One of the most common arguments I had during my cake making years, was when I wasn’t happy about how a cake was turning out or worrying about how I would go about making a design. I know people were either trying to be nice, boost my confidence or genuinely didn’t believe that I had wobbles. This post is here to prove that there were definitely times when it didn’t quite go the way it should.
Just last week, I decided to brush off the dust from my Kitchen Aid and make a blackberry and coconut cake – it had been in the oven for just over half an hour when I realised I’d forgotten to put the coconut in! That wasn’t even the first mistake I’d made on that cake – I’d forgotten to line the tin but had added the mixture to the pan before I remembered and I’d added the flour before mixing the sugar and butter together. See? I’ve only not been doing cakes for 3 weeks and already I’ve forgotten how!
In the past 2 weeks alone I have managed to burn slightly overcook 2 cakes. I’m well known for leaving garlic bread, fishfingers and naan bread burning in the oven but up until now I’ve been pretty safe with cakes. (And yes, I have checked our policy to compare home insurance and made sure it is up to date!)
And so back to the disasters …
This 4 tier wedding cake looks harmless enough? I didn’t even have to worry about the flowers on it getting damaged as they were fresh and only attached at the venue. The problem was the venue though. It was a 55 minute journey away and the last 2 miles were up a REALLY steep hill. All 4 tiers were carrot cake and could only be baked and covered at the very last moment so it really hadn’t had time to set properly. I managed to fix the wobble but there was a scary moment when we first arrived at the venue. Luckily, the bride was delighted with the cake and contacted me a year later to order a carrot cake for their anniversary.
There was a piglet cake I made for my niece’s christening … my nephew, Joe decided he was hungry and ate one of piglet’s ears. We all howled laughing at that one!
Then there were pillars – I had a phase of clients that all requested pillars and tall pillars at that. They are really hard to get straight and always feel exceedingly wobbly. The top tiers of the cake do not actually balance on top of the pillars but on top of much thinner dowels which are supporting the cake and stopping each tier sinking into the next. The cake that sent me over the edge and made me avoid pillars for years was this one – My Auntie’s cake that took me over 3/4 hour to set up at the venue and then I had to sit practically next to it during the wedding meal convinced it was wonky or going to fall over if anyone even breathed near it. It didn’t by the way!
And let’s not stop there. What about the Bootee Christening Cake? Looks ok on first glance? Look again, the bootees have no laces/ribbons.
I’ll leave it there for now but I have a feeling I could be revisiting this topic as I ponder over old cake photos. My question for you today is ‘Have you had any cake disasters/near misses?’
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