Please Help..rethinking Cake Decorating!
Decorating By heiser73 Updated 1 Nov 2006 , 6:37pm by GIAcakes
Hi everyone,
I'm having one of those moments where I'm really thinking that I may not have what it takes to really do this. This weekend was my sons birthday and all he likes are snowman. So I have been designing his cake for weeks now, with the help and advice from fellow cc members, and had a really great vision of what I wanted it to look like. I wanted to do a stacked cake and the top cake be his head and make a face..etc.
Well it was just a diseaster. I had the worst time smoothing out the icing. I'm not good at frosting round cakes at all, and really it was horrible. I can get the sides smooth and sometimes the top, but I never get the rim around the top to look good...there is either too much excess or not enough icing and the cake is showing through, and I never can get a nice sharp looking perfect rim. I don't know if I'm missing something because everyone on here has amazing round cakes that look perfect, but mine are horrendous. Can any help? I feel like I've been doing this long enough that I should be able to do this but no matter what tools I buy to use or what I try to do, I just can't get them to look right!
Please help! Thank you all for your patience! I really appreciate it!
That design sounds difficult. I haven't done a round cake before. But I have been using Melvira's method to smooth my icing. Here is the thread
http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-42675.html
I had trouble smoothing my icing but since I have used this method my icing has been very smooth. Good luck. Don't give up. It takes practice. If you like decorating keep at it.
Don't give up. It just takes plenty of practice. Some days are better then others. The environment is always a factor. Humidity, temp. etc.
I get ideas in my head and then they don't come out as planned, but they still look good, just a different good. Keep playing and practicing and keep it fun. Enjoy.
I really don't have an answer to your question about how to really smooth this cake.
All I can offer is support, I'm not that great either.
But, also....it's a snowman, and snowmen are not perfectly smooth, so if there is a little crease here or there, I think it will look okay. He could even purposely be made a bit "lumpy" to imitate real snow look.
Also, all the places were it is hard to make it look right, people always put a border and hide the places that look bad. Maybe you could give him a hat (which could be made out of construction paper I would think), that would cover your crease.
Many people also ice the entire cake with those little stars (tip 16 I think). If you had that kind of time you could do that, which would look pretty good for a snowman I think.
Good luck. How old is your son? I think he will be thrilled! You do a fine job!
I looked at your gallery, and no way should you give up! Your cakes are great! Are you putting enough icing on the cake? It sounds like maybe not. Do you use the viva method of smoothing? If not you really should give it a try. Keep practicing, I'm sure it doesnt look as bad as you think. Loke I said before, I looked at your cakes and I think they look great. My favorite is the princess cake.
Hi there!
Take a deep breath, you can do this. First of all, you are doing great with your idea of stacking cakes to make a snowman. You really need to try the marshmallow fondant recipe found on this site. You just ice your cakes with a thin layer of buttercream and then lay on the fondant. It is quite messy to make and you may have to experiment with trial and error, but I think it works great and you won't have to worry about getting the edges just right or having cake peeping through your icing.
Ok, now for the details of your snowman. You could use oreos for buttons, jellybeans or M&M's for the mouth and eyes, and for the nose.....hhmmm, sorry I have to give you a "bump" on this one, I'm not sure what to use for that.
You could either buy a toy top-hat or shape one out of fondant or marzipan. I hope this helps you, and I really do think you should go with fondant if you don't feel comfortable with your frosting techniques yet. You CAN do this, don't give up!!! 
My first bit of advice is to be patient with yourself. Go over the cake as many times as it takes. Putting frosting on and taking frosting off. Do you crumb coat? Depending on the frosting you are using, try putting on a thin layer of frosting first, get it as smooth as you can and then put it in the frig to set. After it has set give it another try.
The best advice I ever got was froma book called "Wedding Cakes You Can Make" by Dede Wilson and she says " At the stage when you are applying your final coat of buttercream, you will, no doubt, be expecting a huge transformation to take place from ugly duckling to gorgeous swan. And it will eventually happen. If, as you are going along, there are lumps and bumps, ridges and lines, or even a bit of unevenness, don't fret. You just aren't there yet. Keep applying buttercream, smooth it, remove some, add some more and resmooth. Keep going. the cake will come together."
Good Luck!
Don't give up. Your cakes look great. I think we all have bad cake days, when no matter what we do the cake does not look like we envision it. Try heating your spatula with hot water this works well for me. Just make sure that the spatula is not too wet. 
You should not quit. I looked at your photos and it would be a great loss to lose someone with your talent as a decorator. Your cakes are so pretty. I am going through the trials and tribulations of my daughters cake for Saturday. She will be 16 wants elegant with black white and red. I have probably 100 cakes saved and here it is Tues. night with no idea what I am going to do. It makes me want to have someone else do it so it will be perfect but I know that it would be as special unless I do it.
Don't give up.
Don't give up, your cakes are absolutely gorgeous. One that didn't come out as you invisioned doesn't mean your son didn't just love it. You do excellent so don't give up.
Thank you ALL so much for your support. It really has brightened my day and has me wanting to keep at this. I just was thinking that a basic round cake is what people usually perfect first and I'm not getting it at all. I have covered cakes with mmf and they turned out okay, but I want to be able to ice a cake with buttercream and get it to look nice so that if I ever have to do any wedding cakes with bc icing I could do it. I do realize that I have only tried to do a few so I shouldn't be so hard on myself,but sometimes it can be really frustrating, as we all know.
To ice the cake, I used the icer tip, and then used a scraper to try and smooth that. And then when I couldn't get that to look right, I let it crust and did the viva towel method. And like I said, I could get the sides nice and one of the tops, but its the rim around the top of the cake that I can't get to look right. I think today I may just make up a huge batch of icing and just start practicing. And see how that goes. Thanks again everyone for all of your kind words. You have no idea how much it has helped!
first off your cakes look great....
you know i saw that fancy decorator "toba" on emeral live...she iced a cake on there and it was FAR from perfect...the sides were even showing thru...!
when i do wedding cakes...i always ice them half frozen....crumb coat...
use a "cheater bag"...do the sides first , then the top..i kindapull the side up over the top (if that makes sense)...
Please don't give up!! You do great work!! I understand your frustration, sometime they just don't come out the way we invision them. I am very much an amateur, but each time I make a cake and I always make mistakes, I feel I've learned from each one of those mistakes, so it kind of excites me!! Hope that doesn't sound too crazy!! Besides your son, I'm sure is very proud of you.
I am prone to disasters and I have second guessed myself on many occasions. But all in all I decide that I do enjoy it, especially when the cake turns out good. Your cakes are good, don't stop. I always feel better when I watch Ace of Cakes or the Food Network Cake Challeges, because even the professionals mess up. When I think of it that way, it always make me feel better.
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