The Cake-tastrophe Part 1: "Just Like on Those Cake Shows."

Remember that one time you spent 15 hours carefully crafting a Rapunzel's Tower cake the likes of which you had never made before?

And then remember when it was time to deliver it and you found it collapsed in a pile of cake rubble beyond repair?

I do.

I had woken up early that Sunday morning in July when I made the discovery. My heart fell to the floor and I stood frozen for what felt like an hour. When I finally was able to move, I thought maybe I'd get back in bed and close my eyes, and when I got up again I would have imagined it all.

No such luck.

Always one to look on the bright side, I thought, "at least this will make for a good story one day," and got out my camera to document the disaster for posterity. In fact, it was this project that firmly planted the seed of this blog.  But it did take me four months to write this post without still getting a lump in my throat.

One thing someone said to try and comfort me was "It's just like on those cake shows! Even the pros have disasters, no?"

Well, I work in television, so I'm on to those producers who use suspenseful music and careful edits to create the illusion of dramatically precarious situations and the potential for a cake-tastrophe. But everything always works out in the end, doesn't it? A broken piece gets remade. An all-nighter salvages a project on the brink. And the client is always none the wiser. It makes for good TV.

This cake, there was no salvaging.

To mitigate the horror, I should be up front in saying that I knew full well the risk I was taking with this project. I  knew nothing about engineering a design like this, but wanted to try it anyway. There was no big event riding on this cake (I wouldn't have experimented had there been one.) The 4-year-old birthday girl who this cake was meant for knew nothing about it. Her aunt (who is also my boss), had simply commissioned a "Tangled" cake as a surprise, and insisted that I not be put out by her request. I, meanwhile, insisted that I was thrilled to oblige, that it was my pleasure. I'd never been more excited about a cake project in my life.

Yes, she had glitter in her hair (and two arms, despite what's depicted in the picture.)

What I'm most thankful for though, was that my boss had a good sense of humor about it when I called her to let her know Rapunzel's tower wasn't going to happen. Despite her protests, I assured her I had a backup plan, as any good TV news producer does.

I had 2 extra 6-inch round cakes squirreled away in the freezer, plus enough leftover ganache and colored fondant to cover them. I set about formulating my plan B (no tower involved this time, of course.) The wheels were in motion.

Four hours later:

Not bad, if I do say so myself.

But more importantly, look at this:

I guess this episode did have a happy ending after all, just like on those cake shows.