What Not To Do

Rule #1: Don't attempt to try something new for an important occasion when you haven't had the chance to practice or do a dry run. It won't turn out well.

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My good friend and former co-worker Jen was visiting Arizona for a birthday celebration with her best friend Heather. Since they were going to be staying with us Sunday night before heading to the airport Monday morning, she asked if I would make a cake for her. "Of course, " I replied.

There would just be a few of us enjoying this cake so it was going to be pretty small. And with this small cake, I wanted to see if I could make a single tier of a topsy turvy (or mad hatter) cake. I've never made a topsy turvy cake before, but I wantd to be daring enough to try one and figured I couldn't royally screw it up on such a small cake. Guess again.

I used this link as my instruction guide. It seemed simple enough. But when I got to stacking and carving my 5-6-7-8 inch layers, it had a pretty heavy lean to it. After icing and covering with mmf, I was so disappointed.

It's been a while since I've struggled with covering a cake with fondant, but I sure did with this one. It had a lot of folds, then add the fact that it wasn't smooth, I was heartbroken, thinking, I can not give this cake to someone. What am I going to do?

But then my cake-hobby supporting husband said, "stick with it, you've already invested time and resources in this cake, and it doesn't look that bad." I forged ahead. Thanks baby!

I think I was able to save it. I thought it still had an awkward lean and my fondant application wasn't the greatest, but it was pretty cute and very well received. I don't know if I'm ready for tt cakes yet, but I think it's worth another try.

Strawberry cake with vanilla buttercream icing. Covered/decorated with mmf and pink dragees.

NOTE: Strategically placed fondant accents can hide a lot of ugly boo-boos.