I am making my first cake that will be seen and eaten by the general public. I am donating it to my mother in laws non-profit summer picnic. She will hold a raffle for my cake to raise money for her organization.

This cake is due tomorrow night.... yes, it is 2:43 am and I am having a gumpaste crisis!!!!

I made 21 hydrangea blossoms, I only have 8 left intact. I dropped my styrofoam block and all of my flowers shattered... I pre-made these last weekend so that I would be ahead of schedule! Ha!

This happened while I was wrestling with the white rose. I was following the tutorial on webshots by jsarnett. This is a great tutorial, but man, I am having trouble pulling it off! When I turned my rose upside down to glue on the curled petals, the whole thing fell off of my toothpick and went splat... so now the front got mushed and I can't dry it upside down like I am supposed to because it's falling apart, so I have it propped up on a cookie cutter with a cell stick propped under it all stuck in foam.

I can't tell you how tempted I am to throw a satin bow on top of this cake and call it a day!!!!!!!!!!!! It's almost a good thing I just lost my job because I will be home all day tomorrow to make this cake... but ack, still not so good because my job supported my caking (not to mention the mortgage, electricity, food, urgh). When it rains, it pours!

I am so stressed!

oh man I can totally feel for you. I am so sorry that happened it really bites when stuff like that happens. You sound like me. Is there any way that perhaps you could use some of the broken petals by laying them on top of the cake around the floral that is still intact? then it would look like they naturally shed their petals and its still a pretty effect. Your petals are all so lovely and although the sad circumstances it would be a real shame after all the hard work and time you put into them to just toss them all out if there is some you can salvage. I know I am not much help but I wish you all the very best with your cake. Just remember no one knows what you had intended to do but you. You can make that cake whatever you need it to be take care and good luck
sincerely
Lynne
Everything's Sparklynne

Sorry about your mishap. The flowers, and whats left of some of them are gorgeous. The worst thing in the world is to have something you worked so hard on get ruined at the last minute. I made a princess cake for my daughter with a tiara and I ended up having to make the tiara 3 times. I put the last one somewhere safe and threatened everyone not to even breath on it. But I agree with sparklynne nobody knows how you intended to decorate and sometimes its ok to compromise, not worth making yourself crazy. Judging by the pics of your flowers I'm sure it will be beautiful.

I'm so sorry, I feel your pain.

The hydrangeas that are left intact are absolutely GORGEOUS! They are my favorite flower!

I like the idea about using some of the loose petals around the cake, too. Hey, they decorate with rose petals, why not hydrangea petals? Someone on here (and sorry, I don't remember who) has an avitar that says something like "it's not how good you are but how well you can cover your mistakes". HAHA, I live by that with my cakes!

I'm sure your cake will be stunning...just take a deep breath and keep on going....

Thank you all so much! I just woke up from a very fitful nights sleep and I already feel much better!

Now downstairs to work on that cake.... I haven't even baked the darn thing yet! Yikes... can we say procrastinator????

Jenndga: Gumpaste hates ME too! But, ya know what? SOMETIMES the feeling is mutual! LOL

I think the petals you have left are very nice and agree with the fellow CCer that stated no one really knows your orginal design, compromise is fine, use the "broken" petals as a "nature thing" on your cake! Remember, like MY Wilton Instructor always told me "NOTHING in nature is PERFECT!"

Beth in KY

Don't worry about using some of your "broken" gumpaste flowers ... have you taken a nature walk lately??? Mother Nature doesn't have every single bloom perfect! It's the differences and the bits that are somehow missing that make your flowers appear much more lifelike. Put some petals around the base of your other arrangements ... some around the base of the cake ... some scattered across the top. It will be JUST LOVELY!!!

And gumpaste doesn't hate you. Look at this as an opportunity to stretch your cake decorating self. Change is difficult for everyone, but we don't learn anything if we don't change.

Please post a photo of the finished cake so we can all go "ooooohhh" and "aaaahhhhhhhh" and "wow, isn't that lovely???" and gush all over it. You deserve it after the week you've had!

HTH,

Odessa

p.s. Don't worry about not drying your rose upside down. I never do, either. I just prop them in a foam "egg crate" mattress piece that was designed for bedridden people to keep them from getting bedsores. It's never failed me yet.

I agree with everyone, you can make it beautiful, just different from your ideal picture you had. Those flowers i saw are gorgeous, even if some are broken. I'd have to say that gumpaste can't hate you very much if you can make those beautiful creations. Just that your having a bad 2 days! BEst wishes and post a picture!

Well, I managed to save enough flowers to make a small spray for the top of the cake... I filled in the bottom with some bow loops that weren't wired because they fell off... more gumpaste tragedy! LOL I just used a lot of buttercream on the tips and stuck them in...

The spray goes all the way around and in the back are my little yellow blossoms, but you can't see them in this pic.

I just got back from my mother in laws house and she just loved it. All of the women in her group love home made goodies and donating to a good cause saves me a little in it not having to be perfect, but all in all I ended up liking it a lot.

Sorry you had so many problems with your flowers but your cake really looks great! The flowers are beautiful!!

Two words, SUPER GLUE! it is non toxic and will work miracles. Really! I had a well know gumpaste artist tell me this trick about a year ago, and believe me, it has saved me in some sheer terror moments. God bless modern inventions. Just apply small amount and hold petal on for a few seconds. Tadah! Hope this helps in future, by the way. Great cake!

SUPER GLUE is non-toxic?

I would have thought it was FULL of toxic chemicals!

Are you talking about the kind of glue they sell in the hardware store?

I love the textured quilting on the top and sides. It adds such a nice touch. These details help make the cake very professional and 'finished' if that makes sense, even though you don't have as many flowers as you'd have liked. And you put luster dust on the bottom pearls. Very nice touch. Definatly does not look like a home baker threw this together.
A talented professional made it!

Awww gosh, thanks so much guys!!!!! I'm blushing over here...

This was cake number 7 for me and I am just falling in love with this hobby. Now to start designing fathers day, although I am sure I will be having another crisis at 3 am the day before that too!!!!

I live in central florida and the temperature does not work well with gumpaste so I use Tylose gum paste (a recipe I got from Nicolas Lodge's web site). I have not had any trouble with this recipe. You are so lucky to live near his store!!