ARRRRRGGGGHHHH. Need to vent. I was making a wine bottle cake due tonight and it's gone completely wrong and is now firmly at the bottom of my bin (having scraped it off the walls cos I threw it first)! Dunno what happened, I make cakes all the time but it was a complete disaster. Summat went wrong with my buttercream. I made regular buttercream which I added fresh lemon juice to. Not sure whether this was my downfall but havin filled and crumbcoated, when I came to it just now, the buttercream had all separated and curdled. Looked a complete mess.

Anyways, my point of boring you all with this is 1) what did I do wrong, and 2) how can I replace it? I've got all the pieces made that were to go on it. The label is painted a perfect match to his favourite wine, bunches of grapes have been made, a cheese knife and several truckles of cheese all with accompanying labels My board is covered to resemble a cheese board. RRRRAAAAAA, I'm so cross with myself!

It's for my dad's birthday so no obligation to fulfil contract (THANK GOODNESS)

Any advice greatly appreciated

Hi there,

I'm a newbie to caking, so I'm still learning and can't shed light on what went wrong, (although I suspect it may have been the lemon juice).

Do you have time to run out to Sainsbury's or Tesco's (or similar)?

I know the whole point is that you'd have preferred to bake yourself, but given that you're so short on time and it really would be a waste to not use all of the other lovely add on's that you have so lovingly made.

What I'm suggesting is that you buy ready made swiss roll, and/or those premade slab cakes that are around a £1 or so, and sculpt and stack or chop up or whatever you have to do (you get the picture!) to get the thing done on time.

I'll be thinking of you, it was my dad's 60th birthday on Wednesday there, and I know how much extra effort and love goes into such a cake!

Good luck!! I hope it goes well for you.

I would say the lemon juice definitely curdled the buttercream. If you want lemon flavor, try lemon extract instead. Hope your cake worked out in the end.

That was what I was thinking MamaD77, it just pains me to buy cake!!! Just done the school run and am now deciding between buying or making cupcakes n trying to do something with all the other stuff Know what you mean about making for family. I've made loads of cakes last month for other people and they've all turned out fine (even the ones I thought would be hard), yet the one that really matters to me......ruined. Gonna kick myself for weeks.

Thanks chrissypie, I thought it might be the lemon. Good call on the lemon extract, something so simple yet I never thought of using it. I'm so wrapped up in everything being fresh that I don't think about fundamental basics so thank you for highlighting that for me. It'll definitely be something I never do again.

Thank you for your help........now to decide, cupcakes or mamaD77's idea?

Good Grief! There's kids in the mix too! Oh goodness, time will be an issue then.
Why not do the cupcakes just now, and explain to your dad what happened, and put an IOU in his card, (for the original cake) and then carry on with the original cake for tomorrow or next day, or even give him it at the weekend or something, I'm sure he'll understand. (that was my plan B!)

I know how you must be feeling though, I bet you've been planning that for weeks now, so disappointing for that to happen at the last minute.

My dad actually gave me a telling off on Wednesday (after saying thank you of course!) for the obvious ridiculous amount of time and effort I'd put into his cake! So I'm sure your dad will be the same, he'll be happy enough just to see you, although I know that's not much consolation when you'll be so disappointed.

I say cupcakes, in the meantime.