And it was if you were a fish thrown on land?!

I've gone to some friend's homes out of town and they always want me to make something. I hate making cakes in someone else's kitchen with their (lack of) stuff. It's so frustrating and I didn't know if it was just me?

Something always comes out wrong or I think it's not good but they love it. Forget about decorating anything. I always tell them they're just going to get the bare essentials - cake and icing. lol

I was in Chicago recently for a girl's weekend, brought many of my things along in hopes of making things easier. PLEASE! I soon realized I forgot my spatulas and the only thing she had was a butter knife and a little cheese knife. That was hell.

You would think I had never baked before in my life. I need my kitchen with my oven that I know, my utensils and gadgets, my ingredients, my pans, my flavorings and my peace and quiet!

Oh I don't think I could do my cake decorating in someone else's kitchen either... goodness.. I'd be like a fish out of water myself... lol

I agree! It's so hard to bake in somebody else's kitchen. Things NEVER taste the same. I used to try to help mother-in-law out and bake for her when we visited but I've never once had something come out great. It doesn't make much sense but it makes a big difference to have your own stuff.

YOU ARE RIGHT IRONBAKER. I USED TO GO TO MY GIRLFRIEND'S HOUSE AND DECORATE HER CAKES. SHE WOULD BAKE THEM AND I WOULD HAVE TO MAKE ICING AND DECORATE AT HER HOUSE FOR HER KIDS' BIRTHDAY PARTY(THE SAME DAY TWO YEARS APART). IT STUNK BIG TIME THE FIRST YEAR. I DID A BARNEY CAKE AND I DIDN'T HAVE MY KA ONLY HER HAND HELD MIXER AND IT WAS A BIG PAIN IN MY BUTT. THE NEXT YEAR I DID BRING MY KA AND THAT WAS MORE OF A PAIN TO HAVE TO CART THAT TO HER HOUSE. IT WOULD HAVE BEEN EASIER TO DO EVERYTHING AT MY HOUSE WHERE I KNOW WHERE ALL OF MY STUFF IS, BLINDFOLDED. IT IS MUCH BETTER TO DO THINGS IN YOUR OWN KITCHEN!

Ahh! I had to deal with her hand mixer too and it was like I never held one in my hand before. I really don't remember what life was like BKA. (before KA)

It makes me doubt myself.

whenever i go home to my parents house, i always bake a huge amount of desserts so my step dad can freeze them and eat them until i go the next time. first of all it is a pain! i bring my own mixer, my pans, my rolling pin, and any specialty ingrediant that i know wont be in their house. i make a list of ingrediants for my mom to buy before i get there. the first time i did this, i had to go to the store and buy measuring cups and spoons....my mom does not bake and cooks very little. i have four kids, so when we pack the minivan, 1/4 of the trunk space is taken up with mixer, and baking things. i couldnt imagine not taking my own things, it would drive me nuts to use moms limited supplies.
happy traveling!
melody

My oven went out two nights before a last minute order once, and I had to cart my stuff 55 MILES to my parents' house to bake cakes there, what a pain in the @rse!

That doesn't compare to when I made my SIL's cake, though. I live in the US, the wedding was in the England (where my hubby's family is) and I had to do the whole cake in my MIL's kitchen (and they were also doing the food for the whole wedding!). Different environment, different measures, different INGREDIENTS... oy.

I'll never do that again!

Tell me about it. When I baked and decorated my wedding cake in Florida in my little tiny kitchen, I had about a 2-foot counter including the mixer which I borrowed and the kitchen table for space.

I brought everything I needed, but I had nowhere to put it! Then there was the oven. It didn't bake at the same temperature mine does even though the temp said it was the same. It took me about three cakes before I figured out how to make them come out the same.

People don't realize how many special tools and extras we use to make a simple cake!

I bake at my mom's a lot & she never has enough tools for baking. She never measures anything, she uses her eye method! She eye ball measures! I'm not that good so I can't do that. LOL!! Her oven is so different then mine that I have to babysit the cakes while their baking. Now I can decorate a cake anywhere as long as I have already made my icing at home. I wouldn't even try to load all my stuff 70 miles to my folks. I like my kitchen & usually stay put in it

I have a friend who just moved to NY (I live in TX) and the other day she said that when she gets married she wants me to come and make her wedding cake, and I could use her kitchen! How about...NO! Driving to someone's house and cooking in their kitchen is one thing, buy flying there?? Security at the airport would think I was crazy when they looked in my bag!

I can see it now.. mamafrog carrying a spatula in one hand & a oven mitt in the other while she is getting frisked by the airport police!!! LOL!!! That is toooo funny!!!

Yeah Turtle! And I picture going through the metal detectors with this big Mary Poppins bag with all my "tools"....."Excuse me missy, what are you going to do with this crisco and viva paper towels???"

LOL!!! Getting frisked for trying to jack a plane with a star tip. That is too funny!

As far as baking in other peoples homes, I have baked in my Mom's home many times. We've baked together since I was a child. She has a huge, beautiful kitchen (I would LOVE to have her kitchen), and it's very open to the dining room and the rest of the house. Now, she is a wonderful baker and a great cook, so no shortage on supplies (yay!) except for decorating (no big deal). However, there have been a few times I've been baking and decorating a cake for a birthday party that day at her house only to have guests start showing up REALLY early.

Big open kitchen = nice .

Big open kitchen with half a dozen party guests watching your every move and asking questions while you are trying to concentrate = not so nice

Calejo, an audience is so very distracting. And my friends wanted to watch and kept offering to help. How do you nicely tell them you don't want them to help with anything! LOL

And speaking of airports, when I went to Chicago, I flew. I called ahead to make sure that I could take flour and stuff on because I was going to premeasure everything and bag it in Ziplock bags. I didn't want them opening everything thinking I was transporting cocaine to Chicago. LOL! They said it was fine and I didn't have any problems.

The problem occured when I got to my friend's house. We went out that first night we were all there. I left my suitcase in the guest room I was in but didn't close the door. The darn dog got into my bag and found my cake flour, cocoa, etc.!! It was actually pretty funny, especially since we had a few glasses of wine in us but ugh! That made things even worse because I had to use the flour there and everything else.

We couldn't help but laugh and the little booger is lucky I love dogs.

We flew from Texas to Minnesota some years back for my niece's christening, and my SIL had asked me to make a cake for the event. I did take my pan (book pan for a bible cake) and my spatula, but it was before all the airport screening that we have now, so I didn't have any problems. My SIL is a wonderful cook, so she had everything else I needed. The thing that made it difficult was that ALL of my in-laws wanted to watch me! And I was newly married - hadn't even met some of them before that time. I was a nervous wreck! But the cake turned out beautiful and tasted great and I made it through with no major catastrophes - so all in all it was a good experience.

IronBaker that is too funny! and by the way, how long have you had this cocaine problem?? J/K...

I don't want ANYONE watching over me, I don't care how nice the kitchen is! I yell at DH when he stands behinds me and watches!

Ugh! Yes, I agree with not wanting anyone to watch! When I was making all the royal icing butterflies for my SIL's cake, my MIL just sat at the table watching me... of course, I had to make LOTS to allow for breakage (and there was breakage!) so it took me about three days of working off and on with her WATCHING ME... very stressful!

i've baked and decorated in other people's kitchens, with their supplies, while visiting with them, and it's certainly a challenge (that's why i travel with a basic kit now when visiting). i've even resorted to the old method of cutting a star-tip pattern into a wax-paper piping bag to fancy up a simple strawberry shortcake dessert i made for a friend when visiting with her in her temporary home, a double-wide on the grounds of the outdoor education camp where she was working. even simple cooking can be a challenge in a poorly-stocked kitchen: i was making snacks for a friend to bring to her office christmas party, and she didn't even have a rolling pin, so i had to use a wine bottle to roll out the dough for the chinese scallion pancakes.

you guys make me laugh with your airport security jokes. i have this image in my head of confiscated "dangerous cake weapons": bench scrapers, flower nails, wire cake-levelers, and of course, the ultra-deadly fondant crimper, which, in the right hands, can render a poor cake crimped and powerless in a matter of seconds.

You know with those little gadgets we'd be the Macguyver's of the cake decorating world.
( you remember that TV show, he could make an escape devise out of anything)
And yes it can be very frustrating using someone else's kitchen to bake.
I've learned after one trip always call ahead and make sure they have what I need and I usually give them a list,then the shock comes once you get to their house they don't have half of what they told you they'd have.
And OUCH!!! when you bake things your baked goods for some reason doesn't come out right visually but the flavor is great.
I was visiting my sister in Florida last summer and so my nephews wanted me to bake them cookies, pizza etc.
My sister didn't even have a decent cookie sheet,I thought if there's any pan we'd all have would be a cookie sheet at least i could whip up a quick cake and turn it into a cake log with some chocolate buttercream.She didn't even own a hand mixer I had to go buy one.
Now I just make batches of icing at home and take them to my friends homes if they just have a simple cake they want me to decorate and it's out of town.
I dunno it's like the addage about the country water and the city water.

hahaha! i swear the one episode of macguyver that i ever saw featured an improptu explosive made using crisco...so as bakers and decorators we could easily use our knowledge of chemistry to thwart evil-doers (or at least disarm them with a really cute 3-D cake!).

you guys are so funny!