I use Cake Doctor cookbook. I'm using a recipe I've used tons of times...my problem is that I found that I didn't have any oil. Many of her recipes call for melted butter in place of the normal amount of oil, so I thought I would substitute (which I also now do any time I make a boxed cake). Well for this recipe there's definitely a reason it calls for oil and not melted butter. The cake came out like crap! It's some weird, hard rubbery texture.

The cake is due for delivery at 12p today. It's only 6a, but I am a VERY slow decorator, which is why I've been up since 4 to bake the cake. I'm afraid if I re-bake, it will cut so far into my decorating time that the decorating will lose a lot of quality and just look horrible.

What I'm thinking is...I already have a baked cake, and I already have to re-bake. What if I just decorate the crap cake and do a simple ice job on my re-bake? That way I don't lose any time on decorating.

It's for a co-worker, who I did the Rocket cake for in my photos. I've only done one cake for her before, but they loved it so much, I think they would be a little forgiving.

If you think she'll be okay with it then do that, call and explain the situation to her. You could give her the cake at a substantial discount as well if you're okay with that.
HTH

I'm not sure what type of design this cake was going to be, but if you think it would be pushing for time due to details, etc., I think your best bet would be to decorate "butter-rubber" cake as you had planned, then bake another cake to serve with filling and icing only. Especially if she is a co-worker, I am sure she would be more than understanding.
~ Jaime

Thanks guys! I ended up tossing the cake. Well, I sent it with my mom to give to the guys she works with. They'll eat anything!!

I was too mortified to make rubber cake for looks, and another cake to serve. I don't know why, they do it all the time at weddings with dummies, right? At least according to all those idiots advising the brides that dummies are cheaper

So, I made a lot of my decorations in advance. Hopefully they'll still adhere to the cake. I always worry about my decorations drying flat when I'm making a round cake

It's 20 after 9 now and I still have to fill, ice and cover with fondant. I think I might make it

Sorry ladies I disagree. Every cake that leaves your shop should be to the highest standards. I would definitely bake another cake, there is no way I'd allow a cake in that condition to be associated with my name.

In this situation you could call the client and ask for another hour, I'm sure she'd be willing to accommodate your request when it means she'll be receiving a great cake.

For future cakes, don't bake, ice and decorate all in the same day, especially if you know it takes you a while to decorate. Why put the pressure on yourself? There are way too many things that could go wrong.


Sorry for your mishap, I hope it turned out ok in the end.

EDIT to add, just saw your update, we must have been typing at the same time. Anyway, you did the right thing baking another. Good decision!

Thanks dkelly, and yes, I should know by now not to bake the same day I'm decorating. I was planning to bake yesterday but my friend ended up having a surprise birthday party for her boyfriend (whom I've known for 15 years). And stupid me, I had to open my mouth and volunteer to make the cake. So, that's what I did yesterday, making me behind for the whole weekend

Next time someone invites me to a party

I'll bring a veggie tray from the grocery store

Yes, we are definitely cut from the same cloth. The conversation regarding the surprise party went like this:

Me: Oh, do you need me to bring something?
Friend: Yes, we are asking everybody to bring something, whatever you want to bring
Me: What are you doing for a cake?
Friend: (who doesn't cook at all) I'm going to try to make a cake that looks like a glass of Guinness. Ice the bottom with chocolate, the top with buttercream.
Me: Oh, do you know they have a Guinness cake recipe, I'll find it and send it to you. And oh, do you know you could print an image and laminate it so you have the logo. Oh, I wish I could do it but I'm so, so busy this weekend.
Friend: Oh, that's ok, I already have it planned out.
Me: No, no, no, I really really want to do it. I'll make a Guinness cake to look like a glass of Guinness.

Then because we didn't bring a gift (considering the cake as the gift), we STILL bought a meat platter!

Just shoot me!

They should probably offer classes for people like us........"How to attend a function and NOT make the cake for it" Really, I don't go around insisting that I cut everyone's hair, it's just the cake thing I can't control

Oh well, I'm sure your friend really appreciated you making the awesome cake, you're too much though..........cake AND a meat platter, you are as bad as me Some may say we're generous to a fault, but hey, we just like to give, right? The way I look at it is, if I'm going to a party and I'm going to eat cake it may as well be great cake!

Or look at it this way......you are one really wonderful friend! And I mean that sincerely! She's lucky to have you in her life, and I hope she knows that!
Hope the party's fun for you!!

Sweetjan, that's a very sweet way of looking at it. And they did greatly appreciate it. And in a few days when I'm recovered from my 4 cakes I will know it was all worth it because of the reactions I got People just couldn't get over the fact that the cake itself had Guinness in it. I don't think they had ever heard of such a thing. The bday boy is a Guinness drinker from way back and this year his bday actually fell on the same day as the Great Guinness Toast, so there was never a chance the theme was going to be anything else

Dkelly, if you ever see that class, please sign me up!!! I think with the cakes, it's like I saw in another post, how we feel so special to be a part of the occasion and make such a memorable impact by making a wonderful cake. And when you say, if you're going to eat cake at a paty, it might as well be your own...let me tell you that Guinness cake with a chocolate ganache with a little bit of instant coffee in it...boy was it YUM!!

Actually, no Guinness for me. Had some lab tests come back weird and not allowed to have alcohol or Tylenol for 3 months. I forgot while making the cake and had about 1/2 of beer that didn't go into the cake. I enjoyed it and I don't even like Guinness normally Doesn't stand out in your head when the doc says no alcohol if you're a person that only has like 5 or 6 drinks a year!!

Anyway...the cakes finally came out when I switched back to my old standby, from the Cake Doctor book. I'll have to work on the WASC and the Cake Doctor White Chocolate Pound cake another time, when I've forgiven them. See if I can figure out what went wrong!

As soon as I have the pics uploaded, Ill post all 4 I did from Fri-Sunday. This is my hobby, not a job, so I'm slow, and have lots of other responsibilities and this was the most cakes I've ever made in a week, and I did it in 3 days. I slept for 14 hours last night!!!

Just worked out to be a weird week: surprise birthday party for my friend of 15 years, shower cake for my boyfriend's sis, baby shower cake for the girl who made my step-sister's baby shower cake a few years ago (so kind of returning the favor for my sis), and baby shower cake for a co-worker.

Can't wait until May when my niece, nephew, mom, boyfriend's mom and my co-workers daughter (same co-worker as above shower cake, and I made daughter's last birthday cake) have birthdays within the same week . There's someone else I'm missing I know, because last year I had to tell someone no because of all the cakes I had to do. I'm going to have to convince several of them to have their cake/party the week before or the week after, spread things out a little bit

And last year my own sis screwed me up by waiting until the last minute to decide to have my nephew's party. If she does it again, she gets no cake. That's my new motto on family not appreciating my time/schedule

Go see my photos for 3 of the 4 cakes that gave me he!! this weekend. The Guinness cake, diaper bag cake, and the blue green and white cake (I think I called it Gavin's cake). I did not take pics of the 4th as my buttercream sagged when I put the top layer on and I wasn't happy with it. I'm not posting in the gallery, but I'll post my small, poor resolution pics from my phone here.