Mermaid of the sea

A few weeks ago, my niece, Ashley, asked me if I can make her a mermaid cake. Her dad and mom were supposed to give her a swimming mermaid tail just like from that show H2O. Have you heard of it? I have never seen the show, but I know it's not like "The Little Mermaid" :) So I went and researched how I'm going to make a certain sculpted mermaid. I wanted her to be sitting up right next to a rock close to the water. So here is the picture I kind of copied from:

Pretty huh? So I started baking the cakes, made the buttercream, then my marshmallow fondant. I ended up baking different flavors of cakes since I have a wedding cake taste test that Saturday. I made chocolate, vanilla, lemon and red velvet. They were pretty if I say so myself:) Here are some pictures of the stages of the sculpted mermaid cake. Hope you like them:)

Final piece. 

...in deep sugar and emotional roller coaster

It was a week long of hard work.  I was in deep s#@& and sugar. Kneading, baking, buttering, coloring, freezing, carving, etc...

 I had a big quinceanera cake to prepare for, together with another purse cake and 90 pieces cupcake discs with it. This was the first sketch:

...and the second sketch:

...and this was the end result:)

I was pressed for time but I made it. I was in high heaven. They were gorgeous if I say so myself:)  In between making these lovely cakes, I was also making a toy story bed cake with cupcakes. 

My client was a little disappointed with the size of the cake for the money she paid. I showed her a similar picture from the internet, and gave her a quote. My mistake was not following through with our conversation about how big she wanted the cake. That was my fault. I should have made it clear to her what she should be expecting. I am more attentive to my clients than that. I can not say how sorry i am for her disappointment. But I did my best and I did what I know was right. 

I know that with this business, I won't be able to make everyone happy. I shouldn't take it personally. I love what I do and it is personal to me. But I have to learn how to separate business from becoming personal. This person upset me because she went on and on about how awful I was. But I'll take this as a learning experience, and I'm moving on. 

Again, I am thankful to my family, friends, and followers who are constantly supporting me. All I want to gain from this job is to see how happy my clients are when they see the art that I made. 

Where to start....? My cake-history...

First, let me introduce myself:) Let's just call me Petite Normann. I have lots of names over the years. From using my middle name (Leilani), then my first name (Gladys), and of course, the one I use, my nickname. And then the nickname had nicknames...my nieces and nephews calling me Aunt Pete, Aunt Teet or Aunt Pateet. Uhm...too many names in my opinion! I am now in my 30's, married to a wonderful guy and with 3 beautiful boys. They keep me on my toes and almost broken voice box...hehehe. I live in Georgetown, Tx surrounded by my husband's loving family, although, my own siblings and parents are mostly an hour away. Not too far, not too close... if you know what I mean:)

My son Alex once asked me how I got started making cakes. I told him that when he was 4 years old, 3 years ago, I thought about making him a special cake. Ordering cake from a grocery store didn't seem so memorable. So I decided to do research... youtube.com was a great first source. Mayen of Way Beyond Cakes was such a big help to me.( www.WayBeyondCakes.com ). And also Edna de la Cruz of Design Me a Cake ( www.designmeacake.com ) There are a few more names that I should give credit to for my start-up, but I'll mention them along the way:) I really didn't know anything about baking, making icing and especially making fondant. What the heck is a fondant anyway? Well, come to find out it's made of marshmallows and powdered sugar...of course you can add any flavoring you want...I love almond flavored fondant!

My very first trial cake was a chocolate cake with milk chocolate icing, then the Mario mushroom head on top...now, that was interesting:) I didn't think anything of it after I made them...So we just ate the cake, and decided that I was ready! Hahaha! Let me tell you how I misjudged my ability:) I made my son's birthday a day before the party. He had a Mario Bros. and Sonic the Hedgehog theme on his cake. It was 2 tiers, with round cake on the bottom and a mushroom guy on top. I made my very first marshmallow fondant...yay!...and even made the characters out of fondant also. Of course, they were all laying down. Not having known about gumpaste medium at this level of my caking knowledge, they were limpy and soft:) So...I declared the cake finished! Ha! After 2 hours of sitting on the counter top...the CAKE collapsed!!!! I was so frustrated!!!!!!!!! I thought I was going to cry...I may have...I don't remember. I got a hold of myself and fished out the characters I very lovingly molded. I tried to figure out what had happened. What did I do wrong?! Well, I realized that there weren't any support on the bottom tier. Wow!!!  I had no idea that cake making involves physics:) Anyway, I just had to do everything over, and do it right this time!

That first cake was a success that I just realized in all the hobbies I've had over the years...and I mean lots of hobbies...(sewing purses, sewing baby bibs, machine embroidery, jewelry making, making tutus, flipflop designing, curtain making, costume making, crocheted hats and scarves, crocheted blankets, etc....just can't remember others:) ...this was the most rewarding of all. Everybody needs a cake one way or another. So I took some classes at the prestigious Michael's Hobby Store, and learned more stuff:) Of course looking through pictures after pictures of beautiful cakes online, magazines and books were all so helpful and overwhelming at the same time. But it does give me great pleasure, even after working and being on your feet all hours long, delivering the cakes of their dreams and seeing their awed faces. I just knew I love what I do!

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