Hello everyone,
I have been asked to make my 1st wedding cake. Which is totally freaking me out!! It would be two tiers both round chocolate cake with a whipped ganache filling and buttercream frosting. It would also be my first tiered cake. Now, this is where your honesty comes in.....do you think I can do this? I am seriously considering telling the bride that I just cannot handle this. The cake is for a wedding taking place on May 8th (Monday) and the mother of the bride would like to pick it up on the 7th. 1.) don't I need to dowel the cakes? hence deliver the cake and stack it at the reception place?? 2.) how do I make the chocolate scrolls on the cake? with chocolate frosting?? 3.) how do I make the chocolate ribbon on the cake? should I just suggest using a cloth ribbon?? Please help!!! I don't want to give up before I know what I'm getting myself into. Thanks again for your help. I don't know what I would do without this site and the support of you all.


p.s. I have attached...I think.... pictures of the cakes that the MOB sent me. The white cake contains the scrool/design that the MOB would like and the brown cake contains the chocolate ribbon that they want.

You can do this and you should. There are a couple of ways to do the scrolls. Wilton has some imprinters so you place them on your frosting and they make the impression then you pipe over them. Or go to Stephen Benison's site he has scrolls that you use to cut them out of fondant and then place them on the cake. The ribbon is the easiest part. It's made of chocolate clay. It takes some practice and some patience. You have a lot of time so practice, practice, practice one thing at a time 'till you get it to your satisfaction. PM tormorrow and evening time I will get my books out on the ribbons. And I think I have that cake and instructions in one of my books. I bet you will get a lot of responses and support from everyone.

Vetty
I really think you can pull this off! Wilton has a pattern press like the filigree design and then it is just dots and little fleur de lis ( I think that is how you spell it) It sounds beautiful! I would do the bow in fondant! I viewed your cakes and you do a beautiful job and do great outlining. It looks like you do well w/detail and you will have no problem with this cake either! Good Luck YOU CAN DO IT!

Awwww come on!! You can do it!!! The scrolls on the white cake are most likely done by scroll presses that michaels sells in a pack of several. You could use chocolate buttercream icing for that. You could do the brown ribbon out of choco fondant! If it's only a two tier cake, I doubt you would need to deliver it and set it up. You could still dowel it to be on the safe side. Come on girly!!! You can muster up the confidence!!!! You can do it!!!! Do a practice cake just like it first well before the wedding. Even do two just to be sure you're comfortable!! You'll be sooooo glad you took on the job!!!!
I'm routing for you!!!
blessings,
elly

You can TOTOALLY do this! My first cake was a two tier and it is really not as scary as you think. As far as the dowel thing is concerned, I don't have access to dowels, for a two tier you can use thick sturdy straws like the kind you get with slurpys or from baskin robbins for your shakes. just grab a couple extra along with a treat for your nerves. I know you are going to do an awesome job. Just think of the rush you will get when you see the look of joy on that bride's face when she sees your masterpiece. You can do it!!!

You CAN DO THIS!! I've looked at your work and you can so totally do a wedding cake! Just wanted to give you a moral boost. I'm sure it will turn out fantastic!

Nothing is going to reflect on your reputation more than the appearance (and taste) of that cake at the reception. The cake is the centerpiece of any wedding. Remember, you never get a second chance to make a first impression. If the mother of the bride is insisting on picking up the cake, a signed release is necessary in case damages occur while transporting and setting up the cake.

Theresa

Best of luck Sweetie, we are all pulling for you! Be sure to post your pictures.

You can do it, BUT I would suggest start practicing piping now. The things that look easy can be tricky, as I found out with my first fondant covered 3-layered 2 tiered cake. Practice piping what you'll be piping on the cake till ya feel comfortable with it. Yes you will need dowels. I bought mine at WalMart. If your going with a 3 tiered, dont forget to put one thru the entire cake when you are done to keep everything lined up and steady. On Wilton's site they give you instruction on doing tiered cakes using dowels. I bought the book and thats how I learned.
If I were you, I would say yes I can do it and then get busy!!!! I'm excited for you!

Thank you everybody! I will certainly start practicing and hope that I make both the MOB and the bride happy. So, they want a 12" cake and 6" cake on the top of it. Should I just put one dowel straight down through both cakes? will this hold it up during transportation? Also, I'm assuming I should put the 6" cake on a cake board and then place it on top of the 12" cake, correct? Sorry for all these dumb questions.....

Hi Vetty.....I've looked at your pictures and everyone is right, you can do this. You make beautiful cakes. If you need help with using the dowels you can go to CCs homepage and scroll down through the tutorials. There is a couple on stacking cakes.

Good luck!!!

I put a piece of parchment or plastic wrap under the cakes that sit on top of another. That way, when you take that cake off with it's board all the frosting doesn't come of. I also have only used straws. Just to be cautious I would use a heavier board to put the finished cake on. I read this week that people had problems with cakes cracking. The conclusion was that the cakes were on weak boards.

Hi Vetty:
I belief you can do this. I know how you feel. I did a 3 tiers cake and I was freaking out. The ladies in this site helped me so much and I pulled it through. Just hang in there and we will help you anyway we can. There is always that first time. You will be okay. Just do the cakes in advance it will help a great deal.
Good luck!
Tina

You can definitely do this!! Some suggestions I have are:
-Practice, practice with the chocolate clay-the bow will be a showpiece for this cake
-Get the scroll set. It is great for making uniform c scrolls and it is relatively inexpensive.
-Find out if they want the scrolls white like the bc or chocolate
-For the 6in tier use a 6 in board. Wrap comepletely in clear contact paper, make a hole the size of the dowel so when you push thru both cakes you don't have any problems getting it thru
-I put powdered sugar on the bottom tier to prevent sticking when the top tier is removed
-After you push the dowels into the bottom tier pull them back up just a little so when you set the top tier down you have room to get your fingers out of the way.
-Provide some non-skid material if the mil insists on picking up the cake for safer travel
-Take a picture right before she leaves with it-maybe even with her next to it just for proof and have her sign a waiver like was suggested.
Hope this helps!

As with anything important in your life-the first time is always the hardest-but you will be surprised in the amount of confidence it builds as you go along and are satisfied with each step. You most certainly can do this-and do it well..take a deep breath-practice-if you don't want to make cakes for practice use dummy ones so you can scrape it off and start again-I always deliver my wedding cakes-just to make sure they get there the way they are supposed to-I do what I can at home and put the finishing touches on them when I deliver them then have someone sign for it when I take a picture of it all set up. But no matter how she gets it-make sure she signs for it that it was together and in perfect shape when she got it-the rest is up to MOB. You will do a fantastic cake-we all have confidence in you!!!

You can do this beautiful cake!!!
Good luck and hope to see a picture soon!!!

Thank you everybody!! I really needed some confidence to take this cake on.
I am hoping to practice making the bow this weekend with candy clay after Easter celebrations, so I will post a picture of it as soon as I am done. Thanks again to everyone for their support!

Well, after all the stressing out I did.....the MOB decided to cancel her order!!!!
In her words, she said that "it was easier to go with another bakery because that way she could see the cake, etc." I'm very annoyed and frustrated because I think it was more due to the price. It would have been my first wedding cake and was not sure at all what to charge. I decided $75 would be a good price, but based on her reaction I think she thought it was too much. She had requested a 12" cake with a 6" cake on top with a fondant bow. It would have been a white cake with whipped ganache as a filling and buttercream frosting. Do you all think I was charging too much????? In the end, maybe it was a blessing that she cancelled due to my inexperience. Maybe i'm just feeling sorry for myself!!!
Any way, thanks to everyone who replied to my postings and for their wondeful advice.

Count yourself lucky. It sounds like she would have been very difficult to work with. $75 is an absolute steal for what she wanted. She will not find a bakery that will do that cake for that price. I had the same thing happen to me. They didn't like my price so they went with a "very reputable bakery in town" and ended up with a cake that wasn't stacked like the bride requested and tasted like saw dust. I still laugh to myself when I think about it even though I know it's not nice heehee!