AYou guys are gonna die! I:o I have a customer that wants such an ugly cake design. She emailed me a picture, hopefully it will attach. Its a scrolly pattern that she wants on top of an 8" cake in blue. And the rest of the iving to be gray.:-X the first problem other than its going to be ugly is that I am going to have to handcut the pattern, and then use it as a template and handcut it on fondant. There is no way I can freehanf that. That is going to take so long! If I did handcut it, what would be the amount. My buttercteam cakes are $2.50 per serving. Fondant details are an extra charge. And example would be that I added an extra $20 to do chevron around an 8" round cake. Chevron was from a Marvelous Mold. But I don't want to do this cake at all, but have already said I'm free that day. What do I do?:cry:[ATTACHMENT=1384]Screenshot_2013-11-23-13-48-01.png (755k. png file)[/ATTACHMENT]

A[IMG ALT=""]http://cakecentral.com/content/type/61/id/3145041/width/350/height/700[/IMG] here is thedesign.

I don' think it's that ugly, and it's what the customer wants for her event... As the business owner you don't have to do it; if it upsets you that much, tell her you are now booked for that day. 

AIts not that I absolutely don't want to do it, well...yeah I kind of don't. But, I will do it because I already told her I was available before I saw the pattern. Which, the pattern itself is beautiful. But to want it in blue on a gray cake doesn't look nice in my head. My other issue is that I just don't kmow how to do the pattern. I can't freehand that. I can cut it out of fondant I guess. Or maybe try a frozen buttercream transfer. Although I've never done one. Just looking for light at the end of the tunnel. Which, I am actually booked with a wedding cake and grooms cake for the same wedding. But was trying to help.her out since she is such a faithful client. I don't mind telling her I can't do it, just don't know how.

If she has not put down a deposit, tell her you're very sorry but someone has just booked that slot.

ASHe has not put a deposit down, and the wedding cake has been booked and paid for 3 months now. Thank you for the advice. I really appreciate it!

Well, for one thing you can tell her that you cannot exactly reproduce that design unless she wants to pay out the wazoo for it.   How crucial is it that it match?  Find either a stencil or a mold that is as close to the original as you can find and use that. 

To hand cut such a detailed design is very time consuming...not to mention nerve wracking.  Be honest with her and tell her your concerns about the scroll work.  She may not care and let you choose one that works for you.

Even if you think it is going to be ugly, it is what she wants.  Also make sure you have the exact color blue and gray she has in mind...surely she's given you samples.

Good luck!

A:D carmijok you are hilarious. I did think about charging her out the wazoo for it. I'm still trying to decide what to do. And she did not tell me the exact shades. This girl is pretty vague with her order requests so far. For Thanksgiving she asked for Thanksgiving cookies. She never specified a design. Lol so I gave her the ones in my avatar. She did the same thing for Halloween. Just asked for Halloween cookies, no specs. She has downsized a few orders when she gets a price though. Lol

Can you pipe? You could easily pipe that design. And i think that in a royal blue and gray would look beautiful! Too bad i would of happily took that order. 

A

It's one thing asking for generic holiday cookies where you can do anything, and quite another for a wedding. If she is set on having blue and grey on her cake, you can be sure she's using it somewhere else in her wedding so it is important that you get the colors to match! Just sayin'. She's bound to have something for you to see..:smile:

I think if you piped it you would be surprised how nice it looks. 

I would ice the cake, then pipe ONTO the printed image on paper with buttercream. Then lightly press the overpiped paper onto the iced cake and pull away gently. It will leave a light buttercream outline/imprint. Then you can get very close to the original design. 

It looks like it's begging to be a stencil.  Can you go to a stencil place on line and get something similar?  Other than that, if you truly dissect the pattern it's just a series of teardrops put together with small scrolls  - you can do that.  Use two small teardrops or petal cutters - one inside the other and cut them out of gumpaste.  Then handpipe the wheel design in the upper left-hand corner.  But there's so many stencils out there, I'll bet you can find one or make one with a piece of acetate and an Xacto knife.

It's an old fashioned pattern and very reminiscent of the nice things past.

It probably has a sentimental value to her or her family.

"Love of beauty is Taste.  The creation of beauty is Art"    Ralph Waldo Emerson

A[@]carmijok[/@] sorry for the confusion. This is for an 8" birthday cake. Not the same as the wedding cake. :)

[@]jenmat[/@] I think that is a fantastic idea! Thank you!!!

[@]DeniseNH[/@] That is another great idea. I could just make it into a stencil. Thank you!

A

For an 8" birthday cake, it would take you about twenty minutes to pipe it on. It will take a heck of a lot longer to make a stencil and transfer the pettern onto a cake.

AI would print that sucker to scale, then set it under a 5"x8" (picture frame size, huh? ;-D) piece of glass, then pipe over it in royal icing, on top of the glass. Once it dries, you impress the cake with it, then pipe over it. You can wrap the sides of your glass in masking tape do you don't cut yourself. Wash and reuse.

ABest to look at the pattern for the repeat, and plan around it, though!

You can simply tell her you are not comfortable making this cake.  I've done that, telling them that it is beyond what I can do.  Just be honest with her, but don't tell her it's ugly ;)

ASo I have decide to do the cake. She wants gray and navy blue. So I will do the softest, lightest gray I can make and the navy blue. Cross my fingers it doesn't turn black.:grin: And then put a pretty little navy blue ribbon around the base. For the design, I am using part of [@]DeniseNH[/@] idea. I bought some tear drop cutter, but will lightly impress the cutters into the icing making the template on the cake. Then I will pip over the pattern on the cake. When you break it down to it being just scrolls and tear drops, it's not as difficult as I thought. Thank you everyone! I'll post a picture when I'm done. Fingers crossed.....

AThanks everyone for your help! I promised I would post a picture of the cake. Here it is. I used different sized tear drop cutters and lights pressed it onto the frosting. Then went over it with piping detail.[IMG ALT=""]http://cakecentral.com/content/type/61/id/3152416/width/350/height/700[/IMG]

ACame out really good. No need to get butterflies in your stomach. Bet you'll have a customer for life. Thanks for showing it to us.