I Think This Might Be Above My Current Talent...need Advice

Decorating By Tramski Updated 7 Sep 2008 , 12:26am by xstitcher

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Tramski Posted 20 Mar 2008 , 3:02pm
post #1 of 33

I had a friend of a bride I am working with call me the other night and ask if I could meet with her to talk about possibly doing her wedding cake. I agreed and she gave me a bit of info with the cake and said she would email me a picture. She hasn't emailed it t me yet, but the details she gave me let me find it online. I will attach a picture for you, I don't think she actually wants the fruit, she more or less likes the shape and color of the cake.

My fear is this might be above my current talent. I plan to tell her I could do a chocolate fondant instead, but where do i even start pricing this, and should I just say no until I get more experience?

Any help or advice would be appreciated.
LL

32 replies
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deanwithana Posted 20 Mar 2008 , 3:26pm
post #2 of 33

I am not sure what your "current talent" level is, but I know that if I felt as though I could not do what the bride wanted....then I would probably turn the business down. I would just hate to let someone down or not give them what the want and be the person that helped to ruin one of the the most important day of a persons life.........that's me though. I remember when I got married that everything to me was very special and the cake was no exception.

Also, it might be that you have enough time though to try to put something together and learn some new techniques.....

Good luck and let me know what you are going to do!!

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Petit-four Posted 20 Mar 2008 , 3:29pm
post #3 of 33

Your skill level is certainly there! I think this cake just has a different "look" than other cakes you've made (which are all quite lovely, by the way!).

It is sort of like asking someone who paints children's room (pinks, blues) to paint someone's living room dark brown. A different color, yes, but the same painting skills. Perhaps make a chocolate cake sometime, and practice making some textured fondant leaves for the side. In many ways, this looks to have less fondant work than, for example, your very sweet fondant teddy-bear cake. Best wishes.

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jammjenks Posted 20 Mar 2008 , 9:00pm
post #4 of 33

I'm not sure when the wedding is, but there is NO doubt in my mind that you can pull this off. There are cakes on CC that look similar. Maybe you could do a search and pm the artists of them. They could probably give you valuable info on how to recreate them.

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beachcakes Posted 20 Mar 2008 , 10:30pm
post #5 of 33

Wow! What an awesome cake! I have no doubt you could pull it off! You could make the fruit way ahead of time!

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kakeladi Posted 21 Mar 2008 , 2:06am
post #6 of 33

Why do you think this is beyond your skill level?
Can you not smoothly ice a cake? Don't you work in b'cream? That certainly is what I think when I look at this....smooth iced in b'cream.
If you want you could wrap the sides in fondant after putting some on the top. The leaves certainly are not hard to make.
<...I don't think she actually wants the fruit, more or less likes the shape and color of the cake...>

So just make a very dark colored chocolate icing; smooth ice each tier. The shape is nothing more than tall rounds - maybe 6" instead of 4s. That's the way it looks to me.

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loriana Posted 21 Mar 2008 , 6:00pm
post #7 of 33

I don't really much constructive help to add with the exception that with what looks like your current portfolio of pictures, I think you should attempt something that is a bit difficult. It is good to help us grow and try new things.

The trick to tackling difficult new cakes would be planning planning planning. I think the suggestion by beachcakes to make the fruit ahead of time is a good one if she does want the fruit.

This isn't nearly as difficult as like a Margaret Braun cake. You probably will be just fine. Just plan well, take your time a lot of deep breaths, give yourself some extra time if you need to cover your BC with fondant, make sure you have extra cocoa powder on hand instead of running to the store, and some dark brown coloring gel, incase you need to darken it more. I wish you the best!!

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Ironbaker Posted 21 Mar 2008 , 6:33pm
post #8 of 33

When is it? Do you think you could practice beforehand? I agree that it is good to challenge ourselves every now and then. However, if you really feel hesitant about it, make that known.

It looks like it's done in chocolate wraps, to me. With some practice, they are pretty easy to do. Chocolate fondant could work as well.

Good luck! thumbs_up.gif

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mixinvixen Posted 21 Mar 2008 , 6:43pm
post #9 of 33

by the way the sides stick up a little higher than the tops, i'm thinking it's chocolate wraps also, not buttercream. i haven't personally used it, but i see alot of chocopan/modeling chocolate all the time on the food network shows...i feel like that's the closest to the look in the picture.

does anyone else feel the proportion of the bottom cake to be a bit off...like maybe it could be a couple inches taller...might be just me though!!!

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DiannaSue Posted 21 Mar 2008 , 6:47pm
post #10 of 33

I looked at your pictures and there is no doubt in my mind "You could this cake". But the final decision would be yours and only yours. I just wanted to let you know what I thought. You decorate cakes very nicely. Good luck on what ever you decide to do.

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peacockplace Posted 21 Mar 2008 , 6:50pm
post #11 of 33

I think the bottom is supposed to be shorter than the others. I too think it's chocolate wraps. I think I'd try to do it that way. I've wrapped chocolate fondant and it's pretty hard because it's so flexible and soft.
I say give it a try. You might be great at it!
thumbs_up.gif

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step0nmi Posted 21 Mar 2008 , 6:51pm
post #12 of 33

i really don't she WHY you couldn't do this cake! I looked at your photos...SURE you have done other work...more playful. But, I think this is a really simple design. Tell her that you can not make ANYTHING look exactly like a picture...no one can!
1. cover this in chocolate fondant...I think it will still give that same clean look as the photo.
2. practice some leaves right now! All they are are different textures...they kinda look like they just have lines scratched in them for a modern look.

I think this is do-able! Don't sell yourself short! icon_biggrin.gif

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delisa01 Posted 21 Mar 2008 , 7:02pm
post #13 of 33

I think is is doable too. It looks like chocolate wrap to me too. Shirley W did a tutorial on Choc Wraps.

Here is the link just in case: http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopic-56654-0.html

It is a beautiful cake. Good luck!

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Tramski Posted 21 Mar 2008 , 10:45pm
post #14 of 33

Thanks everyone. I guess I am just nervous because I have never done anything in chocolate fondant before. I will meet with her next week and let her know I can do it in fondant and see how it goes.

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Tramski Posted 12 Apr 2008 , 3:21pm
post #15 of 33

Thank you again for all of your kind words. I met with her today and she loves the idea of dark chocolate fondant and as long as it has a similar look to the Cheryl Kleinman cake thats all she cares about.

I have about 4 months to practice so I think I should be ready for the wedding.

She does want the fruit so that will be a bit more practice but I am now excited about the idea of doing this cake.

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pjmw Posted 12 Apr 2008 , 3:41pm
post #16 of 33

Good luck! You can do this cake!

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ctackett Posted 12 Apr 2008 , 3:52pm
post #17 of 33

I looked at your photo gallery. I don't believe this is above your talent. You cakes are great!!! Just think about it and plan it out and you can do it.

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annacakes Posted 12 Apr 2008 , 3:54pm
post #18 of 33

You can definitely do this cake. Your gallery photos prove it!

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playingwithsugar Posted 12 Apr 2008 , 4:15pm
post #19 of 33

This cake was discussed in another thread. Most believe the chocolate wrapping to be chocolate rolled fondant.

Did she mention what her cake budget was?

Before you take on this job, you need to calculate the approximate cost of doing it, before offering a price.

You want to offer a good-tasting rolled chocolate fondant. You can either try making chocolate MMF, or you can go with pre-made.

Also, does she want the fruit made of gumpaste, or marzipan? If she plans on using the fruit in plating, she might want marzipan fruit, so the guests can eat it with the cake.

I've looked at your gallery, and I think this design is below your skill level. All it is is cut pieces of fondant, wrapped around or topping off a bc-iced cake. A few scores with a fork to make the lines, and you're done. You could bake that cake and wrap it in less than a day.

Making and petal-dusting the details on the fruit are going to take you longer than it will to do the cake.

Theresa icon_smile.gif

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Dennysse Posted 12 Apr 2008 , 4:24pm
post #20 of 33

Your cakes are awesome! Of course you can do it! Because you have plenty of time I can suggest to get some styrofoam cake dummies and try to practice with them ASAP.Its a good way to know how easy or difficult it can be.Good luck! thumbs_up.gifthumbs_up.gifthumbs_up.gif

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cashley Posted 12 Apr 2008 , 4:38pm
post #21 of 33

Good luck with the cake. You can do this cake with no problem your cakes are very good, you have the talent to pull this off with no problems.

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Cakebelle Posted 12 Apr 2008 , 4:50pm
post #22 of 33

Hi I'm totally new here! and wanted to say that I was an intern at Cheryl's at the time that they made this cake. It's actually made with hard chocolate ganache, and the fruits are all marzipan. They had these amazing cake icing girls, who could do such beautiful ganache icing that it was fun just watching them do it! icon_surprised.gif And they achieved amazing results like this cake with their almost magic like technique. I took a really long time to do this type of icing but they were total magicians! thumbs_up.gif

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ladyonzlake Posted 12 Apr 2008 , 4:53pm
post #23 of 33

Cakebelle, so did they do it like Shirley's method?

Tramski, you can without a doubt do this cake...especially now that she's okay with you doing it in fondant. Satinice has a great flavored chocolate fondant that you might consider using.

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Cakebelle Posted 12 Apr 2008 , 5:00pm
post #24 of 33

I'm sorry but I don't know what Shirley's method is!!!!! icon_redface.gif
But they way they did it was that they just applied chocolate ganache to a very cold crumb coated cake, and then let it set in the freezer for awhile. Pull it out again and apply atleast 3 coats of ganache. They would use metal rulers to smoothe the sides of the cakes and also the tops. The final decorations were done after the cake had set for a full day in the fridge. It was a 2-3 day process for all the tiers.

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ladyonzlake Posted 12 Apr 2008 , 5:09pm
post #25 of 33

Wow, would have loved to have seen this!

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Cakebelle Posted 12 Apr 2008 , 7:19pm
post #26 of 33

It was truly spectacular to see those amazing girls at work!

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Tramski Posted 5 Sep 2008 , 12:13am
post #27 of 33

I don't know if anyone is still following it, heck I lost track of it myself. Here was my final result.

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_1261974.html

Thank you all for your vote of confidence!

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krystyne_wilson Posted 5 Sep 2008 , 12:27am
post #28 of 33

I saw the cake and you did a FANTASTIC job!!! Pat yourself on the back icon_biggrin.gif

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playingwithsugar Posted 5 Sep 2008 , 3:28am
post #29 of 33

A wonderful interpretation!

Theresa icon_smile.gif

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Jasmine33 Posted 5 Sep 2008 , 5:20am
post #30 of 33

Great job! I like it better than the original.

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