Wine Bottle Cake

I have a love/hate relationship with cake art. I get so excited to get started a on new cake and have a beautiful vision in my head of how its going to turn out. But that vision evolves as I go along, dealing with the unpredictability of cake. About half way through the project I'm usually still quite optimistic. It's usually 2/3 to 3/4 of the way through that I start to get stressed and depressed. It's not looking like the vision in my head. Flaws are appearing; everything is not as smooth as I like. But when I complete the work, I've worked through those flaws, modified my plans, and given my self some grace with the imperfections.

Such is the case with this weekends cake. I worked through running out of fondant and having to match a new batch to the same green color, which I didn't at first. Paint and luster dust saved me here. The second batch of fondant was way too soft and hard to work with, making it tear and bumpy. I was able to mask some of those problems. I wish the necks of the wine bottles were thinner, but it is cake and you need some there to eat! I was going to print out labels for the bottles on my edible image printer but couldn't find the cord since we moved. But in painting it, with the board covering and the luster dust on the bottles, the final overall effect was like an old painting and I really liked it.

Every cake I make seems to go through this process and my husband would really like to strangle me in the middle of it. But my main goal is to make the client happy. Which I received this email from the lady who ordered the cake wine bottles pictured below:

Cheryl, Your cakes were the big hit of the party! I should have taken more of your business cards, because a lot of people wanted one! We had just enough to finish today, and it was just as good as yesterday! Everyone remarked about how delicious the cakes were and how even the fondant was tasty! Attached is a picture of the birthday boy with the cakes; he was really impressed! Thanks! Gloria

This is what I work for.