I had no intention of sharing this cake.
Everything that could go wrong, did.
The multi-colored roses are oddly resembling a pile of mush. The touch of green leaves is a more of a massive green undergrowth and has a life of its own.
And the inside… well. Lets just say that was not my best work.
Its completely tilted over.
Why on earth would it do that? Maybe because I used the wrong cookie cutters when preparing my cake and they were too tall for the pan so I had to improvise and create a “wall” around the cake with parchment so when I poured the extra batter over the letters it wouldn’t spill out the sides which didn’t really work and the batter did spill out on all sides resembling a square mushroom that took 70 minutes to bake and ITS CROOKED.
CROOKED!
This cake that I spent many hours dreaming about and baking and decorating was a total failure.
But then I shared this picture on Instagram with the caption, “Guess what I am up to.” and the adorable @achewycookie said,
“Spreading some JOY!”
And I was humbled. Because most people don’t care about the dumb details like I obsessively do.
They just feel loved and appreciated when someone makes them a cake. As they should.
So here it is. The cake that should have been something else but isn’t so it is what it is.
Merry Christmas. 🙂
Looks like it was made to be that way to me. No way I could do that. I wish I could.
At first glance I thought the roses were poinsettias! Either way it’s absolutely gorgeous. No need to hide this beauty!
You are way too critical, but I do that myself over cakes all the time. I thought your roses were very pretty, channeling candy cane colours that are all the rage right now! I love the lettering too. I must try this technique soon!
“The cake that should have been something else” became something MORE. Celebrate the gift of a friend’s (or stranger’s) perspective, the one that changes ours, and opens our eyes to another way of looking at the cake wreck/thing of beauty in front of us. That’s what I will take away from your cake and what I will remind myself of the next time I obsess about how something did or didn’t turn out. Thank you, Amanda. Merry Christmas.
This makes me feel 1000000 times better about all the times I’ve messed up while baking. I think it’s still pretty!
I actually love the letters at an angle! I think the cake is beautiful.
It is a great cake and you are an inspiration always. Don’t be too harsh on yourself. You have always inspired me to to have fun while baking and accept that I am not perfect.
A bad cake day is like a bad hair day, I guess! 😉
I think it’s beautiful too!
Aw, I love this post! Maybe it doesn’t look like what you planned, but it’s still impressive to me! And I really love the idea behind it. 🙂
It’s beautiful, creative and I want to duplicate it…crooked letters and all! As an amateur baker it would be a monumental success for me. 🙂 You are inspiring to me in all you do. Bringing JOY…that’s you.
I think you are being way too hard on yourself. You have a real talent for baking and decorating beautiful things that even when they “fail” as you, are still beautiful and make people so happy. Merry Christmas.
It looks like the letters are so full of JOY that they are dancing 🙂
I think it’s wonderful! This cake makes me happy! Thanks for spreading the joy.
I LOVE it!! It actually made me teary as I read some of the reviews. We all do some things imperfect, but sometimes things like this can turn out to be SO PERFECT after all. I loved the “spreading the joy line–how cute!!
I love the crooked words! It’s so true – I’m always so hard on myself when others don’t even notice what I’m upset about or some silly imperfection. This cake is so festive and fun – perfect for the holiday mood right now!
You are so kind Ashley. Thank you!!
Cake is pure joy. I am just hoping that there would be more cakes and tutorials to share with us from You before Christmas. 🙂
I am working on it! 🙂
I actually like the “crooked” letters. To me they look like they are jumping up and down with joy! And isn’t that the way we should feel at Christmas? Totally joyous, jump up and down excited, dancing delightedly, over all that Christmas is about – God’s great love! I think your j-o-y rocks! And I also like the flowers AND the leaves. Merry Christmas 🙂
You are EXACTLY right. 🙂
I agree with you Beth – the letters being crooked does make it look like they are kind of moving!
I’d be honored to sit down and enjoy a slice of this lovely cake. We sometimes forget that even though we are extremely hard on ourselves, others are not 🙂 Absolutely lovely!
I think I need to invite you over for cake sometime! 🙂
I think the JOY is absolutely whimsical…gives the cake inside character…it looks delicious…love the roses on top.
So sweet… thank you!
Oh. My. Goodness.
Personally speaking, I’m not really concerned with which way my “JOY” is tilted. Just let me at that icing! YUM-O! xo
You are the sweetest. Thank you!!
p.s. It really IS beautiful, though. So reminiscent of candy canes — my FAV!
That cake is gorgeous and the inside is amazing! I know I could never pull that off! It looks really hard to make a cake that when you cut it says something. Are you kidding me – It’s amazing!! I love it – nice work!
I love this cake – definitely going to try it!
Well I think it is beautiful!! I just happen to love JOY! haha 😉 I do think it is beautiful and just wish I had an ounce of talent that you have! 🙂
Amanda, Us bakers/decorators are such perfectionists, aren’t we? Now I thought you deliberately chose to make JOY in italic letters. I like the whimsical look. I think the roses and leaves look great too. Guess what…I’m pinning this work of art!