When I tell people that it takes hours to do a cake, they cant believe me. How long does it take you to decorate a cake beginging with laying the fondont. it takes me 3-7 hours sometimes. Why dont people believe me? am i too slow?

Also add the time it takes to make/bake the cake, make the buttercream and for me, make the fondant. That's at least another 4 hours (or more..I'm really slow).

I am only a begginer and yes it takes forever to finish a cake ( by the time I am done my feet are so sore!) So I would say 4 to 5 hours easy if I'm fussing with accent pieces and such.

I think 3 to 7 hours is what it takes on average. I did a couple of detailed cakes that took 20 hours to decorate.

Are you too slow???
Well, compared to what...only you can answer that, really. It certainly takes a cake artist a lot longer to create than someone who just spreads canned frosting on with a knife!

The clock is not my friend, either. It took me a whole day to make "Pedro" in my album. I am finally beginning to pick up speed when icing in bc...thank you Sharon Zambito!!

Happy cakin'!

It took me five hours to do my daughter's cake last night and I already had everything made, I just had to assemble. I even had the little balls of fondant for my border already rolled.

I am slow but I don't care. I loved doing it!

That sounds about right. It all depends on the cake, but I have learned some trickes along the way.

But if something goes wrong.... could take me 5+

Yes!!! It does take me forever also. Same here, people look at me like I'm crazy when I tell them that it takes me one day to bake and make frosting and filling. It takes another day to make decorations/flowers. And it takes another day to put them all together. I honestly don't think they believe me.

Depends on the cake. How big of a cake is it? How many tiers? What is the design? I could fill, ice and decorate a 1/4 sheet cake in 5-10 minutes using a staple design or kit whereas a 5 tier cake with intricate piping could take several hours.

Thanks guys! now I feel better and not slow... ;o)

I'm so slow I know if I were hired by a bakery I'd get fired!!!!!! Seriously.........

Way too slow, which is one reason why I would never do this professionally. I'd have to charge $3000/cake to be worth it!
I've been working on this cake ALL day, like almost 12 hours and I'm almost done. I just have to put the chocolate characters on top and put in the top pieces. AND all of the characters were done. The fondant was made but not colored. I guess I'm SLOOOOOW too!

Depends on the cake really.

My camo cake took 4 hours once it was crumb-coated.
My wilton course 3 cake took probably 13 hours in flowers alone and then an hour just to do the string boarder because I didn't add anything to strengthen the icing.
My tiger cake only a half hour to decorate after having made the figure and box and coloring the fondant (3-4 hours).

I love doing it all though. I need to make a few figures for my next cake due May 1 for my sister. I'm anticipating it to be about a 7-10 hour cake depending on how hard the figures end up being. I may even try making my own gumpaste. It always takes me longer when I want to try something new, but the more I practice the quicker it comes.

Well it definitely depends on the size and design of the cake. I can do a simple design on a 6" cake in about 4-5 hrs (includes mixing, baking, waiting for the cake to actually cool, decorate and clean-up) like this one.
http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=481853

But there are others like these that took me 30-40 hrs because of the details and size, and of course it took many days becuase things had to dry in advance.
http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=959673
and on this one I had stencils to cut too which was added into the time.
http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1397586

I agree it depends on the size and design. Sometimes it takes me what seems like forever

Wow... guess I'm REALLY slow! Most cakes take me much longer than the 5-7 hrs. most of you say it takes you! And when I'm drop dead tired...... you can just forget it.... I'm in slow motion!

I always asked myself the same question. Some cakes have taken me longer than others. I made this cake http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1632566 for my nieces 3rd birthday and it took me like 5 hours total. I thought I was really slow, but then I started to think about the work. What took up most of my time was the making of the flowers. They were all made of fondant and I had to add the color to the fondant. I hope that time and expirience will help me be faster.