Obsessive Cake Disorder (Ocd)? Obsessed With Perfection?
Decorating By springlakecake Updated 28 Feb 2007 , 9:14pm by luvscakes
I know I am not the only one. I am frequently redoing, rebaking, reicing, remaking EVERYTHING it seems like. I know some cake just "go better" than others, but it seem like my last few have really been trying on my patience. I am making that 2 tier cake for the course 3 final and I just decided to take some short cuts and of course that ended up costing me time due to my mistakes. Last night I had DH go out to the store at 9 pm to get me more powdered sugar to make mmf (and eggs in case I ended up having to rebake the whole thing). My husband is like, "dont worry, it is just for class." 
YEAH, but if I am putting all of this time into it, it needs to be good. I need a nice photo for my gallery!! Still wont be perfect, but i just dont have anymore time! I know I am really getting obsessive about making things as perfect as I can. I hope I can start getting things right the first time! Anyone else out there that shares obsessive cake disorder
I'm right there with you. Know matter how good everyone else thanks it looks I always find a problem with them. I send my husband on the same trips but the sad thing is I always buy more then what I need when I buy everything. Good luck! When you find a answer to not being so critical of your own work let me know I also need it.
I totally have OCD!!! I don't think I've ever truly been totally happy with any of my cakes, I always find some fault. The only thing that keeps my hobby going is when people tell me how good the cake was and how awesome the decorating was. It's nice and all but I still find fault. I have my course 3 final tomorrow and I hate my Easter Lilies and I really kind of like my roses even though I see other's out her and think mine look like crap. My DH tells me I just need to relax but the perfection trait is inherited from my dad and I just can't let it go. I just hope my final turns out good tomorrow night.
I just started thinking "am I like this in any other aspect of my life?" And I dont really think I am, at least not to the extent that I am with cakes. My house isnt perfectly clean (far from it) and I dont care if my kids go to school with mismatched clothes or bed head. I dont wear make up every day. I think it is just that I think I am pretty good at doing cakes and so I feel like I owe it to myself to do the best job I can. I can handle a few small flaws, but that is about it. Oh well I guess with each mistake you pick up and learn from it.
Oh yeah! I notice every little imperfection on my cakes...even when someone says "oh it's so pretty" well thats becuase you dont know I dropped my rose four times and had to redo the goofy things....there has got to be a better way to transport roses to cakes vs that goofy tool and a spactula...not to mention the squished flower petals that are hiding behind the other petals, lol...Yep I would say that I have OCD!
Um ya!
Me too, me too!
At the end of all my cake ventures I usually end up making about $2-4 an hour! However, the recent "cupcake tree" I did with my sil (I don't think she suffers from this) was absolutly horrifing to me!
For me I want things perfect because they are paying me and it's usually a big day someone is celebrating when they come to me for a cake!
(But my husband takes isssue with my problem-"It looks FINE!!" is the statement I am used to coming out of his mouth.)
I hope your cake works out the way you want!!
(PS I have double layered my fondant and it it turns out looking great- if this cake is just for you you may want to try it!)
I have to talk myself off the ledge with just about every cake...I have taken no classes and remind myself that EVERY cake is a learning experience. When I am making a "paid" cake I try to get in a ...Zen state of sorts where I don't fret, I just decorate. I find that if I let my mind chatter go away my cakes come out so much better. And I also tell myself that its cake, most people can't do what I do and they will love it.
Yes, and its taking the fun out of things for me! I've been stressing because like you I want my cakes to be perfect. I beat myself up all the time and my husband says he hopes I don't make anymore cakes. The last cake I did was this past weekend and it was a Thomas cake and though everyone raved on it I actually hated the out come....the carving part was good and I liked that but for some reason the icing gave me fits. I refuse to post any pictures it upset me so bad. LOL
Oh yeah, if my cake isnt good enough, I wont take pictures. My present cake for the course 3 was horrible. I was so embarrassed in class. Everyone thought I knew what I was doing because I had self taught myself a lot. Of course it ended up being like the worst one there. My fondant was too dry and it ripped and looked so bad. so of couse I wanted this cake to be nice. I think I am doing it to redeem myself or something.
I'm on the same boat! I had to get rid of one whole cake for my Course 1 finals! Grrrr I hate imperfections on my cake but sometimes you just have to deal with it. It's like looking at a girly magazine and seeing all those beautiful women and trying hard to look like them. Or in our case, looking at cakes done by professionals and wanting our work to look like theirs. *Sigh* maybe one day 
Oh I'm right there with you girls - I didn't want to take a picture of the C1 cake we just did b/c the colors were horrific and it just wasn't a cake or design I would do -I almost cried - I didn't want to take it home for fear of what my kids would say!! LOL Also my last cake I did the Nintendo Wii (in my photos) I HATED! I think it turned out like crap but my kids liked it and the mother and child who's birthday it was for loved it. It was my first time using RC treats which I can never get right and the whole Wii system just looked like crap to me. I should have done it over but I was so sick of it all when I was done I just left it!! LOL It's hard to say to yourself - Man, YOU ROCK!! lol Thank God that's what I have my kids for!! They are my biggest fans! And sometimes strangley enough my worst critics too!! LOL But sometimes they think I can make any object into a cake!
I'm the same way, I won't take a picture if I really don't like it. My brother has the only picture of a graduation cake I did for his SIL. I refused to take one because as I'm walking out the door my DH informed me I had misspelled the name of the college. I was mortified!! Then I go to drop it off and I had spelled the graduate's name wrong!!! Not my fault on that one as I was given the wrong spelling. Plus, I hated the writing on it so no picture.
I know I need to relax but when you have a vision in your head or on paper you just want it to turn out that way and for it to have no imperfections. Is that too much to ask??????
Obsessive Cake Decorator yep thats me I am so bad my mother has to tell me to walk away and leave the cake alone. 
So that's my problem!! It's nice to know what I've been suffering with this past year! No wonder my DH wants to commit me whenever I start a cake project!!
I am not like this in any other part of my life. When my family memebers tell me they love my cakes, I see every flaw or wished I had added or not added something. I'm still pretty new to cake decorating so it seems like most of my cakes are a first for me. I'm hoping with time I will relax about trying to get things as pefect as possible....... but I doubt it!
I am guilty too...our poor, poor hubbys. The problem with the desire for perfection is sometimes I get caught in...leave good enough alone...that is when I end up re-doing things. But I always see the imperfections, and when I ask my DH his opinion, I always think he may be telling me it's good because he is my hubby and wants to support me. He is irritated by that fact, says that no one looks at a cake with a magnifying glass and the imperfections that I see the average person will never see.
I MUST have OCD....I am glad I know the problem...cause knowing is half the battle!
I am sort of like this in my regular life so it's not limited to cakes! My Dh just made fun of me becuase I have been staying up pretty late this week to get all the things done for my course 3 final cake and he asked "why I had to do a cake that I would normally do for a customer, why not just make a box cake and leave it at that and why did you have to make fillings? It's just you being your perfectionist self." It's very true but I also look at doing the cakes the way I like them to be and since I'll be bringing the cake in to work it will actually serve as a form of advertising. But boy, I am pretty tired right now.
Oh, when I first read OCD I didn't really pay attention to Disorder and I mention it as Obsessive Cake Decorator to a friend at work and she said that would be a catchy business name
Yeah, either way OCD fits! Hehe! So I getting all of my stuff ready for my class tonight. I am moving around a cake and totally tear the fondant. So I get out my leftover fondant (yet again) and I recovered it. I put it into a cake carrier so I wont touch it again. I think.
well I also have this problem, but mine goes one step further then any of you are willing to admit .. not only do I rant and rave when I make mistakes on my cakes, but when my husband is there telling me it really does look fine, I just drag him closer to the cake and actually POINT OUT my mistakes!! Look at this shell border!! It's not even matched up!! Look at that writing!! Can't you see a second grader stole my cake and scribbled all over it?? Some days I just want to give it all up .. and then I see my tips .. all shiny ... calling out my name ... its rough .. but someones gotta do it ...
LOL. My husband had to physically remove me from the kitchen once as he said calmly to me, "You're losing it. Get out of here."
I had to ask nicely if I could return an hour later after a hot shower and some quiet time.
My cake is my artwork. I want it to be what I imagine, and the longer I work on it, the more I need it to be perfect to justify the time I'm putting into it. It's an ugly circle.
I'm getting better, though. I have decided that to NOT have a plan, is my best route. 
That's why specific, paid cake orders are going to give me ulcers one day!!!
Angie
Angie, you have a great point. Cakes that are for my family I am totally relaxed on. Not that I don't WAY over do time on everything, but when I am being PAID for something I turn into a maniac! I like to hav my cakes totally DONE the day before they are picked up. That way if a disaster strikes, I can have a full day to fix it.
I unfortunatly have this disorder spilling into my daily life as well. I am ridiculously clean and cannot function until things are looking good around my house. AGH I blame on on all the babies I've had... they sucked out all my brian function that allows things to be out of place.........
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