Disaster strikes #4: and so it continues ...........

For those of you who have read my blog will know that my life and cake seem to follow disaster after disaster yet somehow I keep going and somehow it manages to work!!! Us cake decorators, we are a special breed …… we exist on lots of caffiene, little sleep and the appreciation of those we decorate cakes for. Despite the sleepless nights, we love what we do, and we do it, disasters or not!!

So continues the story of my worst disaster to date………………..

Always the passenger when the Frustrated painter is in the car, it wasn’t till we had been on the road for about an hour that I realised there was trouble brewing in the back…… turning to check on the quietest passenger we have ever carried, I noticed something looked odd. My cake was leaning to one side. With all four kids farmed out to my sisters house on this beautiful Friday, there was noone in the back to keep an eye on this baby and ..well.. it was misbehaving.

With a shriek of panic, I jumped straight into the back to sort out the situation, quickly realising it was more situation than I was hoping to find. By 10:30am the day had already hit about 40c plus and the ganache in the cake had started to melt and the cake was stuggling to keep standing. Dissolving into tears, I lost all hope and cried for several minutes before pulling myself together and doing my best to support the cake for the rest of the trip.
At 11am we were driving into the beatiful surrounds of the Montrose Berry Farm at Suttons Forrest. Spotting a beautiful stone building buzzing with activity, I felt inspired and positive I would be able to sort the cake and its situation out!! Hope diminished a little when I discovered the stone building with big barn doors was the reception room and contained not a single unit of airconditioning. My iphone told me it was now 42c and it was only going to get hotter.

Although not airconditioned, the room was cooler than outside due to a cross breeze flowing through those big barn doors and I spent the next hour in moderate comfort, repairing, primping, preening and adding extra support to the wedding cake. I finished it off by pinching a few silk flowers from the table arrangements to cover up any blemishes and tied it all together with lemon coloured ribbon. With the customary photos taken and a few last minute looks over my shoulder, we said Goodbye to the Stunning Bride to be, Bexy and we left the farm house about an hour later, confident it was a job done well and that the cake was saved.

OH but that Mother had other plans and she hit her peak and a new record at about 3pm at a scorching 46 DEGREES!! It was so hot outside it actually felt like your legs were on fire and it literally took the breath from your lungs! My mind wandered to that cake perched precariously on its foundations and hope to God it be OK, Suddenly sidetracked by the thought of also having to pack for myself and four kids, for our trip down to Kiama, I let the disaster of the morning slip from my mind and set my attention on the ganache covered wedding cake that I still had to complete for the following days delivery.

With the ganache cake safely on its way to Taronga Zoo the next morning and the kids and I safely on our way to Kiama, a coffee in my hand and my body preparing to relax, my mind turned to the items packed in the Landcruiser. Bags, cossies, towels, champagne, nibblies…. “S**T”!!! to which my kids now answer, “What did you forget Mummy?” I found several F Bombs and some more uninvited tears but NO Concert tickets!!!!!! ARRRGGGGHHHHHH ….. Seriously?? What next???? But wait….. theres more……..