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Cake Fails and my First Giveaway!

Well, that was one heck of a week! This was my first week at university studying Early Childhood Education. Although it won't be like this every week (usually we just do one day and one night a week) I cannot believe how absolutely physically and mentally exhausted I am! I feel like I haven't used my brain since I was 18 so that might have been the reason why! I did have a great week though, I made lots of new friends and I'm really looking forward to starting the proper study and working in an Early Childhood centre. I can't wait to sleep in tomorrow and have a tiny bit of relax time before starting again on Monday!

So, now about my failed cakes which I'm sure you're all very excited to see. Well, I’m a perfectionist (in case you didn’t know) which actually comes in handy when decorating cakes and baking as it’s all in the details. It does, however, mean that I don’t always show you when I make mistakes, which by the way, happens ALL the time! Like last week, I made some lemon cupcakes for no reason in particular and they turned out SO dry and yucky, luckily I filled them with lemon curd. Thank goodness for lemon curd, it makes everything better!

Well I made a cake for Mr S’s brother a few weeks ago and just couldn’t bring myself to show you the photos. I suppose the cake isn’t THAT bad but it’s just that it ended up looking like his brother had been run over by his own (very dodgy looking) car rather than working under it (he’s a mechanic you see). So you can see my embarrassment. Mr S on the other hand, says that’s what makes a good food blogger, when they show you your mistakes…I’m thinking, what do you know about food blogging?! But, he’s probably right. I do like seeing other peoples mistakes (does that make me evil?)

So here goes *takes deep  breath* some of my cake fails over the past three years that I haven’t shared with you because, let’s face it, I want you to think I’m perfect!

My earliest cake fail was for my (poor) sister’s 26th birthday. It was a bit of a joke to start with, I asked her what she wanted on a cake and she answered anything with pirates or ninjas or dinosaurs would be cool so I decided to incorporate all three. I tried my hardest to make a boat cake, I did my research and everything and still this happened…
I cried, I had a tantrum, I cried some more then eventually (and I mean this took a long time to get to this point) I laughed. I had to. I mean, LOOK at it! Barf!

My second fail I actually DID post on my blog, it was so much hard work but still ended up a wobbly mess. I think I almost had a heart attack delivering this shaky cake to its recipient. All sorts of things went wrong with this cake but I think it all started off with its massive size. I think if I were to do this again I would have at least halved the size of the cake. If there were more people to feed I could have just added cupcakes… *sigh* ah well! You live and you learn!

At some point along the way I learned that it would be a good idea to practice before trying a technique for the first time so now we come to all the “firsts”. First time painting fondant, first time making fondant people, first time using a stencil on a cake. All I can say is I’m SO glad they were all practises!

Lastly, this cake I made for my mum’s 50th birthday which was a Toy Story themed party. You may have read the post on the amazing Toy Story dessert table that Danelle and I put together one painstakingly long weekend. Well, the cake was made from new recipes that were gluten free where I tried new things like sticking cherry jam in the centre of the top tier cake and drawing (freestyle WHY OH WHY did I go free style?!) lines on the fondant covered middle tier then there’s the giant 50 that just would not stay on top. At least if you squint your eyes the mistakes aren’t as obvious and I don’t think it took away too much from the rest of the amazing table. Whew!

So now you know my cake mistakes, please don’t judge me or never ever come back to my blog again for fear of returning to another scary post like this one! I promise the next post will look much prettier than this!

Now for the give away. I'm very VERY excited to announce this is my first giveaway and it's an awesome one! The amazing team at The Home Store Milford have provided me with a lovely Fondant Prize Pack from Little Venice Cake Company valued at $102 to give to one lucky reader. All you have to do is comment on this post to get in draw. To make me feel better, tell me about your baking or cooking fails and you'll go in the draw, easy as that! Please be sure to include your name and email address.

Congratulations to Di who won this amazing prize pack, I hope you enjoy decorating cakes with these handy tools! Fondant Prize Pack includes:
Beginners Fondant Tool Set
Modelling Mat
Small Silicone Rolling Pin
Scribing Tool
Fondant Smoother

Be sure to check out the Little Venice Cake Company on Facebook to get decorating tips and check out their photos, with some of their clients being the likes of...THE QUEEN! Whaaaa?! They're pretty famous! Also, don't forget to head into The Home Store Milford for all your cake decorating supplies. They also have some awesome cake and cupcake decorating classes at really good prices!

Fine print:
Sorry, competition is only open to New Zealand residents. Competition will be drawn on the 3rd of August 2012 at random using the randompicker.com generator. Good luck!