocolate tends to be the larger tier, so who wants to wait for that?)
Are you kidding? Are there people who cut a wedding cake from the top down?
In 30 years, it never, ever would have occured to me to cut a cake that way. From day one, it's always been a natural assumption to take the cake apart and cut each tier as needed .... if it's all one flavor, you get rid of the biggest tier first.If I saw someone cut a cake without dis-assembling it, I would stand there with my chin dragging the carpet.
You would have loved the wedding reception I went to last Feb. then. The cake was baked as a gift for the bride (not by me) and was a 4 tiered stacked cake. Very pretty. She could not be there for the wedding due to a previous engagement. The waitress proceeded to cut the cake without taking the cake apart.
The woman who made the cake left explicit instructions on how to disassemble and cut the cake, right down to where the dowels were located. I went up and asked her if she wanted me to take the tiers apart for her just to make it a little easier for her. She turned me down.
The cake was mangled and I was "lucky" enough to get a wooden dowel in my piece. Yum....
I left instructions on how to cut each tier, but I really didn't think I needed to leave instructions on having to separate each one. It really didn't cross my mind.
This lady is related to my best friend, and her and her family have all seen me disassemble and cute cakes (they've literally stood there watching me disassemble and serve a whole cake), so I figure if they didn't know how to disassemble, my best friend would say something.
I guess that's one more thing to add to the instruction sheet.
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