I have just finshed my 3rd wedding cake, and i am *reasonably* pleased with it, but as with all my work all i can see are the flaws, and all i can remember about the whole process is what went wrong and what gave me sleepless nights !

Its all done now and ready to hand over to the bride but i feel emotionally spent !!!! i cant imagine having to do this several times a week and having enough stamina to keep going through the hard times . . . .but i really want to !!!

i wish i were better/quicker at what i do and really have a yearning to become known in my area for good caked but i get so stressed when things go wrong i really wonder sometimes if i am cut out for this !!!! i keep flitting between feeling all positive and then just saying i will do this as a hobby only .. .

does anyone relate to any of my babbling ?!?!?!!!!!!
Heres the cake anyway . . .thanks for reading ! x

oops orry for adding twice, i am new to this !

Something about when it's a wedding cake makes us koo koo. But the cake is beautiful. I personally like the intense stress and demands of caking. I know I'm a nut.

I can definately relate. I just had a cake disaster this past weekend with a wedding cake that I spent 2 weeks on (pic in photos). I love what I do but wedding cakes stress me out so much. My worst nightmare came true when that cake collapsed. It made me so upset, I was literally sick. There will be no more wedding cakes in the near future for me. Thank goodness I don't have anymore scheduled right now. This has shaken my confidence so much, I am afraid to do tiered baby shower cakes that I have scheduled soon!

I wil definitey keep that in mind also!!! By the way sugarsugargal that is a beautiful cake and you are being your own worst critic!!!! Keep up the good work

I love that cake! It was already in my favs. I've read on here so many times that we are our own worst critics. That I believe. Most people appreciate a beautiful cake. If you didn't know where the mistakes were, (you sure there are some, because I don't see them) you'd appreciate your cake too! It's done. It looks wonderful. Now, sit back & enjoy it. The bride will love it!

Here's the thing, we don't work in a "sound" elementt. it's cake, not concrete. Things happen. You just gotta go for it with the confidence like it's always gonna turn out perfect. I gurantee, it will. I think we tend to psyche ourselves out. "Oh no, it's tiered" "Oh no, it's a weding cake". Guess what? There is no such thing as perfect, but at least in cake, the overall effect looks perfect. And Sugarsugargal if that beautiful cake doesn't look perfect, well then we're all in trouble!

its nice to know you guys understand !!!! jenbenjr, so sorry to hear about what happened, hope in time you can recover your confidence, your cake was lovely x

We as cake decorators have no worse critics then ourselves (well except the mother of the bride but she doesn't count because most of the time she is just looking for a discount), Ask folks here, they are not going to lie to you and tell you it looks good when it doesn't. They won't slam you if it does either. They may give constructive critiques of what you could do to make it better (if you ask and you really want the truth). Your cake looks beautiful. And if there is one thing I have learned that photos never capture the true beauty of a cake. I agree with tatorchip. Jump back on that horse, even if you have to donate the cake to a shelter, church, or a youth group. There are plenty of organizations that would be glad to see you coming. And if the like the cake, are potential customers in the future.

sugarsugargal -- I LOVE your cake and immediately saved it as my favorites. I'm also starting out and when I'm making a cake at some point panic sets in that everything is not going as I planned. I push through it and then am so happy with the end result (most of the time) and am very happy with the reaction from those I give the cake to. I'm absolutely sure that the bride LOVED the cake. It was stunning!!!! I've previously had a high pressure career so I know that many jobs comes with stress, but making cakes is very rewarding. Things will get smoother and easier with practice

If it's not stressful, then you're not doing it right!

yep, every wedding cake is supposed to be my last...LOL

Yes, yes, yes! I feel the same as you and I posted recently about it, too. It was great to hear that others go through the same thing. Every cake stresses me out, I go a littly nutty, and it's draining. I haven't done a wedding cake yet - shuddering thinking of the pressure. Sometimes I wonder why I keep doing them since it's a hobby but since I'm addicted to CC I keep finding new inspiration for cake designs and I can't stay away

All of your pics are beautiful! You are clearly a perfectionist as it shows in your amazing work. With results like yours - the end product is worth the grief!

I agree with tatorchip too! Just do a beautiful cake for fun or charity or whatever and you'll decorate a fantastic cake! I have never done a wedding cake and don't know if I ever will!! lol Your cake is beautiful - any bride would love it.

I just had my first wedding cake over the weekend and I was so stressed out. I kept telling myself that it was my last, but it probably won't be. I noticed all of the flaws in it but nobody else did. My husband even complimented me on it and he is a total perfectionist. Really I was so sick over it and was down in the dumps because I don't feel like it was my best work. I think we all feel that way sometimes.

Your cake is really beautiful. But i do understand the stress, ive not done a wedding cake yet, But a 3 tier engagment cake in the run up to the delivery my heart felt constantly knotted, i much much prefer birthday cakes lol! Im only a hobby baker and dont think i could cope doing several big cakes a week!

BTW...your cake is gorgeous. You should feel very proud of yourself!!!

That cake is stunning! I love it. But I do know what you mean about the stress. I was hoping some of the pros would chime in and say that it gets easier the more you do, but I notice nobody has yet

First, the cake is gorgeous. I hopeI can do one like it someday.

Second, we are our own worst critics.

No matter what you do or create (cake, dress, paint the kitchen), you will always notice the little flaws that no one else can even see. That's because as we create, we go over and over it, seeing the little details, things that need 'tweaky', etc. But when someone else sees it, it's perfect.

How many times on CC has someone posted "I quit!", "This cake is awful." or some such other comment, and yet when we, an impartial party, see the cake, we only see it as a whole, not individual pieces. Yes, we do notice things that a non-caker would notice, because we're trained to. Even thought it's been over 20 years since I went to college to study tv and film, I still see things like shadows, mics in the shot, etc. because I was trained to. But it doesn't make the show any less appealling to me.

Basically, whaty I am saying is "Don't sweat the small stuff. And, in the end, it's ALL small stuff."

This cake immediately went into my favorites. I am not sure where the flaws are because I dont see them. You did a great job!

you guys made me smile, reading all your replies back , , i know i am amongst friends who completely understand ! thanks so much for sharing your thoughts, and for the kind compliments too it means a lot x x x

I feel like that with every cake i do really. I don't know how many times i've said I'm not doing this anymore.;0) I still only make a cake here and there for family mostly so i get to rest my nerves in between.lol I think my problem is I always try and challenge myself with each new cake with a design i haven't done, or trying a new technique. This makes it extra stressful each time because It's not a routine and i'm learning as i go. Now if i did the same sort of thing over and over maybe i'd relax a bit, but i'd learn nothing. So for me...to learn is to stress unfortunately. I have to say the fact that i see soooo many insanly gorgous cakes here on CC always has me reaching to be better at this cake stuff. I feel a little better knowing that even Sugarshack has these types of feelings too. ;0)

BTW..i think your cake is absoultely beautiful!