Not sure if you remember my few posts about my MMF problems and the like. This is the first cake I've baked for someone, and it was just for family. Anyways, to be honest, I'm not pleased, and after the cake was finished, I told myself I'd never bake again. I tend to be a perfectionist, and this was nowhere near my standards.
First, the top tier. I baked the yellow cake with strawberry filling. It tasted wonderful! The icing was fine. The border on top, I stunk at! I just can't get borders down for anything. I LOVE the lace, and it's super quick and easy to do. The basketweave was a bit more time consuming, but not too bad. Anyhow, that part was the best.
Now, the bottom layer, where all the problems happened. I made a marble cake, white and banana (dyed w/ yellow dye) Looked pretty going into the oven. When it came out, it was all white in the middle and all yellow on the outside. Then, it got stuck in the pan, and came out in about seven pieces. What a huge MESS! So, at 11pm, I STARTED rebaking that layer. I just opted for a yellow and white mixed cake (that's all I had at my house) It came out with white on the outside and yellow on the inside even though it was throughly baked. I just used bake right strip things, no core. I used the same shortening and flour and it came out okay. When I torted it, a little section on the bottom fell apart. It was just because it was hard to pick up a 12" section in my hands and flip it over. ANY suggestions?! The banana custard filling was great, as was the cake. So, I pieced the parts back together with frosting and made the best out of it. Threw in the dowels which were soooo hard to cut. Then I got the MMF decorations to put on, and they were still completely soft. I was so disappointed. I hurried up and decorated the rest of the cake. By 3am, I was finished.
All in all, WAAAY too much stress, too many disasters, and a cake I wasn't at all pleased with the decorations. At least it tasted good.
So, any help or suggestions?
*If you got this far, thanks for reading!

Forgot to add,
I also completely forgot to wrap that bottom cake board. The grease from the frosting was all around the lettering. Also, I need to invest in some stencils. I had to write freehand with a bag of frosting. Completely uneven and messy handwriting. What a pain in the behind!

Oh my gosh! How cool is it that you got to bake a birthday cake for someone who is 92 You should give yourself a BIG pat on the back for sticking with it after all the trouble. You know salvaging a near disaster is really hard, not to mention STRESSFUL I think your cake looks really good, and sounds like it tasted wonderful-would like to know how you made the banana custard. I am so glad that I'm not the only one who is up til all hours-sometimes too tired to enjoy the party I've made the cake for ! Anyway, Good Job

Curiouscakes...okay so you forgot to wrap the board...you rolled out ALL those fondant balls, didn't you As is often said here-we are our own worst critics...

Don't even tell me there's an easier way to get fondant balls that are nice and even!!! I spent hours making ball after ball of fondant. I was getting so frustrated! The cake was so much stress, the day of the party I didn't even want to look at it!!

I'll have to find the banana custard recipe. It wasn't too hard, BUT it made enough to fill about twenty cakes, so I ended up dumping out 95% of it!! Oh well, you live and you learn, right?!

How funny!!! I can't tell you how many times I've dumped perfectly good stuff just because I am so sick of dealing with it...And if there's an easier way to get the fondant balls even (an extruder of some sort-I don't have one, but I've read about it on some of the posts) we won't talk about it tonight!!! This baking/posting/etc. REALLY is an addiction

I think it looks great!! You did a wonderful job!

I think it looks great.

You did a good job.

I think it is very pretty. I love the colors.

I think it is really really pretty!!

You should have seen the mess I actually took money for this morning. I am so embarresed I couldn't even bare to take a picture.

My hubby actually came up with a great way to make (fairly) uniform fondant balls. It worked really well on the pink baby shower cake that is in my photos.

He suggested that I roll a chunk of fondant into a big rope or snake. Then, I cut it at half inch intervals and rolled each of those in my hands to make a ball or pearl. It worked great! Each one was about the same size because I always started with the same ammount of fondant!

I think it looks great ! I love pink and purple.

hockeygirl658--what a great idea! You have a pretty smart hubby!

Thanks for the compliments! I actually rolled out the fondant for the shapes, and then the leftover section I cut into pretty equal parts. I then used those square to roll into balls. I tried to get them pretty equal, but oh well.
I have my son's blues clues cake this weekend. It should be a lot easier though because it's just stars on the cake pan blue. I'm not stressed at all. Any tricks or tips for frosting the cupcakes though? I have little rings to stick in them, but what about for the top frosting? Any special tip that works well?

I have a baby shower for a girl coming up November 5th. My family is crazy with asking for cakes. Just because of that one! I guess I could use the practice though, so who better than family?!

Thanks for the compliments and help. I appreciate it.