This weekend I did a cake for my friend's baby's birthday. She wanted a monkey theme, and right away, ideas were going off in my head and I just had to sketch them out (I suck and drawing and have no idea why I felt compelled to draw anything, haha)

It was just me, yellow WASC, chocolate BC filling, MMF, and a creative license. My goal for Friday was to get the cakes baked, filled, and covered. It was also my SIL's birthday, and while I was originally just going to drop off her present and have dessert, turned into eating dinner and visiting with family members who I didn't know would be there, so late start on that.

In my mad dash to stay on schedule when I got home, I completely forgot about my bake even strips, and those things are my favorite! I realized it just as I was ready to put everything in the oven, but I remembered that some people use a flower nail, so I ended up using that instead. Not a fan of it at ALL. My cake still domed in the middle anyway. Oh well, I leveled it and kept trucking along.

In flipping one of the layers over, I discovered that there was a big patch of sticky, not-quite-cooked batter in the middle on the bottom where the flower nail was. I thought I could just level off 1/2 an inch, and it would be fine, because the top looked okay and the toothpick was clean when I checked it. My Wilton leveler wasn't doing the job, so I got out a huge serrated knife and leveled it that way. Everything was coming along evenly and great, until 2/3 of the way when it dawned on me exactly how late it was. As soon as my attention slipped, so did my hand -- downward, cutting off a massive chunk of cake. I thought I could fix it, but it was way too uneven and unfixable. At this point, it was 1:30 am, I didn't have any more batter or ingredients to make the batter, so I just threw it away and decided to worry about it in the morning.

I forced myself to stay in bed until 7:30 am, when I went to the store to get more ingredients. This time, I remembered my bake even strips and of course, the cake came out absolutely perfect. After everything was cooled and ready to be covered in fondant, I realize that the MMF I made the day before was a frickin' brick. The night before when I was all bleary-eyed, I misread the recipe and used half the liquid that I was supposed to. Cool. Another trip to the store. While it was resting, I started working on the fondant accents. Luckily I still had a little bit of Wilton fondant left, so I used that. I also used that time to carve and ice the smash cake. I started with a crumb coat, and it would not stick to the cake! Now, I realize the icing was probably too stiff. In the moment, I was just mad at it and tried to make it work the best I could. The crumb coat didn't help, and even after it crusted over, the heavier coat was still pulling everything up. I smoothed it out 3 different ways, but I was never altogether happy with it.

By the time I finally got the fondant on, I was in a time crunch. I was completely unhappy with the finished product. Due to time, my ideas I had sketched up got slashed and I had to do a MUCH more simple design. I literally got done with it 30 minutes before it had to be there. I hated the monkeys, but didn't know why, and didn't have time to sit there and ponder it. I went to assemble the box it was going in to discover I bought the wrong size box!! I just started laughing, because at that point, it was ridiculous that EVERY aspect had gone wrong. Got another box, all was well. As soon as I handed my friend the cake, I figured out why I hated the monkeys: I never gave them nostrils!!!

At least everyone at the party was saying how delicious it was, otherwise I probably would have cried, haha.

So there it is, the story of how I made an entire cake and apparently didn't turn my brain on once! Here it is: http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1479207

Thanks for letting me rant

Can't even imagine...Good thing it's all over now, and by the way your cake looks good.

This does'nt mean you suck at caking this just mean your human like the rest of us.
We have all been there and we have done that.
It's the cake ball effect, similiar to the snow ball effect but of course with cake, and once one thing goes wrong the frosting hits the fan and all hell breaks loose.
Hang in there.
And next time for the mmf just warm it up in the microwave and knead in some water, I've had to do it before a time or two,there's no need to start all over.
Thats the great thing about mmf you can add more sugar or water depending on what it needs.
Don't give up and keep caking!

You sound like me! I just got a good laugh out of that story...hate that it happened to you but I know the feeling and more than me, I think my husband could really relate. We now live 30 miles from any store that sells cake stuff and so I have to be on the ball...if I am not, the world falls apart and my husband has to listen to me cry, rant and rave! Hope your week goes well and thanks for the hilarious story. The best people in the world are the ones who can have a good chuckle about themselves. : ) ~Julie

I'm so sorry that happened. I bet you're glad it's over. I think your cake still turned out cute. I LOVE the banana smash cake! I thought the no nostril thing was really funny, just because I can see something like that happening to me.

I don't know you but are we related? That stuff happens to me all the time.

Haha, thanks everyone! I'm glad I can laugh about it now.

CakeMommy, how long do I microwave the fondant? With my luck I'd hit the wrong button, microwave it for 10 minutes, and burn the entire thing

Its really cute! a little more planning might help, but still At the end of day you made lots of people HAPPY and that matters a lot. GOOD JOB

All I can say hon is "keep on cakin'". We all have those days. What does make us totally lose on minds only makes us stronger. By the way, the cake was darling.