Hi everyone! I had posted a few weeks about traveling to Minnesota for my MIL's 80th birthday. First of all, I have lived in Houston, Texas all of my life and am accustomed to VERY hot and VERY humid summer weather. Well, it was JUST as hot and JUST as humid there in Minnesota. Not a problem for a Texas girl to bake and decorate a gorgeous cake, away from home, with only the tools I could pack in a suitcase, in my MIL's kitchen, with SIL's watching my every move, right? Ok, I handled all of that just fine. But what to do about people who WON'T run the Air Conditioning?!?!? My BIL commented that it was such a hot summer that he had actually had to turn the A/C on TWICE this summer?!? What?!? Here in Texas ours runs ALL THE TIME!! MIL had told me she wanted chocolate fudge cake, and dark mauve colors. Ok, I premade colored MMF and packed it in my carry-on luggage. She really likes very feminine, even Victorian-looking things. So I had envisioned gift package cakes, with ruffles, pearls, luster-dusted items, etc. A hatbox, a gift package with a fondant bow, and a gift bag, all with fondant tissue coming out of them, raised lids, etc.

My dear DH kept turning the A/C on, because I was so distraught with icing sliding off the cakes, fondant figures that wouldn't set, fondant covering that kept FALLING off the cakes, etc., but then dear MIL would turn it off, saying it was getting cold in the house!?! Oh my goodness, 85-degrees is NOT COLD! I don't know if it's just because she's 80 years old, or on a fixed income (we ALWAYS give her money to help pay utilities when we leave) or if it's just that it's below zero there for 6 months out of the year, but all she wanted to do was run the fan!

Well - - - the final picture is in my photos. I was so disappointed with the end result, I just wanted to bawl like a baby!! After all was said and done, I told myself that I really did the best I could do under the circumstances, but it's taken me nearly 2 weeks to even upload the pictures and show you guys! DH's family just raved about how pretty they were, but I know what they were supposed to be like.

I'm going to try to upload a picture here of the gift bag cake, and what kept happening to the icing. It just basically slid right down the cake, taking the top fondant border of the bag with it!! I added icing on top of this TWICE to get it to be even with the top of the cake!

Oh well, it's over, and I'm really glad. I don't want to EVER bake and decorate away from home again!!

Don't be disappointed, it is a really cute cake! You did a WONDERFUL job despite your awful circumstances!!!

Don't be so hard on yourself. I have learned that while we may see every mistake and get upset over the cake the other people have no idea of what went wrong or where the mistakes are.

We tend to look at every little thing and details but they look at the over all cake and are so impressed because they know they couldn't do it.

I think your cake came out looking nice. Sounds like everyone loved it too so don't be sad. You did a fine job.

Eeeeshhh!!! I'm from south TX and I also keep my AC running all the time.....sometimes even through the winter. Sounds like it was really tough.

The cake however did come out really beautiful.

I so feel you pain. Mom lives in florida and NEVER TURNS THE AIR ON. I HATE visiting her. It is hot as Hell in her house. My husband and I go Crazy there. I try not to visit to often.

The cakes look great but I understand how you feel.

Sorry, I had to laugh at your story because I live in northern IL and we don't run out a/c very often either! LOL It's usually got to hit at least 88 degrees before I'm willing to close up the house. Of course, now that ragweed season is upon us, I will be running the a/c more often because I can't have the windows open and still be able to breathe normally. (I still tough it out as much as I can though, I just hate feeling so bottled up with the windows closed.)

Your cake looked nice, it is too bad that the family didn't understand the difficulties and stress the temps were causing you.

The weekend might have just been hotter than normal, it's not unusual to see highs in the 70's in the middle of summer in Minnesota. Alot of people don't have air because it's not worth it for the 2 months of the year that you use it. As someone living in North Dakota it has been a warm summer for the area, I'm loving it because I hate the cold and maybe your family was like that too. Remember that it gets to -20 for weeks on end during the winter and that's before windchill.
I know what you mean about decorating in Minnesota during the summer, my parents live there and I have done it without air, it's a real pain.
I think your cake looks great.

Thank you all for the comments, I really appreciate it. The picture above is before I made repairs, the final result is in my photos. We honestly never said anything about the A/C except for the day I was trying to decorate, the rest of the time we just lived with it. And Mbelgard, I would have been HAPPY if it had been in the 70's - the 10 days that we were there it was AT LEAST 98 degrees! One day, it got up to 100!! And, they had not had any rain for nearly 6 weeks, so everything was scorched and dry - they even had water rationing! Of course, the day AFTER we came home, it rained and they got some relief from the heat! Oh well, like I said MIL loved the cake so I guess that's all that matters! Thanks again for the kind words!

mommymarilyn - your cakes are beautiful!!

I just want to say I live in Minnesota and have never heard of someone not running AC during the summer!! It gets unbearably hot here. I set mine on 70 in May and don't turn it off until October. I can't imagine trying to decorate without it! You're a trooper!

Its pretty and I'm sure it was just delicious!!! I just looked at your other cakes and WOW your awesome!!!

I live in Central CA and when it was 114, I had that thing running constantly.... until I got my bill. It went up from $123 to $347 and the only difference was the running of the A/C.

After I got up off the floor and wiped away my tears , I decided that we would try and make do with as little A/C as possible.... it sucks, I'm not going to lie to you. It has been in the mid to hi 90's and I have still not turned it on. We are lucky enough to have a pool so I just jump in to cool off and have told the kids to do the same. HOWEVER, as soon as I do a cake I will have no choice but to kick it on high or everything will melt.

I do feel your pain, though. I did my Grandmothers 90th birthday party in winter in Oregon, which shouldn't have been a problem except for the wood stove which my aunts insisted on burning the entire time.... and I was in the kitchen with 6 pairs of eyes watching me.... It was a nightmare - everything was melting and everytime I opened the door to cool off the bloody kitchen, the closed it saying I would let the heat out....OMG

I totally sympathize with you! I live in Portland,Oregon and my house doesn't have A/C And this weekend I was trying to do a cake for my mother in-laws b-Day in 90 degree weather. I thought my FBCT were going to melt right off the cake!!

They do have portable AC. The units sell for about $400 and I bet they cost a lot less to run than central AC. Not suggesting taking one along to MIL's house, but for those who don't like to run the
AC in their own home and may benefit from having one cold room.

I don't whether I'm happy or sad now..... I called my power company and it turns out there was a misread when I got that low $129 bill and then when i got the $340 bill was the current read + the overage from the misread.... so it didn't go up as much as I thought, but also, it didn't cover the entire heatwave so they said I should expect another high bill!

I haven't turned my A/C on since I got it... and it was 98 yesterday, supposed to be 96 today and 100 over the weekend! There is only so much I can take

When the chocolate chips in the pantry are melting, it's probably time to bite the bullet!

Cakediva - oh my goodness!! How can you stand it being so hot and not running the A/C??? Even without the terrible humidity we have here in Houston, (I'm not sure if you have high humidity where you are) that's too hot!! Do you have someplace to go during the day that is Air Conditioned?? Now I'm going to be worried about you - that kind of heat could be dangerous for your health!! Does the temperature at least drop a good bit in the evening? It doesn't here - sometimes it's already 80 or 85 when we get up in the mornings! At least in Minnesota it cools off quite a bit overnight, which helps make the daytime heat bearable. I know what you mean about the electricity bill though - ours last month was $340 - I just about cried! Then THIS month it was $398!! I am soooo looking forward to fall weather, it can't get here fast enough as far as I'm concerned!!


Marilyn

your cake turned out beautifully but I have to laugh because living in montreal it gets pretty cold here in winter and I hate air conditioning cause you have to close up the house. I mean our summer is short and I like to enjoy the warm weather and daylight while I can BUT my dh is from florida and we have only been together for 3 yrs and He keeps it running all summer every day 24 hrs yikes it drives me mad lol I dont mind when its like 100 degrees out but that only happens about 3 days in july lol. Compared to florida I would think he would find it cool here lol I've never been suoth of the border myself lol

We moved from prison (Texas) to NC 9 years ago. We've ran the a/c maybe 20 days...3 of those were 'cause family was visiting and they ain't used to no a/c. Anyway, it was considerably less hot here than hell (Texas)...it actually took me 2 years, summers included, to stop wearing sweats and become aclimated to the temps here. As far as baking, I do it at night and in the morning before I go to work...when it's cooler...I do the same for decorating. My family allows me that time....I don't see being able to put someone else out like that though.

I started adding a heat stablizing powder to my bc, and I haven't had any problems with it melting this summer. I had a 3 tier anniversary cake due in July; the party was outdoors and it ended up being 95+ that day, and the icing still didn't melt.

I live in NY, and have barely turned our wall unit ac on this summer. I did turn it on when we had that heat wave a month or so ago and the temp got up into the 100s, but if it weren't for my kids I wouldn't of, mainly because I would rather suffer than pay the bill!

Marilyn You are sweet.... it was just extremely hot and uncomfortable and if it is like that again today, it will come on. I 'm sure it sounds insane to most people but summer can blow my budget right out the window!

And I am sitting here....dreaming of those cool autumn days where it is cloudy and cool outside and soooo warm and cozy inside. I always bake up a storm during those months and the kids come home from school and want cocoa and then I just pop the window open to get that cool breeze - can you tell I am desperate here?

It is also a sad fact that I have turned into my father... how I remember his every other word was "Close the damn door - the air conditioner is on! Do you want me to cool the whole neighborhood??"

And when my 4 are running around, the door is opened and closed every 2 minutes... for no apparent reason either!

Agghhhh! What're you gonna do? Humidity is no piece of cake either - I remember visiting Texas and the strange phenomena of getting out of the shower and never drying off! I also remember those summer thunder storms that scared me to tears!