I don't know whether to cry, scream, or have someone kick my butt! Why oh WHY did I do something different? It isn't like I don't have enough to do!

I have to make my DS cake for tomorrow for 60 people (relatively easy design) and then I have my 1st 3-tier cake for Sunday in fondant and medium design. So I planned to make the cakes on Thursday (I do not have ample fridge/freezer space); fill & base coat all 4 cakes and decorate DS cake on Friday; Finish other cakes Sat. Needless to say I didn't get all cakes done yesterday so I had to finish them this AM.

Then disaster strikes....My almost 1 yr old had a fever of 103 this AM. CRAP! Still more...

I remembered Good Eats episode where he made the yellow cake, and I recalled he said to grease the pan with crisco vs. butter so it doesn't add moisture (or something like that) to the cake. SO, I figured I would try that for my buttermilk cake. HUGE MISTAKE!!!! It won't come out of the pan! That is two cakes I can't use and have to make again! Ho could I be SO stupid to try something new?!?!?! I have no time for this!!!

*sigh* I know that I can do a good job on the cakes, I know that my cakes are yummy, so why did I doubt myself and my methods? I HAD been wanting to try cake balls...I guess now is my chance. Do I just stick the scraps in the freezer until I have time next week?

Sorry this was so long.

I'm glad you have a place to vent.
Yes, those cake scraps will be fine in the freezer...until you are ready to make some little cake ball masterpieces.

I really hope your little one feels better. I've got three and I know how hard it is to watch them be sick!

Oh ((HUGS)) poor you - why does learning a lesson always happen when you have the least time for it? Hope your wee one is better soon.

hi saberger, i would ask how you are, but i can see already, hehe! well don't be too hard on yourself and remember life is about learning. it will all turn out ok and by sunday evening it will all be over with and you can look back on this and feel good about it all. so take some deep breaths and relax. you know everyone on here who reads this all wishes you well. so goodluck and breathe. *huggies*
Angela

I think most of us have been there....done that......take a few deep breaths.......stand back for a few and try and relax You will get it done and you will do fine.....

Hope your little one feels better soon, too.

I don't know if it is too late, but you may be able to salvage your cake by putting it back in the oven (heated to either 200 or 350) for about 5 minutes. then check to see if it will come out the pan.

On the episodes of good eats I have seen, Alton puts a layer of parchment paper in the bottom of his pans along with the crisco.

Oh everyone...you make me want to cry (in a good way) You are all so nice and supportive. Thank you!!!

The first one (11 x 15) could not have been saved in any which way. The second one pleasantly surprised me because except for a couple little places it came out ok. But I have finished the others in my usual way. Done.

Thanks for the well wishes, in a couple of hours I take the baby to the dr. Then make the icing, and then start decorating.

My DH always tells me that I don't leave myself enough time for the decorating. Maybe I seem to think it will take me less time than it actually does? Does anybody have it 'timed' for the whole process....like 3 hours for baking, 1 hour for making icing, 20 minutes filling, etc?

Thanks again everyone!!

Well I have to say if it's not broke, don't fix it, but you already know that

Good Luck getting it all done, hopefully there will be no more delays. two cakes in one weekend can be stressful when you're on your own and with sick kids. My oldest just got over a stomach bug last weekend, my little one is on her second round of medication for a pesky ear infection and the middle one was just diagosed with scarlet fever this morning. This is going to be a rough winter!

After seeing Alton Brown's episode on cake decorating, I concluded the man doesn't have a clue. I felt sorry for all the people that watched that episode and followed his erroneous instructions. I can't remember the details but I cringed through the whole thing, knowing what he was proposing would lead to disaster. I now watch his shows with a grain of salt.

Well I have a quick minute to update you all. *sigh* My DH was off from work yesterday, so please keep in mind that HE COULD have done this! I don't think I will talk to him for a couple of days otherwise I will explode and cry like a faucet.

OK....I was in the middle of making the icing when it was time to leave for the dr. I asked if he was going to take DS at which point he replied "But I am already picking up the kids from school". "Well then, you need to finish making my icing". Which is what he preferred to do. Mind you the dr. is 10 minutes away and he has NEVER made my icing....so which do you think can be screwed up more?

So I went to the dr. and they sent me to the hospital for chest xrays. WAH!!!! I DO NOT NEED THIS!!!! I was at the dr. at 2:15 and I got home at 5:00, made dinner (while slicing strawberries), and finally started to work on my DS cake. It is finished. and my baby has bronchitis, still high fever.....I really am getting stressed!

I awoke at 6:30, made the icing, put the last touches on my DS cake for today. I am busy with the party from 10:30 till 1:30 easily. Then the rest of the time is going to be basing, covering, and decorating all THREE cakes (12, 10, . I asked my mom to stay with the baby while the other 2 go to another party, so I can do this.

I feel like I am going to start crying and screaming at any moment. Besides worrying about the baby....I lost FIVE hours of work time! I would not have had to be stressed if he took the baby to the dr. Anyway, I gotta go....tick tock. Please tell me I'll be able to do this in time.......

Oh I know exactly how you feel. There are sometimes when I wish my hubby would help out with things. He always says to me after I've yelled at him, how do I know what to do if you don't tell me... so I've taken to just telling him what to do. no options of do this or that. It doesn't always work but I try anyway. Last week I was in the middle of piping a tier, the whole thing was covered in scroll work and it was for a competition so I was really stressed. It was approaching the kids bedtime and I said to him, can you get the kids in the bath. I'll be done with the tier by the time you're done. He said, I don't really feel like it, can't it wait til tomorrow? He's lucky he's still alive but I had to keep him around for a little while since I didn't feel like driving to NYC by myself to deliver my entry

I noticed you're in NJ. Are you part of the NJ cake decorators club?

p.s. you'll be fine! try and keep everything simple. get it all done and then if you have spare time add extra detail...

http://www.meetup.com/njcakedecoratorsclub/

I sure feel for you....you have a lot on your shoulders....mine you, it is not your fault, sometimes things, beyond your control, just pile up. It is never easy no matter how much planning you do getting a cake out, when the little ones get sick.....that in its self would throw me over the edge..

You will get thru this.....Maybe your DH will help with clean up, that's always the most tiring part for me.

Again....deep breath......and go.......

Hope your little one is better soon.......

I have to say I admire you ladies who decorate cakes with little ones around. I could never do it..not in a million years! I have had so many days where everything went wrong and set me back, I cannot image what it is like with a sick little one. BIG HUGS to you darlin!

(although I have thrown out my back in the middle of wedding season and THAT wasn't very much fun! haha)

As far as time management: That just takes experience, and experimentation. Figure out what works for you as everyone is different. I can suggest assembly line to you. If you have more then one cake and the fridge space, take all your cakes out, torte, fill and crumb coat them and label them (yes label them!) and stick them in the fridge. If you dont have fridge space, wrap them in saran and put them on a table, whatever. Put the first one in the fridge though so it will get cold (easier to ice) and then when you are done with the last one, take the first one out of the fridge, put the next one in, and ice the first one (if that makes sense) continue this till they are all iced. THEN start doing your decorating. Take all the tiers etc for that one cake, assemble and decorate. Then move on to the next one. You will be SHOCKED how much faster this goes!! I have some wedding cake designs I have done so many times, I don't even decorate them till hours before the wedding, as the cake is all ready in the fridge, fully frosted and read to have the ribbon put on or swirl work done. Fondant cakes I will do the day before as they stay fresh longer then buttercream. Get them out of the way first.

Good luck to you and I Hope you get to rest today and hope your baby is feeling better!!

hi saberger, you really shouldn't worry about things that are out of your control (right!) hehe or thats what they tell me. sometimes it helps and sometimes it doesn't. i hope your baby gets better soon. mine was sick last week, he is 18 mths. his fever was 102 and we could only get it down to 100. well anyways, we are all here for you and its almost over. i believe you know this can be done, just keep breathing, no joke, it really does help. you can only do what you can do. i know you are completely stressed and worried about getting it all done. it will all be ok. you wait and see. goodluck! and keep us updated.

I swear I have been cursed for this weekend...or maybe I am just being tested by some force out there in the universe. Wouldn't you know it....the party was to end at 1pm and all of the food was delayed.....it didn't end until after 2pm.

Of course hubby didn't help AT ALL at the party so I was running around trying to do everything AND I, of course, chose to wear these really nice shoes (for the first time!!! ) which have turned out to bit just a wee bit small.....my toes are killing me!

I guess I keep getting this because I am not getting it through my head NOT to try new stuff when it comes to crunch time!!!!!

I finally got started on the cakes, filled and based 2 of them, and decided to cover the largest cake with fondant to make myself feel a little bit better and like I have accomplished SOMETHING. So I pull out the blue silicone mat (which I never use, but figured since this was the largest cake I have ever had to cover with fondant then it would be the best way to do so) and it stuck all three times that I rolled it out and put it on the cake. I finally threw it on the table, cursed, and went to my room for a very hard and overdue cry....and cry....and cry....and cry.

Then I decided NO MORE NEW THINGS! But I did anyway and they worked out ok. So I picked myself up, wiped my tears, and got back to work. Right now I have all 3 tiers ready to be stenciled and stacked. Or is it the other way around?

Baby still has fever, cranky, and not really eating, but he has had his antibiotic since last night and hopefully it will start kicking in.

How the heck am I going to deliver this all by myself tomorrow? Is the cake going to fall over while I have to drive 45 minutes? I am following sugarshacks stacking dvd (for the first time ) with the center dowel. And how do I put silk flowers on the top tier (also a first time). Will I never learn?!?!?!

well saberger i think everyone from time to time does things like that. rushed and things always never go right. i feel so bad for you. cuz i for sure have been in a hairy situation like that. rushing to get a cake out that i promised someone and have so many other things going on, like my four kids! hehe something is always going on with them. mind you i don't charge for what i do, except for what it takes me to make it. so i can't wait for all this to be over for you. big ol hug for ya!!
Angela

Darlin', I so feel for you! You are obviously so stressed out over this. Working on cakes with a one-year old who feels FINE is a challenge, let alone one who is SO sick! Sending big hugs and reassurance that once this is over, you will feel better.

And loriemoms is right ... you'll pick up some tricks as you go along to help with time mgmt.

It gets better.

Every disaster struck. I rightfully cannot charge for this cake. I would feel HORRIBLE accepting any $. Luckily (or maybe not) it is for my friends' in-laws 50th anniversary and I feel like I have completely ruined it for them. If I had another day I would redo the entire thing! NO KIDDING!

The stacking went fine and then I started on the stencils...deep beautiful red on white using the 5 tier lace design from designer stencils. Just gorgeous. I'll post my practice cake tomorrow as to what it was supposed to look like and how it ended up (it should end up in the garbage). The icing smudge on every single stencil that I did. EVERY ONE! It looks almost like a velvet wallpaper effect. Too bad I didn't plan it that way.

I seriously am embarrassed to bring this cake. I don't know what to do. It will be my luck that I will end up dropping it..I'll feel horrible, but at least they wouldn't have to see it! She was going to pay me $300 for this cake. What a bummer. I thought I could handle this, but maybe I really can't and this was to teach me that I DON'T really have the talent.

I am so tired and I think I am going to cry again. Thanks again everyone for listening to my horrific weekend. Can you believe my DH asked me right before he was going to sleep if he could help. I felt like yelling at him and saying "where the $%^ were you yesterday?!?!?!

AAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! What would you do if you were this embarrassed to show your cake? (that sounds almost naughty lol)

Remember, we see every flaw, bump, lump and smudge thru our microscopic "cake eyes" while cake civilians see only the beautiful finished product. And as long as we don't point out the flaws we see, they will never know. Let them pay you, and then say Thank You!

So chin up darlin, give yourself a break. You have had enough of beating yourself up along with every other thing these past few days.

Go beat up your lazy husband instead. He deserves it!

saberger said:

Stop right there sweetie! You do have talent, unfortunately for this week though you have also had a sick baby and a dh that needs a good kick up the backside - all that and sore feet ( eeeew me and girly shoes get on even worse than me and my piping bag and that is saying something ) Try to look on the bright side, this is a one off - it's not likely to be this bad for your other orders. Chalk it up to experience and move on, don't beat yourself up over it - besides I'll bet it is nowhere near as bad as you imagine - we are all very critical of our own work and see faults that noone else sees.

oh gee saberger, i'm sorry. i can relate to the hubby thing for darn sure. mine at times, well hell most times is of no use to me, hehe. wish you would have posted a pic and gotten the opinions of the other deocorators on here. keep us updated and can't wait to see the pics. i bet they aren't as bad as you think and don't you dare question your talent either! oh hey i made some cookies from my oreo molds. they are in my photos. try to have a great day!! thinking of you. *huggie*

Well at least you got through it and you have a cake to show at the end! it could always be worse. Like everyone else said, we are so critical of our cakes. I'm sure it's beautiful and everyone will love it. Can't wait to see the pics. I hope your little one is starting to feel better now too.

WOW, we had the same weekend . My Son's birthday was Friday and his football party was on Saturday. I had his Jaws birthday cake, 40 football cookies and the football cake. I was supposed to start baking on Thursday, but my 1 year old got sick(double ear infection). The medicine gave him diarrhea and he had the worst diaper rash I've ever seen. Thursday night I made the mmf and fell asleep. So Friday morning I baked my sons cake and made the cookies. The whole time my son was screaming. While he took his nap I tried to hurry up and finish up. The nap lasted 30 minutes. It was my 1st time working with mmf, so I was scared, and having a screaming baby doesn't help. I ended up making my sons shark out of rice krispies, because I knew I couldn't do it out of cake with a sick baby. Luckily that went fine. My sons cake didn't come out even close to what I wanted, but he loved it. Then Saturday morning I started on the football cake, to serve 65 people. At least DH was there to help with the baby........NOT. He had to run errands, but took my 3 year old to help me out She's the only other one that can keep the baby quiet I figured I had enough time to bake and cool the cakes, then decorate, the party wasn't till 1pm. As the cakes were in the oven, my 7 year old said "Mom what's that smell?" It smelt like something was burning. I ran to the oven and opened it up and it wasn't the cakes, but they did sink a little because I opened up the oven There ended up being a fire not far from my house, that is actually still burning pretty bad. The smell was so strong you couldn't even smell the cakes baking. They took FOREVER to cool, because it was so hot outside. So DH comes home and my 3 year old wants to help me with the frosting. I put the PS in the bowl and before I know it she turned it on FULL BLAST! Powdered sugar is EVERYWHERE!!!!!!!!! We were 2 hours late to the party, but in the end everything worked out ok. Why is it nothing ever goes as planned?

I really really feel for you, I know your pain!!!!!!!

BTW.........your cakes and cookies are awesome

Thank god this is over. I have another crying bout still in me, but I am so numb from all of this.

Got to sleep at 1:30am (not as late as I had thought it would be). Baby awoke at 3:30am with 103.8 What the heck??? Bathed him down and did all of that for an hour - the whole time I was thinking "who cares about cake? This is so much more important than a stupid cake and what it looks like!" Got to sleep for a couple of more hours. Baby is resting now with low fever. I will have to call the dr again to see what is up.

ANYWAY....cake. Okay, at the last minute I put the whole family in the car with my DH on the back floor with the cake to make sure it didn't crash. All 3 kids were good troopers about it. Nothing bad happened and cake is delivered.

I am going to try to post the pix here for what it SHOULD have looked like and how it ended up. If it doesn't work then I will put it in my gallery.

EVERYONE THANK YOU!!!!! You listened to me complain like child and whine. I know many things that I would do differently on the decorating aspect and I know that if I had a couple of more hours then perhaps I could have salvaged some of the disaster on the cake but I couldn't.

Sorry I haven't really responded to any questions anyone asked. I will go through again and do that (brain power is gone at this point). I have only had time to sit down and update all of you.

Hugs to you all!!!!

Sabrina

Sorry the attachments came out in reverse

Holy cow! I dont' think I could do a cake that nice WITHOUT a sick baby and nothing else on the schedule!

If this is what you do when you are sleep deprived and under stress, then you better sign up to compete in the Oklahoma Sugar Show!

You're crazy ! Your cake looks awesome . I can hardly tell the difference between the two. I hope all my "bad" cakes come out that good!

I hope your baby feels better. I know there is nothing worse than a sick baby. It's frustrating no being able to make it all better )=

that is such a beautiful cake, i hope you did charge for it. noone would have known you had any problems going on in the background cuz this cake is marvelous. no joke! you really did a great job. i hope your baby gets well soon. it is so tough with a sick baby to do anything and you were right to think the cake isn't as important as your baby. i am so glad its over for you. i can't even tell you how well i know what its like to have a sick baby and the temp won't go down or as soon the meds to control it stop wearing off it shoots back up. enjoy the rest of your day saberger!!

Are you all looking at the same cake?! The top one was what I delivered, but the BOTTOM one was what it was supposed to look like (you see, I even practiced it so it wouldn't be my first time).

This was the one that turned out ok for my sons party on Sat. I worked on this all Friday night. He designed it. I was very proud of him.