I had no intention of sharing this cake.

Christmas Surprise Inside Cake #surpriseinside

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.

Surprise Inside Cake!

And the inside… well.  Lets just say that was not my best work.

Its completely tilted over.

Christmas JOY Surprise Inside Cake #surpriseinside

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.

Christmas Surprise Inside Cake #surpriseinside

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. 🙂

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Meet Amanda Rettke

Amanda Rettke is the creator of I Am Baker, and the bestselling author of Surprise Inside Cakes: Amazing Cakes for Every Occasion – With a Little Something Extra Inside.Over the course of her 15+ year blogging adventure, she has been featured in and collaborated with the Food Network, New York Times, LA Times, Country Living Magazine, People Magazine, Epicurious, Brides, Romantic Homes, life:beautiful, Publishers Weekly, The Daily Mail, Star Tribune, The Globe and Mail, DailyCandy, YumSugar, The Knot, The Kitchn, and Parade, to name a few.

Reader Comments

  1. I absolutely love it! We’re all perfectionists when it comes to our own stuff so I get that but it truly is amazing and beautiful!

  2. You are amazing to say the least! I see only the beauty of this cake and the amazing talent that you possess to INSPIRE creativity in all of us. Well done!

  3. Oh Amanda, Thank you for sharing boo-boos! We all have them but who really is woman enough to admit and show them!! Hats off to you!! It shows how imperfect we are in a total imperfect world. Sometimes we need to be reminded of this. I think your cake is awesome! It is lovely and joyful!
    Mari

  4. I think this is a beautiful cake! You are very talented and I am very glad I found this website. Merry Christmas!

  5. I really loved seeing this cake. It’s pretty and cheerful and creative. And do you know, if you hadn’t pointed out what was wrong, I probably wouldn’t have known it! Just goes to show that sometimes what we think are abject failures look like glowing successes to others 🙂

  6. At first glance I thought the roses were poinsettias! Either way it’s absolutely gorgeous. No need to hide this beauty!

  7. 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!

  8. “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.

  9. This makes me feel 1000000 times better about all the times I’ve messed up while baking. I think it’s still pretty!

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