professional cake makers.... i bow down to you.

I have a new found respect for professional cake makers and decorators. I already knew I wasn't THAT good at decorating cakes. But I wanted to try. Again. I guess I figured if I bought all the professional stuff, my cake would look professional. Ha ha ha

So I had heard about these Rainbow Cupcakes and I wanted to make a cake version. So cute, right? I saw on one website, where the lady just poured the batter into each pan, one color on top of the other, and got this result:

So, me thinking I can make this better (HA), I decided to put dots in the pans, like you would the cupcakes in the liners. So, my result, was this, before it went into the oven:

Cute huh? Too bad my yellow was more gold, than yellow. Anyways, so into the oven they went. Here's a lovely photo:

Looks like a soccer ball, huh? Ok, so I had to make this bigger and better. I must have been in a challenging mood.

So I had this chocolate mousse mix I'd been dying to use. And I read that it could also be used as a cake filling. Well how cool would that be?! Chocolate Mousse in between these two awesome soccer ball rainbow cake layers.

.... Later I would realize this would be the death of my beautiful cake.....

So, I make my Mousse. Its made with whipping cream, chocolate and the mousse mix. Hard. I whip it up, and I decide to refrigerate it, till my cake is cooled off. I'm thinking that if I make the mousse cold, it will work better. (*snickers to self*)

Cake is cooled off. I slather the mousse on the cake, and put my top layer on. BEAUTIFUL!

I make my yummy buttercream icing.

Later I would realize this would be the second death of my beautiful cake.

Buttercream Icing, believe it or not, is made out of butter, powdered sugar and vanilla.

And as a side note, high humidity does not work well with buttercream icing, or mousse for that matter.

So, I make my icing. I tint it pink. I slap some of that sugar butter on top of my cake and start to spread it around. And then, oh crap. My top layer is sliding around. What the heck? Oh, nice. And now the mousse is gushing out the sides. Lovely.

Long story short, it was a disaster. The mousse was a horrible idea. Of course, putting it in the fridge was a fine idea. But the humidity and just the fact that it's probably supposed to STAY cold to keep its form, made the mousse kind of on the runny side.

Then the icing. Ohhhh the icing. The freakin humidity basically made my butter melt. Well, no, it made it extra soft. So the icing wasn't really staying put. What a disaster.

I did the best I could. I tried to patch up the sides with the purple icing I used to write on the cake, since I didn't have any pink left. In the end, I gave up, went to the room, and laid in bed with the covers over my head. I was exhausted and frustrated and mad at myself.

Next time, I will NOT use the stupid mousse mix. And I will not work under humid conditions.

Audrey loved the cake. It wasn't her birthday, but she said it was so beautiful and that I did a good job on it. I should have felt loved and it should have made my heart melt that she thought so highly of it, but I just wanted to dump the cake in the trash and go buy one.

Here's the pictures I know so many of you just HAD to see. I tried to warn you....

Not that ugly from the top right? 

What a disaster. Next time I will also be layering the batter, instead of trying to one-up the professionals.

Oh, and it tasted good. Minus the mousse.