The same thing happens every week I have a cake due... I have the sketch, the picture of what I want it to look like in my head, the cake baked and wrapped in the freezer and all components that needed to be made ahead of time made and drying....and then I get, well, I guess, stage fright?

Now, intellectually, I know it's going to be ok...when I start actually putting the cake together tomorrow I know that I'll roll with the flow and the cake will turn out how I want it to turn out but I can't seem to stop getting so nervous the night before. And it doesn't seem to matter who the cake is for...tomorrows cake is for one of my daughters so I even get to do it here at home and not at the kitchen so no one will see a failure but still...nervous.

Anyone else out there feel like this? I've been doing this professionally for almost 2 years now and for family/friends for 20 years...and yet it's the same thing every week! Anyone have any tips?

Sincerely....I'd appreciate any help..or commisseration.

thanx!
Cat

I feel ya! I especially get nervous when its been a while since a disaster so I feel like I'm due for one any second and it freaks me out. It feels so good when its done though and I love it so its worth the nervousness and stress. You're not alone

Try doing wedding cakes! Now that will get you nervous!

No kidding, Mug! Seriously, I had the worst wedding cake disaster where I was only able to deliver the top two tiers of a 4-tiered cake. It was aweful and I'm always nervous about a repeat. Nervousness can be a good thing though, if you channel it. Make a list of all your concerns (on paper) and go over in your head and write down how you're handling it. It gets it out of your head and onto paper so you can get some much needed rest the night before. When I made that cake, I wrote down everything I did including what worked and what didn't so I wouldn't have to stress next time. It really helped!

I am still very new to all this so i get terribly nervous, but i thought it was due to me being a starter. i start to worry about a cake a month before i need to make it lol x

If everything is ready and you know how to execute, it sounds like you are phsyching yourself out. I know when I do something new, I really think about the execution before hand, and then just go out at. Maybe a glass of wine before hand will calm the nerves.

ha, ha....I thought I was the only wacko one who KNOWS it's better in my head and then trying to execute it makes my skin crawl. Problem for me is, I'm NOT a professional and I only do cakes WHEN I want or for family. I can't sleep, I overeat, I sweat, I panic over doing a cake for someone. I have a baby shower cake to do for one of my managers and I swear since I told her okay, I have not slept and have done nothing but search for different ideas. Maybe it's the perfectionist in us!!

Okay, I feel SO much better knowing that someone like indydebi feels the same way I do!

I always have this fantastic picture in my mind of the cake I'm going to create, but when I'm done all I see are the ways what I actually created doesn't match up to that picture in my mind. I'm definitelly a perfectionist, but it really started to concern me that I've NEVER made a cake that I was 100% happy with. My clients have all been ecstatic with their cakes, but I'm just never satisfied.

Good to know that I seem to be "normal" - at least in that regard!

I think it really boils down to practice, practice, practice. The more you do it the easier it is. I don't do it enough to know the timing of stuff, how long things take, etc. When you do this all the time, it's second nature.
Wish I was one of those people!!
Now, if it were sewing, I'd be so calm.

I used to get MORE nervous that I do now. But I still get nervous. I remember waking up like 10 times the night before my first wedding cake was due and going down to check on it and make sure nothing had happened. I was so tired the day of delivery.

More so in the beginning...now just if I'm trying something kinda crazy with supports or something I'm unsure how it will turn out.

Actually for me its mostly just doing the cake pickups/deliveries...anything having to do with talking to other people haha....Kinda shy in that way!

That's why you guys are the pro's!
I'm freaking out cuz I have a sheet cake baby shower cake that my mgr. at work asked me to do. And she's leaving it all up to me so she's not a
showerzilla. I'm stressing MYSELF out with ideas. And it's not till the end of March!!