Do You Reserve Judgment Of Cake Appearance Until The End?

Decorating By MrsNancyB1 Updated 10 Oct 2009 , 9:15pm by Cathy26

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MrsNancyB1 Posted 9 Oct 2009 , 6:07pm
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I'm working on my daughter's birthday cake right now, which is for tomorrow.

I fear the cake is going to be my worst yet. That's because I'm judging all of the separate elements, and I'm not happy with any of them seperately. I did that with the other recent birthday cake in my photos (with the 1 topper). I thought that cake turned out well when I put all the elements together, and I basically stressed myself out for nothing.

The same thing is happening again. I'm so unhappy with all the separate elements, and I'm getting really down on myself right now and am prepared that the cake will be really ugly. Do you do this too? Does the cake turn out fine even if the separate elements don't look as crisp and clean as you would like?

24 replies
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mama_amy Posted 9 Oct 2009 , 6:12pm
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I have made cakes that I thought would be terrible because of the separate elements but they came together nicely.

Is it possible to redo at least a few of the elements to your liking? That might help set your mind at ease.

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indydebi Posted 9 Oct 2009 , 6:16pm
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Quote:
Quote:

Do you reserve judgment of cake appearance until the end?


Yes. A plain cake looks SO ugly until the flowers are placed on it at the reception venue. It's the final version that will be seen, ergo it's the final version that I critique.

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jammjenks Posted 9 Oct 2009 , 6:18pm
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Oh, this happens to me a lot...especially with wedding cakes. When they're sitting on my table naked, all I can see are the rugged bottom edges with boards showing and a crumb here or there.

It is hard to envision the end result until you get it all put together. I have contemplated disassembling many a cake and starting over, but they always turn out in the end. Just remember that no one sees all the flaws that you do. You have been up close and personal with this cake and know all the ins and outs. You'd have to be blind not to see things that are less than perfect. We are humans after all.

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rvercher23 Posted 9 Oct 2009 , 6:21pm
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I was going through this alot last night. When I first started making cakes I would always judge the cake before it was done and beat myself up so much because I thought it was horrible. Now on my wall where I work I have a Big Framed sign that says "NEVER JUDGE AN UNFINISHED PRODUCT!" Its hard but it usually comes together in the end. Good luck!

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MrsNancyB1 Posted 9 Oct 2009 , 6:23pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mama_amy

I have made cakes that I thought would be terrible because of the separate elements but they came together nicely.

Is it possible to redo at least a few of the elements to your liking? That might help set your mind at ease.




I've already redone the elements several times. I'm at a point where I can't mess with the fondant anymore for fear that I'll just rip holes in it now.

I just *really* hope it will come together nicely the way you mentioned, and the way it happened with me in the past too.

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__Jamie__ Posted 9 Oct 2009 , 6:33pm
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Oh! Yes.....I just finished up a three tier cake this morning for a wedding tonight. Bride brought me the ribbon for it months ago. All white fondant stack, NO piping, just plain plain plain........with orange and white polka dot ribbon around each tier. I thought it was going to be hideous. It has grown on me, and I think it is cute as heck now. I'll be arranging gerbera daisies on it later this afternoon. I think it's charming, BUT I was determined to not post a pic a few months ago when I got the ribbon. icon_smile.gif

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Texas_Rose Posted 9 Oct 2009 , 6:36pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LURVELY

Oh! Yes.....I just finished up a three tier cake this morning for a wedding tonight. Bride brought me the ribbon for it months ago. All white fondant stack, NO piping, just plain plain plain........with orange and white polka dot ribbon around each tier. I thought it was going to be hideous. It has grown on me, and I think it is cute as heck now. I'll be arranging gerbera daisies on it later this afternoon. I think it's charming, BUT I was determined to not post a pic a few months ago when I got the ribbon. icon_smile.gif




That sounds like it will be adorable!

And MrsNancy, don't worry, your cake will all come together. It's hard for us sometimes to stand back and look at the finished product instead of noticing all the itty bitty details that didn't go well...but you've got to remember that everyone else is going to look at the bigger picture, not the little stuff. Don't worry icon_biggrin.gif

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cathyscakes Posted 9 Oct 2009 , 6:49pm
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I do this with every cake I make. Half way thru, I feel like I want to run away, start over, never happy. It usually happens with how the buttercream is going on. Are there alot of air bubbles, having a hard time smoothing. That happened with the cake in my avitar. I had a horrible time, I could not get the icing smooth. It was the sugarshack recipe that worked great on the cake before this one. I was going to scrape it all off on all the tiers and start over, I was so close. Then I thought, I'll start decorating and see if it will be o.k. I think when you start putting the decorations on the cake, your eye goes there, and you don't notice all of the imperfections. The grapes and Ivy cake is one of my favorites now, never thought it would be when I was making it. Also the under the sea cake in my photos, I hated that cake, and it has over 400 favorites, you just never know.

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cownsj Posted 9 Oct 2009 , 7:19pm
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My wife is never happy with any cakes we're working on until the next day. During the process all she can see are the trouble spots, but once she gets to step back, then look at it again, she's seeing it with a fresh eye and can see the "whole" cake and not just the individual aspects of it. Then she usually loves them.

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Kitagrl Posted 9 Oct 2009 , 7:28pm
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Yep I definitely have MANY cakes I do not like it until the last piece is placed and its airbrushed or whatever....actually...most of them. haha.

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zoraya Posted 9 Oct 2009 , 7:46pm
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I've even not liked some cakes when I'm done with them. But when I look at them again the next day, I'm happy with them. I think sometimes you've been working on them for so long that you just get sick of looking at them. But once it comes all together, you're happy with it. Just like the others said, you'll see every little "flaw" but you're just being too hard on yourself.

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grandmaruth Posted 9 Oct 2009 , 8:02pm
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wow i am so glad to see this.....with every cake, half way thru, i just think i have lost it.....this is the one that i cant make look half way decent.....its ugly etc.... i feel honored, i am in very good company.....

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cylstrial Posted 9 Oct 2009 , 8:22pm
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I'm having the same prob right now. My son turned two a couple of days ago. We are having his bday party tomorrow.

So I made the cake and then decorated it today. We decided to leave for his grandparents house today. So we are driving about an hour after I put the fondant on the cake. And of course we took the little car (that doesn't get air in the trunk) instead of the SUV. When I specifically said, let's take the SUV. And my sister wanted me to drive her an extra 30 minutes.

Needless to say the sides of my cake aren't looking so hot. It's a big cooking pot as the cake is a Ratatouille cake.

It's in the fridge now. I'm hoping that the fridge will help it standing up til the party.

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MrsNancyB1 Posted 9 Oct 2009 , 8:43pm
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Thanks for the replies! I'm glad to know I'm not alone in this.

I just finished stacking and putting fondant ribbon around the bottom edge of the cake, and all I can say at this point is I'm glad that all cakes have a front and a back. icon_eek.gif The back looks HIDEOUS!! I would be mortified if anyone saw it, and unfortunately where we will be setting the cake, there is no back wall since it's at a park. thumbsdown.gif Ugh. When it's completely decorated I'll post a pic of the front and begrudgingly, the back.

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-K8memphis Posted 9 Oct 2009 , 8:45pm
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[quote="MrsNancyB"]Thanks for the replies! I'm glad to know I'm not alone in this.

I just finished stacking and putting fondant ribbon around the bottom edge of the cake, and all I can say at this point is I'm glad that all cakes have a front and a back. icon_eek.gif The back looks HIDEOUS!! I would be mortified if anyone saw it, and unfortunately where we will be setting the cake, there is no back wall since it's at a park. thumbsdown.gif Ugh. When it's completely decorated I'll post a pic of the front and begrudgingly, the back.[/quote

Girl, you don't have to show the back!
Give yourself a break!

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MrsNancyB1 Posted 10 Oct 2009 , 3:57am
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Ok, here's the cake.

It's just 'OK' for me. I feel like it's not reflective of my progress at all. It's my 3rd cake, but my 1st using chocolate MMF. However, it did look better once it all came together as opposed to when each piece was separate.

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1484780

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OregonCakeLady Posted 10 Oct 2009 , 4:03am
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it's inevitable.... when you are decorating a cake, you are like 12 inches away from it about 90% of the time. There is no way you can look at it without seeing the flaws. We live in a fallen world and nothing is perfect. At least we still get to have fun using creativity that God gave us to make something that someone else will not see the flaws in.

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diane706 Posted 10 Oct 2009 , 5:30am
post #19 of 25
Quote:
Originally Posted by OregonCakeLady

it's inevitable.... when you are decorating a cake, you are like 12 inches away from it about 90% of the time. There is no way you can look at it without seeing the flaws. We live in a fallen world and nothing is perfect. At least we still get to have fun using creativity that God gave us to make something that someone else will not see the flaws in.




I couldn't have said it better... I took a look at your cake and it's adorable!! We're so hard on ourselves, aren't we??! I was thinking about posting a "self confidence" thread earlier today but I didn't have enough self.... umm... well... you know... icon_redface.gif

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LadyKinster Posted 10 Oct 2009 , 5:56am
post #20 of 25

holy cow! I was checking out your photo's of the gumpaste figures for this cake.... totally awesome <- 80's flashback, sorry icon_razz.gif
The whole cake came together beautifully. And this is only your 3rd cake??? I'm in total awe. If only my 10th cake looked that good! haha
Unfortunately we are our own worst critics..... I always have to remind myself... "it's sugar!"

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madgeowens Posted 10 Oct 2009 , 6:25am
post #21 of 25

yepper everytime I am decorating a cake I get so disheartened and think this is going to be a mess, and then all of a sudden you can start to see a metamorphosis and I get goose bumps hehe..........then I like it.

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LisaR64 Posted 10 Oct 2009 , 1:24pm
post #22 of 25

Every cake I make has an ugly phase, where I'm absolutely certain it's going to be the worse cake ever. I used to waste so much time trying to fix those early flaws, until I realized most of the time, they didn't even show once the cake was complete.

It's not easy, but I now force myself to keep moving forward, telling myself I can always go back and fix things after the cake is done. Most of time, when the cake is finished, I don't even notice those little things that bothered me so much early on.

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cownsj Posted 10 Oct 2009 , 4:56pm
post #23 of 25
Quote:
Originally Posted by MrsNancyB

Ok, here's the cake.

It's just 'OK' for me. I feel like it's not reflective of my progress at all. It's my 3rd cake, but my 1st using chocolate MMF. However, it did look better once it all came together as opposed to when each piece was separate.

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1484780




I absolutely LOVE your cake. It is adorable. And I think the mother of the little girl is going to love it too when she has it at the party..... lol (You will)

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SJ169 Posted 10 Oct 2009 , 6:26pm
post #24 of 25

I feel like that most of the time when i am working on a cake, you cant judge a cake until it is complete..
I was working on my second topsy turvy cake last night and half way through i hated it! but once i had all the accents on i was pretty happy with it.

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Cathy26 Posted 10 Oct 2009 , 9:15pm
post #25 of 25

every cake i do i feel is hideous until its about 80% done. every time i cover with fondant i see all the flaws but thats was decorations are for!! your cake is fab, straight into my favourites, love the little cupcakes. what i now realise is that customers and other people are only looking at the cake as a whole not every little tiny flaw that us cake people see.

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