Hey, all! I need some advice. While trying to prepare for the hurricane to hit this Sunday (I am in central Alabama - about 2-3 hours drive from the coast) I premade several cakes that are due tomorrow and Wednesday. Since Hurricane Dennis was supposed to be worse than Ivan, I was prepared to not have power from Sunday evening through the next couple days. I didn't want to risk not having two orders ready, so I had a marathon cake and icing making session on Saturday before the storm hit landfall and headed toward us on Sunday. I made all the cake layers and icing that I would need. I also did some practice cakes Friday night using two different chocolate cake recipes and a chocolate/peanut butter icing. The good thing is that I practiced because by Saturday the choc/PB icing had taken on a very bad aftertaste. Unfortunately, I didn't realize this until lastnight, the day after I had filled the layers for storage! I just happened to taste it lastnight because I was going to ice the entire cake with it. So now I'm thinking tonight I'll just rebake the two 12" chocolate layers and just ice it with chocolate icing I made lastnight (yes, since we still had power and a roof I decided to make another batch of chocolate to replace the nasty choc/PB icing!) and put a PB filling in between the layers. Or can I scrape the choc/PB icing out from between the layers? If not, to save time could I get some Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and melt them down in the microwave and use that as a filling? Would I have to add anything such as butter or milk? Would this stay soft between the layers? Anyone have any suggestions?

I'd guess if it's bad tasting I'd be afraid something got spoiled, or there was bacteria growth. Either way I'd probably start all over because I wouldn't want to take that chance of people getting sick.

Does it have to be peanut butter? You could probably just get a thing of Nutella if you're desperate. That would probably taste pretty good and you wouldn't have to refridgerate it either. I have no idea about melting down peanut butter cups.

I had the choc/PB icing in an airtight container and I used water (because I didn't want to worry about milk spoiling), butter crisco, pre-melted unsweetened nestle chocolate, powdered sugar and creamy PB...nothing that should have needed to be refrigerated. I don't know, but it has to be peanut butter filling or icing because that is what the customer wants - chocolate and peanut butter - she doesn't care how it comes together as long as you have the peanut butter and chocolate taste.

I'm not sure either on why the taste went bad fytar .. doesn't seem like anything should have spoiled though .. maybe some of the ingredients clashed with another .. dunno .. if you're not tiering the cake, then maybe thin some peanut butter down and slather that between the cake layers .. then icing with the chocolate icing .. just a suggestion hope your power stays on and hope Dennis the Menace didn't hit you too hard!

Thanks, ntertayneme. I just talked with my instructor and she said the same thing about putting a layer of PB on the cake and covering that with chocolate icing. I'm going to do that!! Wish me luck!!

Fytar,

I just saw this post!! Are you ok? I hope so!! I hear Emily is going to be worse. Ya'll head up this way if you need to!!! You'll be in my prayers!!!!

I hope your cake turns out wonderful!!!

Awwwww, Tina, you are so sweet! We really were worried about Dennis, but he couldn't hold out! Yeah, I hear that Emily will be bearing down on us in about what 3 days? All I know to do is keep speaking God's Word back to Him and saying, "You know, God, this is what Your Word says, and You have to honor Your Word." On to the cake, the lady picked it up this morning. She loved it. I just got an email from a coworker of hers (the coworker is the one that put the customer in touch with me - we took all of our Wilton classes together) and she said that everybody was asking for my name and phone number - that it was delicious! I mixed powdered sugar to my peanut butter and a little hot water to get it easier to smooth and smeared it all over the cake and then iced it with chocolate buttercream. Yeah, we'll see if they call! I did this cake for $40 because I had told her that originally. I told her this morning when she came to pick it up that I didn't realize how much time and supplies I would need and didn't want to give her two different prices, but that if anyone asked, I won't do this for less than $50 to anyone else. She was like, "Thank you so much. I'll be coming back. I have four grandsons that have birthdays coming up!" This was a modified version of my very first golf cake I made. The grass tip really made a huge difference and also the color turned out very natural. I am just going to post it in my gallery. Thanks again, Tina, for thinking about us during this upcoming hurricane! Tarina

for some reason i'm having problems with getting my pictures attached or uploaded...hmmm, wonder if it's something i'm doing wrong.

Yep, it was me! My pictures were too big. It is in my gallery now. I just talked to the customer and she said that her son was thrilled. She said that it is unusual to find a cake that looks that good and tastes so delicious-you either get one or the other! So, yes, I'm patting myself on the back! Oh, another thing, she thought I was a cake decorating instructor! She didn't know I was the student!! LOL!

Very nice cakes!! They look beautiful

How did you get the grass green so good?

I took a popsicle stick and scooped a pile (literally!) of Leaf Green out and then a pile Kelly Green and mixed them together in the icing. I can't ever get enough color when I use a toothpick!

I love it! It's really good.