OK, I'm a novice and a procrastinator so I always have a fair amount of difficulty. This week, the cake I made was just cursed and tried to get the best of me

Rent with boyfriend and boyfriend's brother. Boyfriend's brother hates cake days and kitchen cake-bomb. Was being grumpy Sunday and I didn't want to deal with it so I didn't bake. Big mistake.

Followed the wonderful instructions here for baking a belly in a big metal mixing bowl. No go. Cooked for 1 1/2 hour plus and still raw in the middle. Screamed and yelled at boyfriend about crappy oven and went to bed.

Next day, decided I better try a different pan. Got stubborn, went to parents' house and proceeded to try again with same metal mixing pan. Only this time, no flower nails to help distribute heat. Was looking more promising. Results not good. Another cake raw in the middle at over 1 hour 45 minutes. Stole some wet ingredients, because I was all out by then, and went home.

Mixed up the fastest two batches I've ever mixed up. Had the cake in the oven at about the 7 minute mark from walking in the door. Boyfriend had the coffee on. It was looking to be an all-nighter.

Cake is baking. Playing with new Satinice (never used it before). Dying it and decide to open my other new toy. A bendable metal blade made for cutting polymer clay. I thought it would be nice to cut fondant without getting those jagged edges. Well, not sure it would have made a difference, but I was not aware it was an actual BLADE. I thought it was just meant to cut by being thin and using pressure, like you do with the edge of your spatula. Well, bad packaging, no shield and fighting to open it, I sliced my finger right down the blade. Did you guess it yet? Blood all over my brand new, freshly colored, Satinice.

While cakes continued to bake, I had to wash and sanitize everything.

I was up until 3am. Alarm set for 7am. At 5a I realize I've stacked various parts and pieces to get my belly shape, and didn't use any dowels. I'm picturing that everything sagged and shifted. I'm trying to convince myself the fondant would hold it but still have to get out of bed to check. It was ok. Whew! At 6:20, I realize it is just too plain and I forgot the belly button so I get back up and finish it.

Then shower and head to work with fuscia pink hands. Oh well, I wore a matching fuscia pink shirt and shoes so I would at least be color coordinated

The view at 3:00am. I haven't uploaded the final view yet.

ok, it won't take the attachment. It can't be too big, I sent it from my cell phone.

See, the curse continues

Oh wow that does sound like a horrible time. I've gone throught a lot of tought times myself and just like you I use to procrastinate. I've learned my lesson. I use to say I wanted my cake to be fresh and I would be running around the day of and up all night. So now I do all my boards and boxes two days before, I bake early on the day before a cake is due then that night I level, fill and crumb coat. Then the next morning I Ice and finish the order. Hope that helps some. I hope your hand fills better.
Karema

Thanks for the timeline! I keep meaning to ask and just haven't yet. I will have to plan that next itme and stick to it! I might have been ok if I started on Sunday like I originally planned to.

I've had many sleepless nights due to everything going wrong... and it all starts with me procrastinating... will I ever learn this lesson?! Ah, maybe i'll work on that next time...

Baby belly cake 2 went much, much better. And not only did I NOT procrastinate, I got my days mixed up and I finished it one day early!

Dispite you having a bad time with the first cake...i think it looks awesome. In fact they both look awesome!!!

Actually, they both look pretty good to me ! Even with all the curses on it, they came out nice ! I know I sometimes work better under pressure, but I really do try to plan in advance and do as much as I can early..... Good job and take care of your finger !

After all the trouble you went thru you still produced *GREAT!* cakes WOW.

The cursed cake had one more issue. Baby's name was Isabel, not Isabella (you can't see it in the pic). Thank goodness it wasn't Isabelle. I was able to just scrape off the extra la. In the end, it was all worth it. My wonderful friend it was for loved it so much she refused to let anyone cut it. We fed everyone off of the spare chi-chi's and oval I iced for extras. She jokingly said she wanted so shellack it. They finally served it over the weekend for her dad's birthday The best thing was that I tried so hard to capture her personality in the cake and the first comment everyone made was that it was SO HER. And her sis-in-law told me I really outdid myself this time

The second one went so easily I actually got to enjoy making it. I got a request for another one in February or March and I'm already designing dresses in my head

And thanks everyone for the compliments!!!

Ok I love this cake! I am just going to have to make one! I get making the belly with a bowl... bit do you bake the boossems in a small bowl? or use a ball cake pan? do you put any cake between the belly and bust? These are awesome! I have been wanting to get into some shaped cakes/ sculpted and this looks like a great way to get started!
Swoozie

Swoozie, definitely an easy sculpted cake to start with, despite my curse on the 1st one. Only my 2nd try at shaped cakes. Since the big mixing bowl didn't work for me, I ended up baking 1/2 of a small ball pan, 1 small oval (comes in the Wilton's Course II kit), and 4 chi-chis in the small doll pan (baked extra in case any broke coming out of the pan). Then I took the half ball pan and placed it on one end of the oval. I did a little shaving to taper it, and line it up to the shape of the oval. This I did on the side I was placing next to the bosom. The other side I just kind of used icing to fill in the gap.

On the purple cake, I covered each chi-chi separately, then used the fondant ribbon to kind of pull it together. On the red, white and yellow one, I covered the chi-chis together and again used a ribbon to cover the chi-chis and belly and kind of tie them together. I would like to try covering the whole thing in one piece, but I'm not great with large pieces of fondant so I keep shying away from that.

It turns out to be a really small cake this way. Probably only used about 3/4 of the batter, if you exclude the extra chi-chis. So, if you wanted to serve a lot of people, you would have to try the big mixing bowl, or maybe place it on a sheet cake.

Good luck!!

Some people have done the chi-chis as cupcakes or even the small ball pan.

Great cakes....just a suggestion...I also had issues getting the belly 'done' in the middle so I just started using RK treats. SOOOOO easy to shape...I usually supply a small batch of cupcakes or a small oval cake to make up for the difference in cake.

Best of luck on your next belly cake! I'm sure it will be great as these were terrific!

your belly cakes are awesome!!! Soo pretty. Yuo did a trmendous job!!! The curse turns into a blessing!!

Very cool cakes. Hope the finger is better.

Mike

Finger is better, thank you. Was going to post a picture, but it won't attach. Friend made me take a pic for when I go to complain to Michael's, and so I can complain to the manufacturer.

Thank you for the compliments on the cakes! I'm so proud of my little belly babies. I was really sad to see the 2nd one go after it hung around my house for a day.

I don't usually like belly cakes (the eating it part freaks me out a little) but I wish when I get pregnant, I could look as good as your cakes. So sexy! Okay, is that even more freaky? to wish I looked like a cake? LOL

I'm glad it worked out for you!

Love your belly cake. They are gorgeous.
Leigh

Thank you all. I've been trying to post replies and it hasn't been letting me

My sister thinks the same thing about the belly cakes. She says they're freaky and wouldn't let me try one out for a shower last month for a friend of hers. I personally have a problem with the baby butt with the little feet sticking out. Some people here are just way too good and those feet are just too darn real. I could not cut into that. And maybe if I ever had to cut into a belly cake, I would hesitate. Making them I'm fine

I love both belly cakes....they are too cute!

Your cakes look great! But are you seriously going to complain to Michael's and the manufacturer about cutting yourself on a BLADE? C'mon I know it was frustrating... but do you really wanna be one of the people that makes coffee have to be labeled "caution: hot"?

I haven't decided if I'm going to complain. I took the picture because my friend recommended that I do so.

The problem is not the blade, it is the unsafe packaging. You would never expect to find razor blades to come packaged without some kind of sheath, right? Well, this blade shouldn't come packaged the way it was, without some sort of shield on the blade. It's just not safe. All I was trying to do was open the package. The cut was fairly deep. It continued to break open and bleed the next day when I was bumping it on things.

It could have been a lot worse. The manufacturer should take care that they don't cause a consumer to cut their finger off trying to open the package.

Now, if I already had it out of the package and out of the sheath and managed to cut the crap out of myself, that would be my own fault. I cut myself on our kitchen knife just about every time I wash it, and I know that's my own stupid fault.

Thank you for the compliment, KoryAK. I am such a beginner and I just feel honored when I get compliments from some of you pros out there.

I totally see your point about the packaging... I wasn't clear before that that was what you were going to (possibly) complain about. You are right that it should have been in some sort of sheath if it was that sharp.