AWell, I have spent countless (literally I couldn't begin to count) hours on a cake for my dad's retirement party. He is a firefighter and has been for 32 years. It's kind of a big deal. After setting my sights on a specific design, I planned out this week to a tee. The cake was going to be a fire hydrant with a fire coat draped on the back of it. i was also going to try to make a fire helmet. I have 2 other jobs and create cakes as a hobby, so my "cake weeks" are pretty hectic. However, for this cake I even took off work. I spent a lot of time and money plus I enlisted a friends help, who has helped me before. The cake was for a Friday evening party. We worked all thursday night until 7:30 am Friday morning. After changing the design twice (to save time), we finally had to take a serious break. Not only were we both exhausted, but we were out of fondant. This cake was heading south with no turning around. I laid down for a few hours and woke up to an even bigger disaster. The cake had settled and was slouching (I thought I had plenty of support between the layers). My fondant was rippling and the entire cake began to look like a child made it. There was absolutely no recovering. I finally had to call time of death. This is my first cake flop. I am grateful this cake was not requested, I volunteered, but it is still very embarrassing and disappointing. Many lessons learned from this.

Wow, genuine condolances. Totally bummed for you.

However, put it firmly behind you momentarily as soon as you can so you can celebrate that most special ocassion with those you love so much to have worked so hard for them. You all are very blessed to all have each other!! Your Dad's a lucky guy and you have a wonderful father.

Dang that cake anyway--another good thought--you can do it over--or maybe that's a bad thought but while it won't make it to the event you can still do a cool cake for a later date to honor him.

rip hydrant/coat cake

I am so sorry this happened to you. I feel sick just thinking about your disappointment. It was a very sweet and thoughtful thing you were doing and I know your dad loves you for the effort.
 

I feel like crying for you and then I think about how I would feel if my daughter went to such effort for a special gift for me...and... sniff sniff sniff - now I really feel like crying! Sorry that you worked so hard all through the night; hope you can get some sleep now. If you want to tackle another fire dept. themed cake in the future, you can always do one for his birthday or something - and he can "share" it with his ol' firehouse buddies then. Either that or cover the entire mess with big globs of strategically placed white buttercream, stick a real fire extinquisher next to it and pretend you intended this to be a cake that caught on fire and was "saved"... no?hmmm, maybe you're not the only one here who needs some sleep.

It probably dosen't help you to know that most if not all of us have been there, done that.  Of course, not the exact cake but the experience and we know how you feel.

Look to the love and wonder of Christmas to get you past the helplessness you are experiencing.

By chance did you take any pix along the way?  Maybe someone can help you figure out how to prevent such a disaster from happening again when we study those pix.

So sorry to hear about your disappointment, but so glad to see you're not totally devastated.  This is going to happen - hopefully not often - but the important thing is to remember that there will be other cakes.  Buck up, Little Soldier - - you'll be fine.  Enjoy your Dad's retirement and no stressing over that big pile of cakey evil.

(((HUGS)))

Sounds like your dad passed on some admirable traits to you.  Dedication and a sense of humor.  Sorry the cake didn't turn out.