Ever Had A Cake You Knew Was Gonna Be Ugly?
Decorating By sixinarow Updated 22 Jul 2013 , 1:09pm by sixinarow
I was contacted by a client for a baby shower cake next month. She is VERY specific about what she wants (especially colors) and I just think it's gonna be ugly. Hard to get excited about making it when I think the colors are not going to look right. :(
I have had that happen on numerous occasions. Most often if you think it won't turn out looking good it doesn't. I only had one time where I thought the colors would be hideous together that actually turned out looking great.
Ugh. I'm hoping I can gently guide her away from her color choices. She wants a 2 tiered gray cake with white, magenta and turquoise polka dots. Topped two turquoise and magenta flowers. I can see the turquoise and magenta together, but the gray is what I think is throwing me off. I think it's gonna be a hot mess.
Oh my YES!! I had that happen w/a wedding cake. I hated it but the bride loved it - go figure. I did take pix of it but have since lost them - good riddence :)
The grey is going to be awesome with that color palette. Maybe not your cup of tea, but it's very in right now to use grey to complement deep/bright colors.
That sounds beautiful! Seriously better than the typical colors we're given! But yes, to answer your question, yes. And they just don't get posted. ;)
A
Original message sent by jenmat
The grey is going to be awesome with that color palette. Maybe not your cup of tea, but it's very in right now to use grey to complement deep/bright colors.
AThank you both, you've both have so much more experience -- chalk it up to newbie nerves I guess!
Grey and white are both pretty neutral, so there's really only two 'colours' there, so I wouldn't call that 'multi-coloured'. Use mostly white polka dots with the magenta and turquoise here and there. I think it sounds nice.
However, I've definitely been given designs that won't look good. And you're right - you can't really get excited about doing them.
I actually think it tends to make things look clean and crisp instead of busy, I find patterns on white look busier than on gray.
That said, I just made a wedding cake last month that was everything I hate about cakes. Two yellow lily cascades, little flowers all over the cake, bows, pearls and ribbon all in orange and pink.
She gave me a super detailed sketch, and cried when she saw it she was so happy, (I almost cried for a totally different reason, lol.)
If I have a client that has such detailed requests, I never try to change them, especially for a bride. No matter how tactful, there's very rarely a nice way of saying, "you're idea will look ugly."
Ugh. I'm hoping I can gently guide her away from her color choices. She wants a 2 tiered gray cake with white, magenta and turquoise polka dots. Topped two turquoise and magenta flowers. I can see the turquoise and magenta together, but the gray is what I think is throwing me off. I think it's gonna be a hot mess.
I have a scarf with that color palette and love it!
Oh my goodness, I am so glad so many have used these together and they work! Elcee, thank you!!! In my mind, I was seeing dark, dark and dark color and just couldn't really picture it. The title of the post should've been -- WOULD these colors work! My freak out was a little premature - thank you so much for talking me off the ledge. I was dreading it, but now I'm curious and excited to try it. Thank you - y'all are awesome!!
personally I love those three colors together- and they all do go together too- design wise.
Please post a photo of of it when you've done it!
I had a bride that wanted the cake with all the tiny flowers all over it, where they are concentrated on the top, and go down to just a few on the bottom, with off white buttercream, salmon, poppy red, and bright blue flowers. I thought I was going to puke. I wound up giving her deposit back. But I think that the palette you have CAN look really nice.
AThis to me sounds a bit cath kidston, on paper sounds gross and garish, but in practice looks ace, are they looking for vintage type feel to it?
This to me sounds a bit cath kidston, on paper sounds gross and garish, but in practice looks ace, are they looking for vintage type feel to it?
Ohh, I love Cath Kidston shabby chic/vintage roses. This is the link she gave me for the cake...wanting 2 tiers of the gray with polka dots in white, magenta and turquoise. I really think it's the polka dots that are throwing me off, for what reason, I don't know.
http://cakecentral.com/g/i/2958716/baby-shower/
I have to say, I do love the colors together, I googled last night and found this wedding cake, I can totally picture the bottom layer in gray. You guys are SO right.
http://www.colincowieweddings.com/wedding-photos/detail/cakesmsb22?article=the-cake
AThe light shades of gray can look really elegant, and I think that they will go great with Magenta and turquoise. I'm guessing they're matching it to an invitation from tiny prints or somewhere. I love this style, especially since gray is my favorite color.
A
Original message sent by sixinarow
Ohh, I love Cath Kidston shabby chic/vintage roses. This is the link she gave me for the cake...wanting 2 tiers of the gray with polka dots in white, magenta and turquoise. I really think it's the polka dots that are throwing me off, for what reason, I don't know. [URL=http://cakecentral.com/g/i/2958716/baby-shower/]http://cakecentral.com/g/i/2958716/baby-shower/[/URL]
I have to say, I do love the colors together, I googled last night and found this wedding cake, I can totally picture the bottom layer in gray. You guys are SO right. [URL=http://www.colincowieweddings.com/wedding-photos/detail/cakesmsb22?article=the-cake]http://www.colincowieweddings.com/wedding-photos/detail/cakesmsb22?article=the-cake[/URL]
I think from the first pic it might be the yellow that is skewing your perception of how the cake might look, and the zig zags, I think these look a little garish myself. However the polka dots will look lovely with your cake, and I love the suggested colour combo, my advice though would be to make the polka dots a little smaller and more feminine and maybe make them quite uniform in layout but with random colour placement. Maybe It will look a bit Damian Hirst and very designer then. Uniform polka dots contrasted with flow of flowers might be nice. Maybe some light lustre dusting on the grey base too. I'd be inclined to do the polka dots as thin as possible too so they are as flush with the cake as you can get so they don't look clumsy. Please bear in mind I rarely make any money from cake making as I spend far too much time procrastinating and fiddling to achieve my idea of perfection and throw stuff in to get it looking as I foresaw it to regardless of what the customer pays. I need to shape up, I am after all fairly new to the professional game!!!!! Hope it goes well, show us a pic when u finish!!!
It's due on Saturday morning. The gumpaste flowers are great and right now I love the cake because it's sitting all pretty in a lovely layer of ganache! I've been looking at tons of polka dot designs and think I'll go with your small dots in a uniform pattern. We'll see, keep your fingers crossed for me, I'll post pics on Saturday! :)
It's due on Saturday morning. The gumpaste flowers are great and right now I love the cake because it's sitting all pretty in a lovely layer of ganache! I've been looking at tons of polka dot designs and think I'll go with your small dots in a uniform pattern. We'll see, keep your fingers crossed for me, I'll post pics on Saturday! :)
It's Saturday morning on my side of the world and I am eagerly awaiting the pics :-)
AI had a request for a chocolate brown cake with pink swirly lace details and red roses. I imagined it would look awful but it was what the client wanted so I searched the web for the palette to see how it would work. I don't think there's any combination that you can't find in the internet. It actually turned out ok (like a make up kit). No photos though. It still wasn't my style.
I like it- the colors, design and how well you made it..very neat and clean
Ps- I also like the height. How many layers are the tiers? how tall are they?
Thank you, it's a 6" and 8". I bake a little higher than the pan so they're just 2 layers but it comes out to be almost 5" for each tier.
ABrilliant, really clean and effective. I really really like it, it's very modern!!:D I love how delicate the dots are x x x
ABrilliant, really clean and effective. I really really like it, it's very modern!!:D I love how delicate the dots are x x x
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