Ok, I took up cake decorating because buying birthday cakes for my two kids was very expensive and I felt like since I am a crafty type of person I could do a decent job if I made them myself. Plus it is something I have always wanted to do.
I have really gotten into decorating and have been having a ball doing it--even with the small disasters that come each time I try to do something. That's another story...
However, after today, I'm ready to give up....put all of my stuff for sale on ebay and call it quits. This one takes the cake (no pun intended)
My kids' school Easter parties are coming up next week and I got this harebrained idea (oops - another pun) to make easter egg cupcakes. You know the mini cake kind? I went on a massive hunt (gosh, I gotta stop) for these cake pans. No one in town had any so I bid and won 2 of them on ebay. My daughter is a toddler and I wanted to the petite ones for her. Looked all over for those too and couldn't find them, was about to give up the hunt and found some at Walmart. I was sooooo excited.
I decided to go ahead and do them today since I have a full-time job. Cleaned my house from top to bottom yesterday so that I would have time to do them.
The baking came out great. They were really cute (kinda looked like little turtles). I made 24 mini eggs and 36 petite eggs. Half chocolate and half yellow.
Then, it came time to cover them. The package had some cute ones that were covered with what looked like candy melts. The recipe on the back was for a glaze. How silly of me to think that the recipe on the back was for what was on the front. I did not realize that the glaze would be translucent. They looked awful. I had thought about doing a poured fondant over them, but I'm afraid that would have been just as translucent. It seems that is the reason they use WHITE cake. So, I made a batch of buttercream and in my tizzy I was having, I put waaaay too much flavoring--I use creme bouquet & valencia--my recipe calls for 1 1/2 tsp and I used 1 tbsp!!! So I left out the creme bouquet...it's just awful...taste like soap. Anyway, I said "Well, maybe it won't be too bad with just a little bit on the cakes. Maybe the kids won't notice. " so I proceeded to ice these little buggars. They look terrible---all bumpy and uneven. I'm used to having a cake glued down to a board and on my pretty little turn table with my cute little spatula and turning the board to ice. I had extra-strong soapy buttercream all over the place, on my hands, up my arms...well, you get the picture.
So now, I'm stuck with 60 mini cakes in plastic bags in my freezer and nothing to bring for my kids' Easter parties. Think I may run down to the local grocery store and buy some cupcakes or something.
I'm hoping all of you wonderful people can tell me what to do to get outta this mess.
Are the ones in the freezer iced in any way? If not I would ice them in coolwhip or something like that-I make the eggs alot-use thinned buttercream and then decorate them-You could ice them with the star tip-any number of things like that-FIRST though-take a deep breath and relax-we have all had a disaster in one way or another-don't give up-I am sure you have done a craft or 2 before where you have had to redo something-you will be fine.
Thank you. No, the ones in the freezer are not iced. I didn't freeze the one's I had messed up. I tried my 3 star icing tip and I don't know if I was just too upset or what, but they didn't look right.
Try it with the #16 for a practice run-then try a couple other tips-just to get a variation of them-the 3-star may just be too big to handle with the little eggs-you will do fine...frustration breeds..makes our "mess" seem so much bigger and endless...don't let it get the best of you!
Can you thin down buttercream to a pourable consistency? Do you think that would work?
You can thin it down with clear Karo syrup-but I would be careful not to thin it down tooooo much-It certainly could not hurt to try it-you may have to experiment to get the right consistency-let me know how it turns out-I have some "eggs" in my freezer I made (they make cute baby booties) but for my elderly neighbors I make holiday cakes and such and they will be used for their Easter stuff.
Marknrox, I know how you feel .... I too was about to call it quits but just because one time things dont go right isnt a call to quit something you like. You learned from your mistake and the next time it wont happen. You can do so much, just let yourself do it and leave the nervousness behind. Thats when I make all my mistakes ....if I am doing something just for us, then no problem if I make a mistake, and I dont and they look ok, but do something for a class or something else and I panic and things go wrong!
Dont quit...you will do just fine....
please don't give up on something you enjoy just because of this... if i had done that there are alot of amazing things that would never have been made! keep the faith! here's my suggestion, i make easter bonnet cookies and this is the "glaze" recipe i use, hopefully it can work for you too! good luck! ... 1 box of powdered sugar (sifted), 6T. water, 2T. meringue powder, and food coloring. combine all but the food coloring in a bowl and mix on medium until smooth. divide into as many small bowls as you'd like for the colors and tint. use a spoon to pour over your eggs and decorate w/ alittle buttercream and your icing tips. hope this helps!
OK, first calm down. I had one of the MOST horrible experiences EVER and I'm still at it. We ALL go through this. You'll survive...please believe me!
Here's my suggestion. Take all those uniced cakes in the freezer and make chocolate-covered cake balls out of them. Sprinkle the tops with Easter-themed sprinkles, Wilton royal icing decorations, or drizzle with pastel colored candy melts. You'll have beautiful mini-Easter cakes!
I posted a picture of what I am talking about in the galleries on this site. The pic is under Uncategorized>Other Cakes. I call them Chcolate-Covered Amaretto Minis. Of course, you do not use Amaretto in the cakes for the kids. If this idea interests you, e-mail me at [email protected] or visit my web site at www.custombuytom.com and you can call me at the telephone number listed there on the Contact Us page.
Good luck!
Thank you all for your support and ideas!!! I lost a lot of sleep over this last night.
Ok Libysue, are the "T"s tablespoons? Or tsps? Just wondering... I imagine they are tablespoons, but I know people who dont know one from the other and just in case someone is worried about it it will ease the worry a bit.
you know, i thought about that after i submitted it but was to late to change it. ... yes, the "T's" stand for tablespoons.
I scrapped the egg idea and made the rabbit cupcakes instead. Even though I ran out of time, they came out cute I think. Please see them posted under Holidays/Easter.
I saw them and really think they are adorable-I really like the jellybeans-great recovery!!! There is ALWAYS a way to correct a situation--never give up hope-most great things come out of "mistakes"!
We all just have to remember we are not alone in this venture-we have our praise time and our support time-and everyone hits both levels at one time or another!
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