3 Cakes In One Week- Need Advice!
Decorating By WickedSweetDebbie Updated 14 Sep 2010 , 1:37pm by pag41989
I have to make THREE cakes in October-the 10th, the 16th, and the 17th!
10th- Cake for my son's 2nd birthday, about 10-12 servings, covered in BC, preferably with fondant decorations.
16th-Cake for my friend's daughter- probably 15 servings- covered in fondant
17th-Cake for my Mom-Replica of her "sewing box' which is rectangular shaped box with a replica of an old fashioned Singer sewing machine on it.
The bottom part will be the cake, and I was thinking of making the sewing machine out of RKT and covering that in black fondant. I'd like to cover the entire cake in fondant actually...
ANY SUGGESTIONS AS TO HOW I CAN PULL THIS OFF WITHOUT HAVING A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN??!!! LOL! [/img]
Be very very organized and start working early. Do a big grocery shop about 2 weeks before 1st cake to eliminate any last minute trips. Make icing and fondant in advance - they both keep well if stored properly. Remember - freezeing cakes and purchasing fondant are worth it if it saves your sanity!
I can totally relate - I have three to do one week this month and then got a letter in the mail with a long awaited operation date for my little boy. Right in the middle of that week of course and we have to travel and stay away two nights to be close to the hospital as we live in the country.
I will definitely bake the cakes and freeze them ahead of time....Good call on the "big" shopping trip! That's a problem I tend to have- I work full time M-F, 9-5 and I'm a single Mom of two boys under the age of 5..SO I have a tendency to NOT be 100% prepared BEFORE I start decorating...I always think I'm all set, but 9 times out of 10 there's always something I'm missing! Or I'll run out of it right in the middle of decorating....
definately make and freeze the cakes ahead of time...and make the fondant too. make it so that all you have to do the day of is decorate!
When I have several cakes due in a close area of time, I start by making a list of everything I need to purchase, so nothing gets left out. Then I make a schedule and list every task that I need to have done that day in order for the orders to be completed on time. Thhis has been my practice for quite some time and it has not failed yet. Good Luck!
along with everyone else's advice...anything that you need to do for fondant and/or gumpaste you can start way ahead of time; like end of september
I agree with what everyone said and completely sympathize with you because I put myself in this position all the time. I am a single mom with two children and a FT job. I do the same thing when I am half way through realize I need something. SO FRUSTRATING!! Anyway ... I have found lately that I make my icing and fondant about 4 days in advance. Then make my cakes 2 or 3 days in advance then when I decorate everything is ready. I would even make your sewing machine in advance. It will save you lots of headache!! Trust me I've learned the hard way and been up until 4am some mornings and no excited when the kids wake up at 7am. UGH! Good luck!!
I recently had nine cakes due the same Saturday and my daughter, who usually helps me, went on vacation. I had to do all nine by myself! I lived through it and they were beautiful! All were covered in fondant with fondant decorations...most were 3D or two tiers. The key, like others have said, is to get as much done as you can early. I made all of the cakes the Saturday before and froze them. I made all the fondant on Monday. I made all of the decorations that had to dry on Tuesday. I also made buttercream on Tuesday. On Wednesday, I started putting together the one that I was delivering first on Friday night. I kept on doing the next one I had to deliver until Saturday at noon, I finished the last one and delivered it. I had my niece help with the deliveries. It can be done, just make a plan and stick to it!
I did this last week and I was completely exhausted by the time I was done. I work full time 8-5 so I only had the evenings to work on them. I spent 2 weeks working on gumpaste figures. About a week and a half before the cakes were due I got extremely sick so I could not touch the gumpaste so I ended up having to do the roses the night before the cake was due when I was feeling better. The roses ended up taking me 8 hours and the cake didnt get baked until almost midnight. I had a cake due fri saturday and sunday and by saturday night I was literally in tears. I loved doing the cakes and they were fun but I will never do 3 cakes in a week again. Thank goodness I had my mother to help me or else I would have probably been throwing cake pans at the wall. I would highly recommend if you have the time to make the cakes and buttercream a day or two ahead of time that way when you go to decorate the cakes all you have to do is sit down and decorate them. The most time consuming part was waiting on all the cakes to bake and cool long enough so I could ice and level them.
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