My little girl's birthday party is this weekend, and I had a whole elaborate princess cake planned, and was going to spend the week making just that (long story, but I took a Board certification exam for Pediatrics this past weekend - a big deal - and was taking the week off from work to celebrate). Well, my two older kids got sick, and have been staying at home, cutting down drastically on the amount of time I have been able to dedicate to the cakes. I have spent an inordinate amount of time on small details and haven't gotten to much of the good stuff yet. No big deal though, because I was going to still have another two days to do it, right? Wrong! Turns out, they had a huge crisis at work and need a moonlighter to cover tomorrow's call for 24 hours (party is on Sunday). I'll get off of work a few hours before the party, which is fine, but I'll be in from 7 am to 7 am, so I'll lose Saturday, and I won't have the chance to finish the cake the way I want. ARGH! I had such big plans, the first time I was going to be able to spend a whole week just on one cake and not have any work stuff get in the way! Anyhow ... vent vent vent ... off to do as much caking as possible now .

I sooooooo sympathize with you. We always want to give our very best to our children. But I'm sure that when it is all said and done she will love Mommy's cake.

wow! thats a long shift! good luck and hope you get the cake complete! i am sure this will turn out the way you want it to!

Thanks guys! I did finish it ... not quite how I wanted to, but you're right, my daughter could of course care less about the borders or glazes I use, heehee. Thanks for your sympathy!

If you haven't baked yet (and this wasn't today) maybe someone such as DH,MIL, mom, etc can bake and ice for you? I know how bad it sucks when u want to make a great cake for a loved one when life gets in the way!

Thanks, Horselady! You know, as silly as it may sound, while I wouldn't mind someone else torting or leveling (DH is a pro by now!), I'm so stinking particular about the baking! I just know my recipes so well by now that I can tell exactly when the cakes are ready to take out and how I like them, and my mom and DH have had some trouble in the past when I've needed them to check on my baking. I've had both the over-moist over-dense "needed another 8 minutes" cake, and the "shrank a little at the top because it should have been out 8 minutes ago" cake. And I use Leahs's tip and weigh down the cakes when they come out of the oven, which they don't know how to do ... I'm just possessive about the whole process, I guess. Yet another reason why I could never go into business .

You sound like me! But I admittedly have control issues so I would probably not ask family unless desperate and they wouldn't try unless I was half dying lol. (Having that issue with an upcoming party. To hard to let go because what if they mess up?)

Well good luck to you hope you figure something out and I do feel your pain.

LOL! Ditto on the control issues! Thanks for the encouragement! It actually turned out fine (I just posted the pics if you're curious ... I'll try posting them here, but be forewarned it doesn't usually work for me ...)

Here goes ...[img][/img]

Okay, forget it ... I'm a techno-failure. It's the last one in my pics, if you're curious . Thanks again!

your cake came out lovely. it doesnt look like your were rushed or pressed for time. you are very talented. my grandaughter would love to have a cake like this. she is all about the princesses.