My first Paid cake

I never intended to bake or cook for money, but I'm getting more and more requests to do so.  This is especially true about cakes.  I finally acquiesced a few weeks back and agreed to make a cake for the kids acting union (the credit union they opened specifically).  I was hesitant to do so because, while I love making cakes, if I goof up something when it's just for us I don't sweat it too much. 

When someone is paying for something I generally demand perfection.  It came out alright and everyone seemed happy.  I was happy with everything but that damned paperclip.

I was really kind of under the wire for timing.  I was ahead of schedule but kids drama, and issues pretty much wiped out my yesterday.  Long story there but it meant I was behind the 8 ball.

Anyhow.  This cake is 40" x 30".  It was huge!!  The biggest challenge was getting it out of the house through the front door. 

I made 8 sheet cakes using a Martha Stewart recipe.  I adjusted it a little bit but was very close to hers.  I'll post the recipe tomorrow when I'm not falling down exhausted.

Buttercream icing using my own recipe.  The paperclip is rice krispie treat, over wooden skewers.  What it was supposed to do was lay flat on the left side and stand up where it looks like it's been taken apart.  That was the plan.  The rice krispies to be covered in grey fondant and covered in luster dust.

First the rice krispies weren't behaving, then the fondant was a disaster.  I have never screwed up fondant but boy did I do a good job of it this time.  I had some black fondant and thought I could cover it with the luster dust and still get the silver effect.   I picked up the wrong luster dust and it was useless. 

Running out of time left me with no alternative but to lay the whole thing down and cover it with buttercream.  Not ideal, not the nice smooth finish I wanted on it but at least it was the right (ish) colour.  

If I hadn't had to deal with family issues yesterday I would have solved this issue but such as it is I ran out of time.

The cake itself is delicious.  I hope in the end they are pleased with the result.  I'm a little dissappointed in it but all in all considering the situation it looks okay.   Fortunately they knew I'm not a professional cake maker so there we are.