Ugly Cake....It All Started With a Pan

The day started like any other day: get up, shower, make list of tasks for the day, eat breakfast, blah, blah, blah! So far, so good! After the curling iron fiasco (the spring sprung), the day started falling apart! Oh, don't get me wrong, it was a lovely day, everywhere but in the kitchen! I do need to digress to the night before when I baked the cake. Oh, it was a lovely cake with lots of promise.

 It started with a pan.....

I used a "White Wedding Cake" cake recipe, this is the one that was chosen for the wedding...from what I hear, it was yummy! 

The cake looks great so far...had to do a little trimming to make the bottom flat enough to accept the top! 

Okay, so Madonna might have wanted to "wear" the top piece (she'd need two)....

And now....we are back to the morning where everything went wrong in the kitchen! 

I started making the frosting, the one chosen for the wedding. The Groom wants the grocery store butter cream frosting. So, I pull out the powdered sugar (this should have been the first sign that the cake was going to be the life of me), I cannot work with powdered sugar without making a huge mess (I had guests coming over, didn't have time for a mess)....I usually wear it, it always lands on the floor, all over the counter, in my hair, on my face...this day was no different! 

The recipe called for sifted powdered sugar...I always start out by sifting too much so I can use my big bowl to catch the mess. I don't know why I think the bowl will catch it, it never does. 

After cleaning up the kitchen mess, I mixed the frosting....and mixed.....and mixed! 

This looked disgusting, I didn't think it would ever turn into frosting....hmmmm, another sign that all was not going well with this cake! But, ever the optimist.....I kept mixing and mixing and mixing! 

And this yummy concoction is what I ended up with! I should tell you....I always tell myself to go with my gut but I never do! I don't know why, my gut is always right but yet, I always, always do opposite of what my gut says! My gut said: stay with white frosting! 

I took half of the frosting and added black gel food coloring, hoping to get black to imitate the papers from the cupcakes. Well, the frosting just turned a yucky gray. I kept adding more and more and more black gel....I used the whole darned bottle and still it was not black. So, I decided to add purple gel. I was getting excited until I saw.....

PURPLE hands, PURPLE frosting all over the counter, PURPLE on the cabinets, on the floor, on the wall....how the heck did everything turn purple and why the heck was there frosting everywhere. Now, my friend (see older "Cleaning as I Go" post) would tell you that she is surprised I wasn't running around the kitchen wiping down every surface as I was trying to dye the frosting. What she doesn't know is that was exactly what I was doing and I was making it worse. Omigosh, everything was purple! I was afraid to actually go look in the mirror, I was sure my face was a mess...and we had friends AND the Bride and Groom coming over...well, they would just see how much I love them...I am sacrificing my vanity for their cake. Did I mention that it eventually becomes the Ugly Cake? 

Anyhow, I decided to bite the bullet and use the black/purple/charcoal frosting to frost the "paper" base of the cupcake cake. I made the mistake of using the big frosting tip, over filling the frosting tube...oh no, more frosting all over the floor, the walls, the counter, the cabinets....me! I must have washed my PURPLE hands at least 10 times. I was sticky and purple! Oh man, the cupcake was looking UGLY! There was nothing I could do to make it look better so at this point I had two choices: 1) toss the whole darned thing in the trash, sit down and cry or 2) make it the UGLIEST cake I could. Obviously, I chose 2! 

I would have taken photos but hey, my hands were sticky and purple! 

So, I pressed on! I squished frosting using various tips and white frosting over the top of the cake....you know Madonna's bra cup! Well, it really looked UGLY! But hey, I wasn't done! So, I sprayed the cupcake with Violet Purple - Wilton's spray. I added ugly sugar paste roses and sprayed some more. It still wasn't UGLY enough! I had to make it UGLIER! So, I added white and black pearl candies, sprinkled some purple, crystal flakes...more frosting, more flakes and well, I finally ran out of frosting! 

Do you want to see the final UGLY product? I wish I could forget it but I promised a couple friends I was going to post my experience...

And here it is.....ta da......the UGLY cake! 

I wish the photo could have been better but then....my hands were sticky and purple! 

Well, I guess the cake was okay....it was eaten and the "White Wedding Cake" cake recipe was chosen for the Wedding....

Oh, they were all sweet and telling me that the cake was pretty, adorable, cute....no one wanted to tell me it was UGLY! Even though we all knew it! I knew it! But hey, it may have been UGLY and I may have had sticky, purple hands but when I finally gave up trying to make it pretty....I had a ball! 

It's Monday and guess what I found on the cabinets.....

More Wedding Purple

So, to go along with the card box...I decided to make a wall banner to match. I decided that maybe we needed to "explain the box"! I challenged myself to using supplies that I already had! I pulled some printable fabric, used the ribbon that I used on the box and garters, made a couple more flowers.....and my printer! Oh my, side bar here....I love my printer!

Anyhow, I didn't get a very good pic of the banner as I don't have any bare wall to hang it on....you get the idea though!

Close up of the lettering and flower, I covered the attachments with the flowers....

Baby flowers used on the three center letters...

I tied the ends of the ribbon (3 for layering) and attached the letters to it...

I like how the banner turned out! Was going to make a "Mr. & Mrs." but I don't have enough printable fabric. Will ask the Bride if she wants me to do so....we'll see....

Wedding Purple

So, I was able to finish the garters and card box this week....for my son and his future bride! My wonderful Mom-in-Law sewed the two garters (one to keep and one to throw) for the bride....I can't sew a straight line, let alone try to gather both lace and ribbon! I called upon my Mom-in-Law to help me by sewing the garters...she did such a beautiful job! Thank you Mom! I searched all over for the perfect dark purple flowers to attach to the garters, they were not to be found! So, I went to JoAnn's to buy flowers that I could take apart and make my own. I got them home, took them apart and they were SO wrong, they had huge gaps between the petals, would not layer correctly! Took me 15 minutes to put one flower back together so I could return the darned things. So, I went to Michael's, they usually have a great selection of flowers. I found one stem of 3 flowers that were perfect! I stood right there and took a flower apart to see if it would work....it would, perfectly! HOWEVER, I could only find one stem. I was pretty depressed so I walked around the store looking for something else that would work! Guess what I found....I found 3 more stems that someone had put back by the frames....now, was that fate or what? I was so excited....grabbed a roll of matching chiffon style ribbon and raced home to make the flowers! Uh oh....I had not clue how to....I just assumed I could take them apart and layer them and they would look gorgeous! Uh, no! they just looked like flat, boring flowers. SO, I got the idea to burn the edges...I love to burn stuff! I burn paper, transparencies, ribbon, fabric....all in the name of art! This was no different....right?! So, I pulled out a tea light, lit it and proceeded in burning the edges of the petals. After decimating one (it went up in flames), I learned to manage the burn! The flower petals curled up at the edges and looked perfect! I layered the flowers, gathered the chiffon ribbon into a circle and layered them....add a velvet flower and pearls for the centers and I was a happy girl!

This flower looks a bit fuchsia in the pic but it's really the same dark purple as the ribbon! 

The center of the flower on each garter is a bit different! I wonder which one the bride will choose to keep! Hope she likes them! 

So, I had such a great time with the flowers for the garters that I put together some extras! What shall I use them on? 

Well, I was asked to make a card box....I couldn't wait to start! I searched all over this town for a box that would work (something that wasn't big enough to hold a body), impossible! I tried to order something but the shipping was ridiculous! I mentioned to my Mom-in-Law that I needed a box and again she came through for me! She had just the perfect size box but it needed to be repainted. So, I went to work....it took about 12 coats of dark purple paint to cover the Modge Podged decor.....finally, it was ready to do the crackle technique the bride had liked! The box didn't have feet so I added little, round, wooden doll heads (they have a flat bottom so I could attach them to the box) to the bottom and painted them purple too! Add the crackle medium, let dry, paint the box white and wait for the cool crackle to start! Wow, it was looking great but needed some decor! So, I pulled out the box of purple and white ribbons I picked up for the garters and other fun stuffs.....added them in layers to the box....attached two of the cool flowers I made and wow.....the box looks awesome!

You can't see the feet, they are hiding in the background but here is the front of the card box! 

Again, the flowers appear lighter than they really are due to the lighting but you get the picture! 

I hope the bride likes the box.....I can't wait for her to come over next weekend to pick them up! 

Shhhhh, don't tell her where to look for the pics, she may want them to be a surprise! 

Just a reminder....I painted Tom's shoes for the wedding as well.....everything is purple, white and black. If you didn't see the shoes....here's a couple pics: 

It's all coming together! I am having so much fun....what else can I make?