I received some really awesome feedback for my fall cake this weekend and it is largely due to all the support I received from CC members regarding the numerous questions I had while doing this cake.
1st comment - "Do you have a card with you?" I asked whatever for and she said so she could contact me about a cake she needs done soon. I had to tell her I've only done a handful and only for close friends and family but we could talk about it (she had also been at the party a few weeks ago that I did a baby shower cake for).
Thanks to CC I have no qualms on telling her a fair price and not underselling myself and when she asked if I use a box mix I had a prompt response ready thanks to all the suggestions regarding this subject in other posts. I generally start with a box and spice it up from there.
2nd comment - The company that by BIL does sales for catered the event but he couldn't be there so he had his best mgr on site. She said that my cake was one of the best tasting and prettiest cakes she had come across and why didn't he (BIL) suggest me for other parties (they do many high-end parties in our area). My BIL's response was that he had no idea I was doing cakes like this except for my girls birthday parties. If I ever did decide to do this professionally - way down the road, the bakers that he has been working with are getting up to $6.50 per serving - now that's my kind of payday! 
Plus I'm still so slow that I would have to charge that much to make more than a dollar an hour! 
So here is a big shout out to:
Zahrah - awesome chocolate spice cake recipe - it was a HUGE hit - if you need a great recipe for the fall this is it topped with cream cheese icing - very yummy - she gave me awesome instructions on making this wonderful cake. Hopefully she will have it posted in the recipe section soon.
Also to sweetpea8 and spongmomsweatpants for answering my questions about leaves, etc.
And to everyone else who helped with my questions regarding edible images and the tutorial on edible images, thank you too!
For all you newbies, keep reading and learning because you can't get much better than this site for a baking and decorating education! Everyone is extremely nice and accomodating and never hesitate to PM someone if you have specific questions about their techniques - I have always received quick responses and great help from doing this. I have to admit I was leery of doing this in the beginning because I thought that my questions would be too simple or annoying and I have never been shunned 
.
Thanks again everyone!
I agree CC is pretty awesome!
I agree.........CC is pretty awesome but your cake is darn well awesome. Congratulations on doing such a good job. Sounds like you have business coming your way.
Diane
Thanks everyone!
Ladefly - Here is the recipe and detailed instructions that Zahrah PM'd me -very easy and very yummy. This recipe works for (2) 8 or 9 inch rounds -I have 2 inch pans. I was going to do 9 inch rounds and Zahrah told me it was a perfect amount for that and then I had a design change and used 8 inch rounds and it worked out great too. I used the Decorator Cream Cheese icing in the recipe section and it worked out well - I did have to do a crumb coat first.
1 boxed cake mix, yellow or white
Assemble ingredients listed on box but add:
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup sour cream
pinch salt
Teaspoon or so of appropriate flavoring
** These additional ingredients above are an extender. **
1/2 bag milk chocolate chips ground in chopper with tablespon flour.
2 T Cinnamon
1 T Allspice
* When adding the "oil" listed on the box mix, I add melted butter. Unflavored yogurt is also acceptable instead of the sour cream but I find that the results are not equal to using sour cream
Here's what I do:
Sift cake mix and the flour into one bowl. In a separate bowl place sour cream and one egg, whisk until smooth. Add the rest of the eggs one at a time, mixing until smooth after each one. Add sugar, mix smooth. Add oil (melted butter), mix smooth. You can drizzle the butter in while mixing if it's a little too hot to ensure it won't cook the eggs. Add water. At this point, I will add the cinnamon and allspice and mix. I monkeyed with traditional spice cake recipes and found 2 tablespoons of cinnamon and 1 tablespoon of allspice was to my liking. Then I mix the dry ingredients into the wet in 3 batches. I add a third of the sifted cake mix and flour, stir to combine, add another third, mix thoroughly. Add remainder and mix thoroughly. I beleive mixing dry into wet makes a difference as opposed to the opposite. Seems to make for a smoother batter. Stir/fold in the ground chips with a mixing spoon. I have a little KitchenAid "Chef's Chopper" that I put the chips into with a spoon of flour to grind them. The flour helps prevent clumping because they will want to stick together. Pour into greased/floured pans, pound the bubbles out (important) and bake. I bake at suggested time on the box, but check with a wooden skewer for doneness.
When they leave the oven, they cool for maybe 2-3 minutes. I place parchment paper over the cake, then a kitchen towel over the parchment, then I press down to flatten the top. I keep pressing all around, getting the entire top flat right out to the edges. Then I remove the towel and parchment, let cool for about another 5 minutes or so. At this point I heavily wrap in saran wrap and put in fridge for cooling then crumb coating. Flattening the top and wrapping/fridging so soon do a couple of things, in my opinion. It eliminates flattening the top by cutting, it compresses the cake making it dense and keeps the moisture in the cake. So you end up with a dense, moist cake with no waste (cake scraps).
WOW. that is detailed ..... Thank you very much ....
Could I ask you which box cake was used? You know how each one is different. Some have 1, 2 or 3 eggs, just the whites, different oil and water. Do you think a different mix would affect it?
Thanks, sorry for the questions
Mary
I used pillsbury and it uses 3 whole eggs. Let me know if it's as successful for you. I'm not much of a spice cake fan and I liked it a lot. My husband took one bite and he was hooked - even more so after the cream cheese icing was added (I had scraps because I leveled the cake - I got distracted and didn't mush it down like Zahrah does )
Enjoy!
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%