I only make cakes about once a month and I when I get a chance to make a cake, I always try something new.

I have a cake coming up in a few weeks and I have so many different elements I want to incorporate. I have no idea how to put everything together. I have no idea where to stop because I just want to do something new every single time because if I don't, I won't feel satisfied.

Am I the only one or are there others?

Me too! I'm actually throwing my Dad a surprise "60th-anniversary-of-when-your-boat-arrived-in-Australia" so I can make a boat cake! I make a cake now whenever I can find an excuse and try something new or to imitate something fantastic I saw! I just have to make sure it's a cake I can give away or this hobby is going to make me very fat! I love your work Rylan. You are certainly more talented than I am!

Melnick, I can't wait to see the final cake! I was just checking your awesome damask cake not too long ago (I stumbled upon it somehow earlier). I was actually thinking of incorporating the damask in my upcoming cake hehe.

Oooh! That's what the technique is called! I had no idea. It is surprisingly easy for such a great effect!

I had a bit of a disaster cake night last night! I decided to make a cake for a friend's birthday at mother's group since I'm not going to her party .... because I wanted to try out a new recipe! So I made this white chocolate mudcake with a hint of coconut. I cooked the cake, tested it waaaay too early so the whole top of the cake collapsed in. Then when I tried to get it out, it all stuck to the pan! But soooooooo delicious on my lips (and vicious on the hips!). My hubby and I ended up eating it all while I made a new one. In the meantime, I made the white choc ganache.

Aaaah the ganache! I knew to do a 3:1 ratio with white chocolate. So I got out my 375g of white choc melts and added 1 1/4 cups of cream to it as well as a little bit of coconut liquere. It soooo didn't look right but I couldn't figure out what I'd done wrong so I whacked it in the freezer and hoped for the best! Then I realised that I was out of fondant. I could have sworn I had an extra pack of it but luckily my sister had some (as it was 8:30 at night) so I got it from her.

Let's fastforward to midnight. I ice the new cake - and the ganache is just dripping off it and now the top of it has a massive slant - like a madhatter cake would. I threw it in the freezer but it really didn't help anything. Now my freezer is covered in ganache! I put the fondant on - didn't worry about smoothing it really since there wasn't a smooth surface underneath it. I just used lots of fonant swirls and flowers to cover it. It didn't look hideous but it didn't look great so I didn't take a pic of it (I kinda wish I did right now!).

Anyway, fastforward to 4am this morning when I'm laying in bed and suddenly realise how I stuffed up the ganache! It's 3:1 as in g:ml NOT g:cups. So I should have added 125ml but what I actually added was near 300ml! No wonder it was near liquid ganache!

So I took my cake today and all my friends still thought it was wonderful (even though I was embarressed) because they can't do this sort of thing yet. The cake was DIVINE! And the gooey ganache actually really enhanced the flavour so it worked out (kinda) in the end!

But I can't wait to try more of the recipes in the Women's Weekly Cupcake book. They are such wonderful gourmet combinations (from scratch) with lots of different toppings and I just worked out that I can turn them into cakes!

I don't have time to try new things between filling my regular orders and doing my kiddos...then on "slower" cake weeks I try to catch up all the housework I neglected during a busier cake week!!!!

I always wish somebody would order something "new" for me to try...here and there they do...but not as often as I'd like. And I'd like the opportunity to design more tiered cakes as well.

Melnick, yes that damask cake was so classy.

I'm sorry about the troubles that just happened to you. Next time, always make sure you measure by weight. When I make ganache, I make sure I measure lbs:lbs.

Kitagrl, I know how you feel but hey, that cake on your avatar is so gorgeous. I wonder how you came with that new idea.

Rylan I know what you mean about trying lots of new ideas and techniques. I'm pretty new to cake decorating but I have definitely been bitten by the bug. I'm on here so often and I'm looking at all these amazing cakes and all I want to do is try out the different techniques, effects, materials etc. When I do have a cake to do, I'm then worried that I'm going to go completely over the top trying to get all these elements included and end up with a shambles of a cake instead of the classy thing I'm going for. I have a breast cancer fundraiser cake to do next week and every time I say to my DH "I could put this on the cake" He tells me that simple is best and if I put everything on that I want to put on it'll end up looking like the cat's breakfast.

I've got to learn to be more patient!! I'll have the opportunity to do it all, just not right now!!
Emma

I wish your talent ran in the family!!