Lately everytime I try to do something with cake it's so hard! Something always doesn't work out right and my latest cake I was so excited about b/c I was going to nail it.
And then...
1) I baked the chocolate cakes Monday (4" & 8") only to really overfill them (I wasn't feeling great and didnt' pay attention) and created an awful awful smoking mess when large amounts of batter overflowed from all 4 of the pans and starting burning. I didn't resolve the issue correctly so I ended up having to toss all the cakes (they tasted like smoke anyways!) and was really deflated.
2) Made the red velvet and at least those turned out beautifully. Rebaked the chocolate and only one overflowed this time but I learned the first time and got this one fixed in time.
3) Made MMF. Needed red and gray to cover the cakes and decided to make the hot pink for a future cake. Well, silly me, started to make black instead of gray! But instead of thinking it through and finishing tinting the liquid to 100% black I stopped in panic and it ended up being a yucky dark brown. Somehow OSU and brown do not mix. At least the red was gorgeous!
4) Made Brutus. He was tons of fun and I could fill my mood lift.
5) Made the ganache (b/c the last time I used it and covered in fondant it was lovely). Make my IMBC (gorgeous) and CC BC (super yummy new recipe). Split the cakes, iced them, etc.
6) Well, this cake was supposed to be topsy turvy. I've done one before and didn't have any issues! This time.... the entire top tier of the cake came off except for one tiny portion! So I just removed all of it and decided no TT. Really disappointed. Also, I couldn't get the 4" covered in ganache so I did the IMBC.
7) Then yesterday, I was supposed to cover the cakes and finish. It was just awful! The 4" I got really well after tinting white fondant gray. But the red...it's covered in ganache but I don't think I added enough! The last time I used the ganache I covered like everyone said too but it seemed like too much ganache and now this time I didn't put on enough! And for some reason I couldn't get the red fondant to cover as well as I usually could which was frustrating and it wasn't sticking to the ganache b/c I forgot to wet it down! grrrr
At this point, I still have a huge chunk of yucky brown fondant that I could tint black and throw on the bottom tier (so not the look I wanted but it would get done) but the thought of trying to knead that into black did me in so I decided I would just not do the 8". Thankfully, it was just a cake I was making for my own party so I could do this. Otherwise I'd have been making a new batch of fondant. LOL.
9) But wait, I haven't even started to design it! And I needed more red, white, and black fondant for the stripes. Well, that's when I ran out to Joann's to buy ribbon b/c I'd had it. At least the buckeye stickers were easy enough to do out of fondant.
10) And for whatever reason, the top tier is crooked but I had given up.
From the front it looks pretty decent, but knowing what it was supposed to look like, knowing it's not as good as I can do, and knowing I fought every step to just get it to halfway decent is so frustrating and deflating. I just had to vent. Thanks for listening.
I'm so sorry about your very frustrating day! There are some orders that just don't go smoothly. Walk away for a few hours, take a deep breath, a big swig of wine, and try again. (and least that helps me... sometimes I'll vary it w/ a shot of tequila if I'm really upset ) It's the mess in the oven that really ticks me off. I've had overflow several times so now I use a large baking sheet covered in foil to put the cake pan on if I even suspect there might be some overflow! HA! got you spirit of overflowing cake pans who want to ruin my baking mood! HUGS!!
Melanie Mc.
I'm so sorry about your very frustrating day! There are some orders that just don't go smoothly. Walk away for a few hours, take a deep breath, a big swig of wine, and try again. (and least that helps me... sometimes I'll vary it w/ a shot of tequila if I'm really upset ) It's the mess in the oven that really ticks me off. I've had overflow several times so now I use a large baking sheet covered in foil to put the cake pan on if I even suspect there might be some overflow! HA! got you spirit of overflowing cake pans who want to ruin my baking mood! HUGS!!
Melanie Mc.
The funny thing was it was an entire frustrating week. LOL. I do need to pick up those silicon oven mats. My mom has one and loves it! It would save me from many heartaches. I just forget to pick one up. That is a must for the next cake. Thanks for reminding me.
Thanks for boosting my mood! (both of you) I can always count on CC for understanding.
oh i'm sorry about the day.. it happens sometimes..yep take a walk have some fresh air..or you can watch a good movie..that helps me..then u can go back here in cc" to chat with us.. and we'll try to find out everything about cakes..hugs hugs...
It's the worst when you have a vision in your head of how you want it to turn out and then nothing works like you want it to....every time that happens I swear I am never doing another cake again!!! lol Hopefully things will turn around for you soon, seems like it goes in spurts with disasters and easy cakes.
just wanted you to know you are not alone. I have been having lots of issues lately with my cakes as well. I have taken the advice of those here on CC and am currently taking a break....and boy is it nice! Maybe you could use one as well. Just knowing I don't have any cake responsibilities for the moment makes me feel better. Hopefully I will come back refreshed and thing will go more smoothly. Best wishes!
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