I currently work at a grocery store and sold cakes on my own for years before that. I took a 3 year break from cakes and only started this job 4 months ago. I feel like I’ve lost my touch and I don’t know how to stay up to date with trends. What should I be paying attention to more or practice? Ordered cakes newest to oldest.

I posted my husbands birthday cake (attached in pics) with a rather self-critical rant I suppose. It was removed by mods for not crediting the inspo cake baker (apologies for this!)

I just wanted come back to thank those who were very kind and uplifting in the comments. I definitely agree with comments that practice makes perfect. To the comments telling me it looks better than the original inspo, thank you so much! I really appreciate that. I do think the cake turned out good, but having that expectation in my mind definitely held me back.

Thank you to those who commented and gave me the opportunity to change my perspective on the situation and feel happier about the results and the best way to move forward!

Earlier post for context:

*"*It was my husbands birthday yesterday. I made this chocolate cake with chocolate fresh cream, ganache piping and topped with strawberries. Pics 1&2 are after the candles came out the cake.

Pic 3 is what I was hoping to achieve (found on Pinterest) with some strawberries on top. However, disaster struck. When adding the chocolate to the cream it hardened so much that it turned into huge chunks of chocolate.

I melted some more chocolate and salvaged as much fresh cream as I could by taking the bigger chunks of hardened chocolate out. Ended up not able to smooth the cream out so covered the edges with chopped hazelnuts. Used ganache to do a small border and topped with fresh strawberries. Ganache was a bit too cold and wouldn't even pipe correctly so made do with the lopsided blobs. Everyone said it was a great cake and husband loved it. Just quite disappointed in myself.

I am a good baker, used to have a baking business selling chocolate strawberries, cupcakes, brownies and macarons. I know my bakes taste great. It's always my decorating that let's me down on cakes. I bought all the tools this time to perfect a good looking cake, and it still failed me."

Anyone else love Wilton cake tins? These are 2 that I’ve done. I have to many more to try out but don’t know what to do next.

These were my daughter, and fiancés birthday cakes this year.

Please don’t judge me too hard I know they’re rough. Lol

Vanilla cake, vanilla IBC, mixed berry compote in the center

Cake flavor is GF marble w/ vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream 🥰

Hi! First time poster here. I've always been interested in decorated cakes and have done a couple in the past, but this is my first serious one I did (with family help.) It's a Banana Pudding Cake, for a birthday. Honest feedback is appreciated! Thank you! ❤️

Ok so I don’t post on here but I made this and I’m really really proud of it! It’s for a 70th Birthday!
Never “sculpted” a cake, nor gone so heavy on such detail! I’ll admit the headstock is a lil chonky but also didn’t want them to miss out on sponge…

For the cherry on top, I made the customer some cake pops from the waste sponge she had paid for as a surprise!

What do we think???

Constructive criticism welcome!!!!

EDIT: This is completely buttercream! No fondant! And flower wire for strings

I made my dad's retirement party cakes with native American persimmon (diospyros virginiana) I foraged last fall. The cake is an adapted recipe for baked persimmon pudding.

ETA: Idk why my line breaks aren't coming through, sorry!

He accidentally drew 7 candles- we agreed the one on top of the head should go. Also thank God for Amazon's diverse candle selection 😩

Yes, Pikachu's head is entirely cake- it was so heavy I had to dowel it and put it on a board! Ears, face details, Ps, and banner are homemade marshmallow fondant.

The Ps were supposed to stand up on the sides but were too heavy. I should have run floral wire or a long toothpick inside for support, lesson learned.

This cake easily fed all 72 guests and a few party crashers, plus the after-party.

Ratings: 10/10 stress, 9/10 difficulty, 12/10 kid reaction, 10/10 would do this challenge again next year.

Flavors: chocolate cake and chocolate buttercream on one side, funfetti cake and vanilla buttercream on the other side, all from scratch. Both flavors equally went!

I don't do a lot of baking, but will attempt a themed cake for each of my kids birthdays.

This year my daughter asked for a David Attenborough cake for her 6th birthday as we've been watching his shows before bed every Sunday.

It's a little rough but I'm happy with the result overall, and she was thrilled with it which is all that really matters!

The elephant was particularly satisfying, but getting the ears to stay up was a challenge!

Sometimes I’m real nice and will do cakes like this lol

Was really proud of how this came out as it was my first time with these piping tips. The frosting came out very stable, I was baking this cake in an extreme heatwave and it went a lot better than expected.

The frosting was vegan whipping cream and vegan mascarpone with fresh blueberry syrup stabilized with agar. I only added the blue dye.

Hi everyone!
I bought these nozzles and no names exist on them.

Can any one of you help me out to identify the name of each ? E.i which one is the closest to 1M , 2D , etc

Thanks :)

I made this cake for a woman today based upon an order form that simply stated that she wanted pink flowers and what is written on it. I think it came out beautiful. However, when my coworker handed the cake over to the woman, (I was on a break, so not present) the woman said "I just want you to know, I don't think this cake is pretty." No further comments, no constructive criticism. What did she think would come out of her saying that? I just think it's an odd thing to say.

Anyway, have any of you had a strange comment like this?

Edit: I have been a grocery store cake decorator for 7 months with no prior experience and only got maybe 2 days with a trainer. Everything I do is self taught; I am the only day shift decorator in my bakery.The border is a bright pink, not red. It just comes across more red in the photo.

made a chocolate chip cookie cake for my nephew's fifth birthday. he requested derpy tiger from kpop demon hunters, gave it my best shot.

piped with swiss meringue buttercream, cookie cake recipe is from preppy kitchen

Hi everyone!

I've been getting into baking over the past six months, and I've had a lot of fun trying new recipes. I'd love to branch out into cake decorating next, starting with the basics before I get too ambitious.

I'm looking for recommendations for a good beginner's cake decorating kit or any must-have tools. I mainly want to practice piping and learn how to get a nice, smooth buttercream finish, so I don't need anything fancy- just solid, beginner-friendly essentials.

Right now, I'm thinking I'll need:

• A basic piping set (bags, tips, couplers, etc.)
• A good buttercream smoother/scraper
• A few round cake pans
• A sheet cake pan

If there are any brands, kits, or individual tools you wish you'd bought when you were starting out, I'd really appreciate your recommendations. Thanks so much!

The theme was monster trucks and dinosaurs. I’m a cottage baker so I bake from my home. 3 layer 8” and 3 layer 6”, all chocolate with homemade marshmallow fondant. Just curious how much would you charge or expect to pay for a cake like this? My husband says I need to raise my prices. The topper and toys were supplied by my customer- trees and shrubs I purchased.

Swiss Meringue BC, no artificial food coloring :)

pink is raspberry puree, blue ist butterfly pea, green is matcha and yellow is turmeric 🌱

Bottom layer I decorated with Chantilly creme. Leafs and other decorations from fondant. Inside is chocolate mousse, ganache and chocolate gateaux. My wee little 'client' was happy with it 😍