Hello fellow Cake Central members,
I need to vent. As fellow cake decorators, you will feel and maybe justify my reaction to a recent cake disaster. So here goes, my friend at work asked me to make a baby shower cake for her. She was so impressed with the other cakes I had done and she said that she knew I would do a "great job." No pressure right! Anyway, I love her to death but for a month prior to the shower she changed her mind about the cake about 6 times. She finally made the final decision about 2 weeks before the shower. She wanted a chocolate cake with chocolate covered strawberries. Well that was 10x easier than the one she wanted before or at least I though was going to be.
I worked on this cake for at least 8 to 9 hours off and on because of my work schedule. She wanted 3 tiers and wasn't to specific on design. So here was my chance to be creative! I decided to make each tier a different design. Here goes..... bottom tier is going to be covered with Sarah Bernhardt Chocolate Glaze with BC underneath, second tier bc with scrolling and 3rd tier chocolate glaze drizzled on top. I started at 8:15am and was done at 2:00pm. The cake had to be there at 4:30 shower started at 5:00.
I was getting ready to go when my brother started to carry the individual tiers out to my car. I stopped him and told him that I really needed him to cool off my car instead of taking any of the cakes to the car . Reasons for that is, because I live in TEXAS and I have a black car can anyone say HOT! I went to get my extra supplies when I realized the bottom tier is missing. I go outside and my brother is standing outside the car holding the bottom tier ( in the cake holder) with this mischeivous look on his face . I asked him what happened and he turns the cake around and all i see is a wall of chocolate smashed against the inside of the cake dome. Then he proceeds to lift up the top and the entire side of the cake has completely detached itself from the cake. My heart sunk. He came back in with the cake and said that he put in the seat and it just shifted so he tried to shift it the other way and it slamed into the cake dome.
At this time I start denying that this was happening. Then I actually realized that this had actually happened. I FREAKED OUT. I mean tears, short breaths and unability to talk all kicked in. My family all of a sudden started saying " it will be ok", "she won't notice", and "we will just patch it up."
All i had was some leftover buttercream and it was already 4:00.I put the bc on but the chocolate glaze covering the cake was dark brown and the bc was light brown. Have you ever patched a whole in the wall with plaster and tape (and you know how that looks) now imagine it on the side of the cake. .
My dad tried to make it better by finding some leftover milk chocolate chips and melted them and tried to patch it up. At this point I had given up. I just handed the spatula to my mom and she tried to reapply chocolate to the sides. Oh by the way I used semi-sweet for the original glaze and they were using milk chocolate. 2 different colors. I cried the whole way there. These are some of the things I said....."im not going to charge her", "it looks like s***", and "she is going to be so disappointed."
Meanwhile my family is saying "no one will know the difference, quit worrying, it looks fine, it happens, if she is a true friend she will understand." They just didn't understand what its like to work on something for so long and be so proud of it and then in a instant it gets messed up. Yeah we were able to cover it up where you couldn't tell one side of icing was missing but it wasn't as good as before. I couldn't be proud of it because I knew that it could have been so much better. The bottom tier turned out looking not smooth like before but had spatula marks all over it. It just ruined my entire day. I know my family meant well but I don't think they truly understood.

Oh yeah she loved it and everyone said it was delicious and it was all eaten up.

Thanks so much for reading. You guys have been my cake support system. You guys are awesome.

Well I must say, the cake does look great....BUT...your brother owes you AT LEAST 1 years worth of cleaning and washing up for making you go through that

Oh honey that's a beautiful cake!

Okay, you so need to get some massages, foot rubs, house cleaning, etc. for Momma's Day. Your brother owes you big time. You have one heck of a family to help you out. Bless 'em.

Your cake still looks great! I understand what you mean though, it is disappointing after all that time and work. 9+ hours work - and in your eyes, the artist - it's ruined in a blink. I constantly remind myself that we are our own worst critics. Most people do not get their nose 3 inches from the base and inspect the smoothness, levelness, pipe work - only the artist that decorated it, and other truly addicted decorators will do that - and maybe the odd Health Inspector - LOL! Your talent still shines through on the cake! Ummm, next time maybe have your brother in the car (and belted) before loading the cake - he can tell you if the car is cool enough yet - ha,ha. You have to Love them all for trying to fix it. I'm thinking my family may have looked at me wierd, then drove to the nearest Wal-Mart - blah.

As a chocoholic, I'm thinking that cake looks darn good right now! I can understand that you're upset about the design being ruined at the last minute, but you saved it, your friend still loved it and everyone thought it was delicious! Most people (outside the cake world) don't pay close attention to design and would be quite happy with an okay-looking cake that tastes amazing. Chin up, you've just gotten through your first disaster test and passed! Now pass me one of those chocolate strawberries; they look awesome )

NEVER LET YOUR BROTHER TOUCH ANOTHER CAKE!! I KNOW it's "just sugar", but, I tell you what....after working for 9 hours on a cake....I think the word "homicide" would suddenly enter my vocabulary! LOL

Just kidding! It was an accident, they happen, you recovered! The cake looks GREAT! Kick back, and, don't kill your brother. I can "talk the talk" but I can't "walk the walk!"

Beth in KY

Oh you poor thing! I was expecting a terribly messed up cake picture and it looks fabulous. I totally understand what you mean though, all that work and even though it looks great you KNOW what happened. It looks great and obviously tasted great so just never let your brother touch another cake, ever lol!!!

I'm with decorating dingbat, we are the only ones that notice all the little flaws. The end product looks good. Sorry you had such a time! This is why I don't let my honey even help me move my cakes. He holds doors open for me that's all!!! Even then I am afraid he will let it go and smash the cake. LOL
I will bet you learned alot of things to do for the next time so it doesn't happen again.

Sorry about what happened to your cake, you know we CC'ers understand. Your cake still looks beautiful, you did a great job. I love the strawberry waterfall design. Well I guess it's better to have a cake you are not satisfied with and the guests love it and eat it up than to have a perfect looking cake and everyone just tastes it and puts it on the side.

I wish my cakes looked half that good!!!!

Is that the before or the after shot?! It looks fabulous!!

Thanks everyone for the wonderful comments. It really helps to vent to such wonderful people! Well I didn't take it out my brother that much i just keep laughing about it. He is 17 and I usually can't even get him to open the front door so I don't want to punish him too much for trying to do a good thing. Now i just try and laugh about it.
Thanks again everyone!

Oh my the way brnrlvr it was the after shot in the picture

from what the photo shows, it really did look nice. i love the presentation of the strawberries, how they are placed.

god bless your brother. he tried.

That cake looks AWESOME... what I would do for a slice of that right now!

My favorite part of that story is how everyone chipped in to try and help fix it. That's a great family. I think the cake looks terrific and I bet no on ever suspected a thing!

I'm so anal about my cakes, that I hate to let my husband drive with a cake in the car!! And only I can carry it out!

Your cake looks great!!

It was through the wringer but....I'll take a slice of that anyday! Not only does it sound yummy....it killer to look at!

I agree...never let your brother carry the cakes out to the car.....LOL

The cake looks good, though I'm the same way, I see every little flaw in my work. (Especially when you know how good it was/could have been).
Good for you for not making your brother feel too bad about it. It's always better when it's all over (and the cake, i.e. the evidence, is gone). I'm sure he'll be more careful next time.
It's so hard to trust others with your cakes! I have 2 sisters who often help me with wedding cakes, and before either of them touched a single one I gave them a lecture on how to properly hold, carry, and handle a cake in and out of a box. They think I'm overly careful, but they're used to it!

I'm so sorry that happened to you, thats one reason I carry all of my own cakes and drive the car myself when I have a paid cake. I am so paranoid that something like that, or worse will happen.