What A Disaster - And No-One To Blame But Myself.

Decorating By Faradaye Updated 17 Nov 2013 , 1:25pm by cheeseball

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Faradaye Posted 17 Nov 2013 , 3:25am
post #1 of 7

AI'm making a cake for a friend, for her son's first birthday.

I was so excited to practice my sharp corners under ganache technique...I managed to find some acetate sheet equivalents during the week, and was going to go to town and have the bestest most sharpest corners eva.....

Then I made the ganache wrong.

I followed a recipe, but in retrospect it is a recipe for ganache that is going to be whipped. So it has much more cream than usual. So of course it hasn't set hard! I just want to cry!

And once the cakes have already been baked, and torted with buttercream (lemon and pistachio by the way...yum!) and left to settle with a tile, and then chilled, I was all excited about my ganache crumb coat. Yeah - good luck with that, as it just keeps sliding down the cake, I can't even get it to stay at the top, let alone make a sharp corner.

By continual refrigeration and sheer force of will I finally got something resembling a reasonably smooth finish and a sharpish corner.

Then I put the fondant on. Bahahahaha! How hilarious. If you want the top of your cake to resemble a mushroom I know exactly how to do it. And the sides - oh my. Talk about bulges. I can actually make an impression in the cake with my fondant smoother. Lol. This is such fun. Back in the fridge. Again.

But not too long, I still want to smooth the fondant once it comes back out. Now I am texting my friend, laughingly telling her that making her cakes has been a wonderful learning experience. And don't expect too much.

My inspired, clean, architectural design has gone out the window. Now I'm just being cliche and doing the same old vertical stripes that everyone does on their cakes. Which are fine, but I have to keep putting it back in the fridge as the ganache is starting to get too soft.

I realise I am going to have to deliver to her the moment it's complete so she can actually see it before it turns into a bulging, sliding, leaning mess. ROFL! Thank goodness it's not for an actual party or anything.

Anyway - just wanted to share my current disaster story. Hope everyone else is having better success than me. Happy caking!

6 replies
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liz at sugar Posted 17 Nov 2013 , 3:34am
post #2 of 7

You could have scraped the ganache off, and added more chocolate to firm it up.  Is it too late for that?

 

Liz

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Faradaye Posted 17 Nov 2013 , 3:48am
post #3 of 7

AHi Liz, to be honest it didn't even occur to me. Why didn't I do that this morning when I first realised it was a problem instead of battling on? LOL! Yet another reason this whole thing has been a disaster.

You know when you are totally caught up in the midst of something and you just can't see past the end of your own nose because all you can think is 'must get ganache on cake'. Well that was totally me! I have just put the smaller tier IN THE FREAKING FREEZER as that's got to harden it up? Right? I hope so, because I've made a gorgeous fondant dragon to sit on top, and it would really suck if he just sort of sunk into the cake.

But yeah - when wiser heads such as yours prevail that would have been a great solution. Well, you live and learn. Please let there never be a next time, but if there is I will totally do that.

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liz at sugar Posted 17 Nov 2013 , 4:17am
post #4 of 7

Yes, it is always easy to be an armchair quarterback!  I'm sure it will be great when you get done with it, and your friend will appreciate all your hard work. :)

 

Have a great night!

 

Liz

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Faradaye Posted 17 Nov 2013 , 7:20am
post #5 of 7

AFor anyone that wants a good giggle - here is the finished product.

LL

ROFL!

I was just so over it by the end I didn't even put a ribbon on the board, or try to make the stripes straight, or cut the fondant smoothly on the board.

My friend liked it though, or so she said! :)

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810whitechoc Posted 17 Nov 2013 , 12:45pm
post #6 of 7

At least you were able to have a good laugh, and not have a shouty, capital meltdown lol.  Lesson learned, I'm sure your next ganache will be great.

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cheeseball Posted 17 Nov 2013 , 1:25pm
post #7 of 7

It might not be what you planned, but it looksfar better than you think it does.  I really expected to see just the snout of a dragon, with the body having succumbed to the center of quicksand/soft ganache;).  Next time you'll nail it and your edges will be sharp enough to cut diamonds.

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