I am very very tired at the moment from staying up so late trying to make this cake work for the past few days. I just wanted to thank everyone out there for writing tutorials and answering questions and allowing us all to make use out of your knowledge. It's great how we can also learn from our mistakes and others. I have covered many cakes in fondant before and have never had a problem but this time I had nothing but problems. I even had fondant that felt sticky but appeared to be dry at the same time. I don't really understand how that's physically possible but that's what I got. I started thinking maybe it wasn't sticky and I was just crazy like my 3 year old who is always telling me his hands are sticky even after they've been washed and you can touch them and they're not sticky at all. It was sticking to things, though, so I'm not THAT crazy anyway! I ended up getting the cakes to look decent but after a long drive on the worst bumpy roads possible, they were bulging a bit around the very bottom and there were a few cracks that mostly got covered up by the ribbon. The ribbon was difficult to put on because I couldn't get the bulges back in. One part actually ripped and separated so I repaired that as much as possible and placed that side at the back since where the cake was located, no one would be going behind it. Thank goodness! Anyway, not a complete disaster but it really broke me down and I feel very defeated. The cake/fondant won... with a score of about 1 million to 1. Thanks again for all the posts!

Bluesugar you are not alone. My last cake was a real head spin. I'm not sure what bulged more, the fondant or my stress levels...but....I'm obsessed (or is that possessed) with caking and am going back for more pain.

I hope I get over it soon enough to get back in there, too! Especially since I've already booked more weddings.

I thought I'd post a link to the picture and ask what to do. Should I give a refund? full or partial? I haven't heard from the bride. I don't really know how she felt but it certainly isn't up to my standards. Should I call the bride and see?

Just a week ago I was attending a friend's wedding and thought the cake wasn't done very well. I actually couldn't believe they paid for the cake. It even tasted pretty bad. I'm assuming mine still tasted the way it should at least but I hope no one had the same thoughts for my cake as I did of my friend's wedding cake. Although, at my friend's wedding, no one seemed to notice the look of it... and no one really ate it so that part didn't matter.

Anyway, back to my pain in the butt cake.

http://cakecentral.com/gallery/2349210/vintage-inspired-peach-wedding-cake

Bluesugar: do what you can to NOT contact the bride. My last wedding cake was horrible. I spent over 6 hours trying to get it smooth but it looked like crap. It looked tons and tons worse than yours. You have a little problem here and there- which is easily missed if you're not looking for it. Mine had problems everywhere! I won't even post a picture.

Anyway, a cake friend of mine told me to leave it alone and not contact the bride. It was really tough but I didn't contact her. Lo and behold- the bride contacted me while still on her honeymoon. She loved it! OMG OMG OMG
I still can't believe it. I just had a tasting today with the DJ from that same wedding and they loved the cake, too.

Don't contact her. Work your butt off to figure out what went wrong and practice whatever was problematic so it hopefully never happens again. If she contacts you and says she's unhappy, THEN you start thinking about compensating her.

That sounds like great advice. You never know, maybe the bride didn't notice it wasn't perfect. One can always hope. That's a great ending for your story, cheatize. How amazing! I guess people really do look at the whole thing and don't go looking for the imperfections. One can only hope anyway. I will not contact the bride but be prepared if she contacts me.

I'll really have to figure this one out. It was my first time using Satin Ice. I had the buttercream flavour - I think it tastes great. I've heard great things about it but I obviously don't know how to work with it. I really do love the taste so I guess I just need to conquer the fondant!

LOL I just had a cake situation like that...I call them "Murphy's Law" Cakes because anything that can go wrong, did! Mine was a baby shower cake that had me stressed to the max, especially the marshmallow fondant, which stretched and stuck and made me want to throw it at the wall and then I couldn't get the dress to pleat for anything!....and my funky tappits were not cooperating with me at all, and then after I got it all done and ready to box up I noticed little flecks of brown from the Nutella buttercream on the top and little bits of black fondant from the zebra stripes on the white part of the cake. Needless to say that trying to fix it made me late delivering but I gave her a voucher for a dozen free cupcakes to make up for it.

Here it is...it's not up to my standards but if she doesn't complain then I'm going to leave it alone...

http://cakecentral.com/gallery/2350244/baby-shower-cake

I guess you're taking the same advice, although I don't see the problems you described. I'm sure she won't either.

I bet she didn't notice a thing until you pointed it out, BarbaraM0809. One of the toughest parts for me is keeping my mouth SHUT. lol Pointing out flaws only makes you look bad and shows them where the flaws are. Every cake has flaws. It's only the cakers who know to look for them. In three years of looking, I have only found 2 cakes by other people that didn't have a "back" to them and when I find the back, it's obviously the back- but just to me.

Smile, smile, smile, and say, "Thank you!" when they compliment your work. It's tough, but ya gotta.

The photographer just put pictures from the wedding on her blog. The only picture with the cake in it is of something completely different and the cake is in the distance. It's the first time that a cake didn't get it's own picture in her "sneak peak"s. Oh no! I was hoping maybe she made it look okay. I guess not! The wedding was lovely, though, and the couple looked amazingly happy. Too bad the cake wasn't as gorgeous as the rest of the decor but I guess I'll still have to wait and see. I suppose no news is better than bad news. This is hard.

I'm guessing you never heard anything from about your cake, BarbaraM0809. At least nothing negative, anyway! Let us know if you do. I bet if you do, it won't be bad in the least.

So far nothing negative except she said that after craving the nutella buttercream and strawberries after taking a bite the baby decided she didn't like it anymore lol...

Boy can I feel your pain. I only make cakes for my family & close friends as gifts. This past weekend I did one for my niece. She was having a "pink party" for her two little girls and wanted a pink cake & very girly. I got this "brilliant" idea of trying out a new fondant recipe. It had gotten such rave reviews so I'm sure I screwed up the recipe somehow. Let me tell you. Rips rips & more rips. I had some leftover marshmallow fondant and after making a mess on one of the tiers I decided to mix it in. I was able to do a slightly better job on the other two tiers. The tier I messed up I put a "skirt" of fondant & buttons since I didn't want to remove the fondant with smbc underneath. It tasted delicious but I was not happy at all. I feel like I took a giant step backwards with this one. The funny thing is everyone thought it was adorable. http://cakecentral.com/gallery/2349441/pink-cake

Bluesugar, I think the cake looks very pretty. You are probably worrying about nothing. We tend to see all the flaws when everyone else sees the beauty. As far as Satin Ice, I have never used it but I know of someone who has been doing cakes for years & years and has trouble with it also. She usually uses marshmallow fondant but purchased it because of all the good things she heard about it. She is going back to her marshmallow fondant.

Friends, we all have good cake days and bad cake days. The cakes I have seen in these links look fine. I have always told my students that we are our own worst critics and that if we fuss too much with a cake it will just make it worse not better.

Last week I had problems, the cake I made was for my friends daughters quinceanera. The cake arrived fine but was placed in a very warm area so the buttercream softened too much. It had that sinking look but overall it was beautiful because of the cake base I used.

This week the fondant was temperamental. It was overly soft, I used the same recipe I've used for the longest time. I added tylose to a bit of it to make a bow. It never dried. I made gumpaste to make the crown, it didn't dry either.

I had an order for a Hello Kitty birthday cake. The little girl had her heart set on a 3d hello Kitty on top of her cake. It was less than what I liked.

I improvised on all cakes but on all 3 the customers raved about the cakes. I just sigh a breath of relief that they are happy and enjoy the rest of the day.