Okay, I'm out of the cake business but I just did a cake for a friend and I have a dirty little secret.

After decorating for over 10 years, I STILL can't make drop flowers to save my life.

Doesn't matter which tip. They never turn out right.

Sigh.

Anyone else have any dirty little secrets??? )

I share yours. I can not make drop flowers. DH can make them, and he has no training, never even seen them before. I was struggling with them, cursing probably, so he picked up the decorating bag and said "like this?" Yeah, perfect.

I can only make roses out of buttercream. No other flower, just roses. No matter how hard I try they just don't turn out.
Also, My DH is 100x better at rolling out fondant than I am, so he does it for me now.

I can't make a star covered cake... They never look right, so my Mom had to do the stars on the small Wilton Cars cake in my pics... (good thing I'm not a fan of character pans, huh? )

I have tons... but if I told you all they wouldn't be secrets anymore lol

I can do drop flowers but I don't think I can pipe a decent rose.

Maureen

hehe
i cant do drop flowers for the life of me either
yet my 12 year old sister who has no training does them perfectly
go figure

i cant do any star tipped cpvered cakes, they look like retard versions of the real thing...

i hate making buttercreme roses, drop flowers, which is why mine are always gumpaste...

and my DH is 1 million times better than me at rolling fondant! so he does it...

my grandmother who is 96 taught me how to make gumpaste flowers out of bread clay!

Me too- can never make them buttercream flowers look good!
All I do is gumpaste now, IMO they look better too.

i think that they look a million times better, and since they are gp you can let them dry and touch them unlike the buttercreme ones... i cant stand those things... grrrrrrrrrr

Does it have to be cake related??
When I was 5 and my sister 3 we shared a bedroom while our parents were having a party. I was bored so when I found some nail scissors, I cut an inch off my fringe. Then turned my head on the other side and realised it wasn't straight. So I cut another inch off it, then tipped my head straight, cut off a bit more etc etc and so it went on til I was left with about 1/8th inch. Whe mum came in in the morning I blamed my sister (she got a smacked bottom!) he he he he. I finally confessed when I was 29.................................

i did the same thing... my mom wanted to take me to take pictures (we used to do it every year) i was 5 so i wasnt in school yet... so pre school pics i guess

i didnt want to go (never liked cameras)

so i sat infront of her floor length mirrors, and cut my bangs in a wave pattern... to say the least i know this - not bc i remember the beating but bc i have the pics to prove it.. i have been cutting my own hair for years, and my mom says that it all started when i was 5...

My buttercream roses look like little cabbages....I haven't tried to make a fondant or gumpaste one yet...

I like making fondant but rolling fondant is a pain if it's more than 1 'piece'. My husband doesn't get involved. He's screwed up too much before and won't dare offer to help now.

Lastly, I enjoy hearing that someone enjoyed my cake... but not only that they enjoyed it, I like to hear the details. What did you like? The flavor, the buttercream, the appearance. I like specifics. Sorry, but it's the truth...

I can't make a decent buttercream to save my life!
Sure, it tastes delish, but I can't get it smooth and no matter what recipe I use it turns out greasy and grainy
ugh

I can't decorate in BC whatsoever! I even a difficult time getting it smooth as a crumb-coat under fondant, lol.

I have a very hard time with the Wilton rosebud taught in Course 2. The instructions just don't match the picture. and mine never look like anything of interest.

Glad I'm not the only one who can't do butter cream! I know all the tricks too but it still never turns out. I guess I'll have to stick to fondant. I at least can butter cream a cupcake though.
This a fun thread.

For a hobby baker i think my cakes are not too bad. My avatar is one of my most recent cakes for my DS birthday - I can't however manage to set a jelly (jello?) and poured the jelly I made for his party down the sink despite putting in less water than it said on the pack - i'm sure it must be bad jelly karma

I can't pipe a simple shell border. I just can't seem to get the shells consistent in size and shape. Strangely enough, my BC roses are pretty good. Go figure...

I'm afraid. I'm afraid to try stringwork and swags. Don't know why, I just am. I'm not a newbie, I've been decorating since 1990, off and on, mainly off from 1993 - 2005 though.

But, I've set several goals for myself and that is one of them - learn better piping skills including stringwork. I may be getting older but I'm still learning new tricks.

Well I for one am really enjoying hearing about everyone's little secrets. It makes you feel better when you realize that most of us can't do EVERYTHING right! LOL.

Well I for one am really enjoying hearing about everyone's little secrets. It makes you feel better when you realize that most of us can't do EVERYTHING right! LOL.

Well I for one am really enjoying hearing about everyone's little secrets. It makes you feel better when you realize that most of us can't do EVERYTHING right! LOL.

Oh I am definitely with you guys on the butter cream roses. I just can't get it right. I mean they're okay at best. And they always have frayed edges. Drop flowers I can handle. But honestly, with the exception of daisies and sunflowers, I can't really pipe any flowers....

Okay, well, my dirty little secret is I only use box mix cake batter, and everyone thinks I bake from scratch!

I used to bake from scratch when I first started but with 2 kids and me in school...it was just too hard and time consuming! I can however, make a wonderful buttercream and a pretty decent rose.

I only bake for family and close friends so, it's not all that bad right?

Shhhh! Don't tell anyone!!!

i have to admit i share the same secret i use only boxed and everyone thinks that i bake from scrtch as well . I do add my own touches to the box mix but its definitely not from scratch.

I can't make any BC flowers.

One time my mom wanted a cake covered with flowers, like her mom used to make for her. This is what she got:


I couldn't make any flowers except drop flowers and they didn't feel fancy enough, so I used the flower cutters from the Wilton gumpaste set (which I hadn't been able to make flowers with either ) to make sugar cookies in different colors and set them on the cake.

The next year she bought a grocery store cake with a top covered in buttercream roses