One of the things I love about this blog and forum, is that we share our mess-ups and disasters as well.  My sister was hosting a gathering for mother’s day, and the baking fell to me.  After everyone put in the requests the decision was made to make: White chocolate whisper cake with white chocolate mousseline, a genoise classique with lime curd filling and lime mousseline, and the sicilian pistachio cake.  I was a bit pressed for time, three cakes , three frostings, one filling…and a full time job…lots to do.  When I made the white chocolate whisper cake…a cake I have made about a million times…I set the timer for the time specified in the book…but I know my oven, and it always takes a tad longer.  I checked the cake when the bell rang, tested with a toothpick, and it came out clean as a whistle.  I really expected to bake the cake for another 5 minutes or so.  Anyway, the tooth pick was clean and so not wanting to over bake…I took it out.  Cooled it for ten minutes, and unmolded it (You all see where this is going?)... it was a wet under baked mess.  Why was the toothpick clean?  To torture me apparently.  This turned into an all night baking marathon as I remade the cake…and I wasn’t happy.  Luckily the genoise and the pistachio cake came off without a hitch.  I boxed up the cakes and put them in the car.  On the way to my sister’s house, I had a car stop short in front of me, I slammed on the breaks and the white chocolate whisper cake box went flying.  I was afraid to look.  but I had to.  my beautiful piping!  I had to scrape about 1/3 of the icing off the inside of the box and spread it back on the cake.  Needless to say, it wasn’t pretty. (No one cared, they actually all think I’m crazy to spend all that time piping and making it neat…“just spread on the frosting…it’s family, we don’t care what it looks like”.

You are a saint of a son (?), that’s all I can say!  (Wasn’t sure if Bill was a boy or girl nickname here—apologies if I guessed wrong!)

Bill, I am so sorry to hear about your mishap. It’s just not fair when things like that happen.  But your cakes turned out wonderful and the one just has some added character.  I just went through the same thing. ( well almost ) I finally made my big retirement cake for a fellow coworker this week and I just delivered it today.  I have been planning this for a few months…two 12 x 18 x 2 cakes of Rose’s All Occassion Downey butter cake,  4 batches of white chocolate mousseline buttercream,  a double batch of raspberry cloud cream for the filling, and red gumpaste roses and leaves. I had the cakes and the buttercream made about 3 months in advance as well as the gumpaste flowers.
I took the cakes out of the freezer yesterday to thaw and decided I wanted to torte them.  To make a long story short,  both cakes broke into irrepairable pieces and I had to make the cakes all over again, which of course had to be done by 3pm because I was going in for the afternoon shift.  Also had to run out to the store to buy some ingredients because I didn’t have enough.  Between tears and sobs I got them baked before work.  After work which was 12:30am, went home made the raspberry cloud cream, filled the cake (which was only two 2” layers - wasn’t going to try and torte again) put the crumb coat on and stuck it in the fridge.  Now it is 2:30am.  Woke up at 7am to finish the cake and completed it at 10:30.  Delivered it for 12:00pm.  I’m tired this afternoon   And after all that,  I didn’t take a picture because my son who is away has the camera!!!  Hopefully someone at work will take one and send it to me.  I think this is the nicest cake I have ever made and I can’t even share it here on the forums.

Liza!  My goodness…good for you, and you got it done.  I once had a large cake layer fall apart…and I just put it together with frosting.  I really thought it was irrepairable, but there was ablsolutely no time.  So I took some frosting, mixed it with the cake crumbs, and sort of spackeled the whole thing together.  Some people got slices that were more frosting than cake…a lot more frosting than cake…LOL

good for you for doing it over.  I know all about those sleepless nights.

Rosetheoes:
Son…Bill is my actual name.  LOL

Even after the mishaps your cakes still look perfect Bill, well almost perfect!!  And I love your cake stand with the frilly edge!

I agree with Jeannette! They look awesome and I bet they tasted amazing.

Gorgeous cakes, Bill, and the one that fell when you stopped short still looks awfully good (had that been my car I’m sure the thing would have flipped over and landed on its top). 

Sorry about the toothpick…  You’re amazing to make another whole cake

So, which cake did you like best?  I’m the most curious about the lime, I’ve never made lime curd.

I forgot to comment about the frilly cake stand.  That was actually a gift from my step father to my sister…It was his and when he moved into my mother’s house, there was only so much room…and he had a lot a lot a lot of stuff.  I wasn’t baking yet, and my sister had the big house, so the cake stand went to her (I secretly covet it and want it desperately…LOL) My sister loves it too.

As far as the genoise with lime curd and lime mousseline.  I, personally, am not a citrus lover…and a lot of people on the blog and other baking sites that I have seen, seem to see lime as a flavor that works better in savory dishes than in sweet desserts.  All I can say was that this cake was a big hit…and people were fighting over the left overs…so everyone really liked it.

just a quick note on the lime curd.  IN the cake bible, rose suggests a tiny bit of green food coloring…because the color of the lime curd is a bit odd…sort of an icky yellow-ish color.  I added a tiny bit of paste / gel food coloring while the curd was cooking…and what happened was it sort of coagulated into tiny green droplets rather than mixing in…and I thought that those tiny droplets were the flecks of zest…and so I added more food coloring, and more,  and when the whole thing finally mixed together…that curd was GREEN!.  It was just a very thin layer between the layers of genoise…but if you do make the lime curd…add the food coloring at the end, and mix really well before adding more (or leave it out completely). No one commented on the bright green curd (and trust me, my family isn’t one to hold back) so all in all, I guess it wasn’t so bad…but it made me laugh.

I personally am a huge fan of the pistachio cake in Rose’s Heavenly Cakes.  I can, luckily, get really nice pistachios in a market near my apartment…and although they cost a small fortune…this cake is definitely worth it.

Bill, your story made me laugh! I love the idea of the all night baking marathon…actually sounds like fun and something ibwould have done pre-kids (twins, 2 1/2, can never count on them not waking up and calling for Mommy during a crucial stage in the baking process).  And then the lime curd coloring story! That’s funny that your family thinks you’re crazy to do all the elaborate decorating. I am usually cooking for the hubby’s family since mine is out of state, and they think I am crazy just for doing homemade cakes…if I ever get good at decorating they will really start talking! Hats off to you for completing three beautiful cakes in one night. This weekend I am attempting three in one day for a party I’m having (She Loves Me, Strawberry Pie, and Lemon Poppyseed), but I’ve done dry runs on all of them and they are pretty straightforward so I’m optimistic it will go smoothly. My main concern is getting the royal icing piping to look good on the daisies and timing the whipped cream/strawberry/blueberry filling for the yellow cake. At least I don’t have to drive them anywhere LOL!!

Actually…the lime curd/genoise was done the day before…it was two cakes in one day…but still, all in all…exhausting. I’ve done three in one day…it isn’t pretty.

The next project is mom’s birthday cake….first week in June.

Thanks for sharing, both Bill and Liza - we all need to hear about the disasters every once in a while as well because they happen!