for making cakes for your own family? My baby turned two on Monday and just like with her first birthday cake, I am completely unmotivated and uninspired on her cake. I am working on it now, but it feels like such a chore. I guess I don't want my baby to grow up!

Every year I always find it hard to make my kids cakes not because I don't want to but because I am always soooo busy with customer orders I never get around to doing the cake I want or vision making them!! I feel like I cheat them out of a great cake...Last year was the first time I actually turned down a few orders for that week so I could work on their birthday cakes and I was very glad I did.My daughters was the 3 tiered Tinkerbell and my sons...3D Castle...I have learned that you can never get that back so every year now I will make sure I am not as busy so I can make the cake they want!!I guess a part of all of us doesn't want our kids to grow up but they do..

Yeah, I have always been so busy with other people's cakes when working on cakes for my kids. ( I have three, Aubrey 9, Bryson, 5 and Sadie, 2) And yeah, their cakes usually come out less than I had envisioned because of time. But I just moved to a new place and really don't have anyone yet to cake for, so I should be so excited to make this cake, right? NOT! But you are right, we don't get these memories back, so I have to suck it up and make it great. Just wish I was more excited about it. We're not even talking a big cake. lol Oh well, thanks for the response and I must say, your cakes are gorgeous! You are very talented, friend!

I sometimes have that feeling. Right now, I'm not inspired.

Oh you new mommies are so cute! Wait until they're 17 and you're looking at them wondering why they still live with you and when are they moving?

My 17 year old, for the past 2 years sternly reminds me that she wants a plain regular cake like her friends get. Out of a box, with canned icing. period. No fancy fillings, no borders, just chocolate cake with canned chocolate icing. She's in hog heaven!

Now my grandchildren are another story! They are 7 and 2 and start about 3 months ahead of time telling their Banna what kind of cake they want! (I have a feeling I need to figure out how to make a Michael Jackson for the 2 year old!)

oh indydebi, you always make me smile....

You guys are all so hilarious!
Do I lose motivations, YES! It's more like the wind u takes a while to wind up. I think, "ALL THOSE BUTTERCREAMS & FILLINGS!" And then once i do it, is goes by in a flash. And I know this. I still just can't get the wind up. Right now, I know I need to be working on the figures for my son's first cake...I still can't make up my mind between "Where the Wild Things Are' or "Mr.MEn"!

Oh I vote for Mr. Men! So fun! Oh and btw...my silly cake is coming along...slowly and pathetically, but coming along!

I was sad making my youngest baby's first birthday cake, because she is going to be our last baby and I was sad that she was growing up so fast. But every year since then it's been joyful, especially this last year when I let her stand on a chair in the kitchen and make things to stick on her cake. And I didn't even demand to see them first before she stuck them on She was so happy.

I felt bad this last year because for my oldest's birthday, all I did was a mermaid with the Wonder mold. I had plans for something great and then I broke my leg and all she got was that because I couldn't focus long enough to do anything fancier (and it's kind of hard to do fondant when you can't stand up). She loved the cake, but I didn't even post a picture of it because it was so far from my best. And then this year I've made a lot of cakes for other relatives and they've all been fancier and I've been afraid she felt bad about it. My husband says it's like the shoemaker's children going barefoot.

Yes, Just today as a matter of fact! We celebrated our son's "Gotcha Day" and it wasn't till THIS MORNING that I got myself to decide what to do. I feel so guilty sometimes that he doesn't get my best.

I very new and haven't made many cakes yet..... That said, I had the same problem with my stepson's cake. Poor planning on my part. It's the only cake I haven't taken a picture of. My husband said "Hon, that's how it works, the shoemaker's son, doesn't have shoes".... or however that saying goes...

I always plan big elaborate cakes for my girls they want me to push the emvelope on theirs...but this year i was so busy i forgot their birthdays...S I got a bad moma from both...lol

Me, me, me! I have a wedding cake to do for the 31st (not a Halloween theme) and the cake has to be completely redesigned. It was supposed to be a combination of two different looks, but when put together according to what they want, it just didn't work.

They bought a clear lucite heart topper. The only thing I can think of is to add some hearts cake jewelry to a rose garland, and hope for the best. I'm glad I have a coupon for the craft stores, because I'll be buying some strands of beads at Michaels this week.

I want to stay as elegant as they originally wanted. If any of you can think of anything, let me know.


Theresa

Here's the finished cake. Could have done a better job on it, but like I said before. My heart was not in it!

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1489684

My kids can tell you what cake they had for which birthday, & my DH just gets whatever I feel like experimenting with. He has had an armadillo & a can of Spam!!

That cake looks beautiful, Wow I can only imagine, what it would of looked like if you were motivated.

Thanks, Uniqueask! There are always things I would have done differently. Still, I think she will be happy with it. My two older kids liked it!

flamingo,
What's "gotcha day"?

Yeah, I wanna know what it would look like if you were motivated as well!

Mr.Men was my first choice, but he is a bit of a wild thing!

Bambuf--amazing cake. Your work is beautiful.

I'm lucky. I do this for fun so the only pressure I have is the pressure I put on myself. I do it for the challenge. Lots of time I'll have a cake idea for weeks and when I finally try to put it all together the image in my head never lives up to the cake I create. But I always learn something new and I always keep thinking "wait until next time". My pumpkin cake was like that --for me it turned out well and despite all of it's flaws I received l of compliments and ....I can't wait to make another one and try to make it better.

I like having the time to think over an idea. Inspiration seems to come at the oddest times.

aquamom- I totally understand liking to have the time to plan a cake. When I get a cake request, I start mulling it over it in my head right away and get a broad idea of what I want to do, then I start dreaming about the details until I am obsessed and can't wait to make the cake! Sadly, with Sadie's cake, I was uninspired about a theme. But since we bought her a bed, I decided a few weeks ago that it would be the theme. I didn't really start thinking details about it, though, until I started the cake. I think if I had taken the proper time to work out the details, I would have been happier with it. Although, some of my best (and easiest) cakes have been spur of the moment..like the mummy cake. I put that baby together in about half an hour one afternoon.

I love the idea of gotcha day!!! My sister and BIL just adopted one of their foster kids last month. I will have to tell them about gotcha day!

Gotcha Day--what a great concept!
Thanks for the explanation.

I'm less inspired because all my caking supplies are downstairs in the playroom closets, and I have to go up and down, up and down, up and down, all day long. Bring stuff up...forgot something....go back down...over and over. Then reverse when it's time for clean-up.
At least it's minimally aerobic.

Bambuf--again your work is amazing. Even when you aren't inspired you run circles around me. I wish I could create such amazing work on the spur of the moment. What a gift you have.

Gotcha Day what a great idea.

cutthecake- I hear ya on the supplies thing. My problem is a bit different. I live in Alaska (just moved here a couple of months ago) and getting supplies here is so annoying. I can't get fresh fondant locally and end up paying twice the price for my fondant online because of shipping. Blech! Oh well, the things we do for cake, right?

aquamom- Thanks again for the kind words!