For those days delivering cake when you don’t feel like a Cake Boss!
No matter how you try to deliver a cake in the best condition possible, some times the ride can get really bumpy for delicate cakes.
Last month I worked hard on over two dozen red roses and buds for a wedding cake which was delivered to the quaint Redlands Golf and Country Club down in Homestead, Florida. If you are familiar with South Florida and South Miami-Dade the Redlands is considered “rural” since the area has a number of farms and livestock. Travelling from Broward County we took the turnpike, then west on Kendall Drive and south on Krome Avenue. During our drive I believe I counted us going over three set of railroad tracks! That can’t be good for a stacked three tiered buttercream cake even if I was driving a Cadillac.
About three blocks from the club, the unthinkable happened…one of the dowel skidded on the greaseproof cake board that the bottom cake was on causing the two top tiers to collapse onto the bottom tier. When I asked Rena, my able assistant with this cake delivery, to check on the cake in the back, I went into shock when she shouted: “Oh my! Jeanette…the cake!!!!!” That was enough to cause me to take my eyes off the road and look behind to see the nightmare any cake decorator dreaded happening to them. The smell of sweet buttercream and the aroma of fresh cake mingled with my panicking “Ooohh nnnooooo!!!!” was enough to make me pull the vehicle over, yes on very rough swale, that was . You maybe wondering if I took pictures of the catastrophe…no, I didn’t that was the furthest thing from my mind. All I was thinking about was, how am I going to fix it in time for the wedding. Thank God I usually plug a bit of extra time in the event something like this happens. However, I do have pictures of the cake before the collapse and what I actually displayed. The chef at the club humored me when I was busy patching the two damaged tiers by saying that he felt like he was watching Cake Boss. At that time I did not feel like Buddy but I asked he for two aspirins for the headache (LOL).
This is the cake before we started the drive (below). Notice there are four tiers…
This is the cake we displayed (below). Ooops! We only have three tiers where did the other go? Left in the kitchen to be cut and server. Yes, I know it’s an expensive bad habit I have, but I always make more than enough cake, for this very same reason (LOL).
Since this delivery I am no longer takes cakes stacked before setup unless I am travelling in a hovercraft or we are in the real space age.
Happy caking and baking ‘till next time so walk good…
Jeanette “Baking Jeannie” Jackson
