When it rains....
February 24, 2017
Sometimes things go wrong, and when they do, they always seem to happen in the most epic ways.
Darn you Murphy and your laws!
So of course it’s usually some ungodly hour of the wee morning that I’m still up trying to perfect some little detail, or I’ve just gotten carried away caking up a storm and not realised that sleep is usually a requirement to function.
And then it happens…. Something is missing, something falls apart or that special item that needed to be ordered in (and arrived just in the nick of time) ended up being wrong.
So here I am, just a girl, standing in front of a cake, wanting it to be finished.
Duff Goldman once said “Pastry chefs have to be the MacGyver’s of culinary”, this holds true in so many ways. From engineering internal structures that hold crazy shaped cakes together to inventing new techniques and ways to get things to work.
This happened last night, a critical item that was ordered, didn’t turn out to be right. But I have been able to James bond my way out of it and the customer will be none the wiser.
But even the best laid plans can unravel you in seconds, and sometimes, there is absolutely nothing you can do.
I once set up a 3 tier frilly birthday cake at a public venue. Even though I took all the precautions and had my “emergency caking kit” with me, the venue was warm and the cake started to fall apart.
I fixed/tweaked it as best I could and then it happened……. The table, wobbled… and the cake stand snapped!!
Oh the horror!!! The scene plays out in my mind in slow motion and chills me to the core every time I think about it.
The cake came crashing down! I tried my best cricket dive and caught most of it mid fall. But all the decorations and structure of the cake could not be saved. I got out of the foetal position just in time to patch it as best I could before the birthday girl arrived.
Who knew that cake and sugar could be such a harsh mistress?
Anyhoo, I’ve got some suppliers to call.