lovkel

bkeith, I truly appreciate the effort that must have taken. Thanks so much. It is MUCH clearer now (a pictures worth ... and all that). I finally understand the ASCII picture now, it's a top down view! I feel kinda stupid. Out of curiosity, where did you get the third arm to take the pic with you holding two spatulas. Impressive. Kathyf, thank you for your suggestion as well. I think that between bkeith's demo, your suggestion, and the other hints, I will be able to make an adequately square cake. The wedding isn't until August 6th, so I have some time for experimentation, thankfully. I suppose it's pretty overall, but I just can't work up much excitement for making four ivory bricks. Apparently, the brides are all about picking out cake designs that please THEM! Jeez. What about MY wants!

Okay, I've read this several times and I think I understand ... kind of. The spatula in the left hand, is the flat of the blade flat against the side facing you, OR is the flat of the blade acting as an extension of the side that's running away from you? I believe it to be the latter, but I want to be sure.

I use the Neoclassic because I like the flavor with the cakes that I use. It pairs wonderfully when mixed with Strawberry conserve and banana cake. However, I am not a huge fan of RLB, I like her philosophy, but I have never been a huge fan of her cakes. I LOVE to experiment, what other fillings would you recommend. I read egullet (especially this forum) avidly because I want to LEARN and from what I've seen I have a LOT of that to do.

Thanks for the suggestions so far. 2 other questions. 1. Presently, I only have the Wilton 'square' pans. They have rounded edges. Should I jettison these for pans that are actual squares? 2. I have been using a shortening/powerder sugar/egg white frosting for the simple fact that it's white and gets crusty. This cake is to be ivory and is undecorated, is there another frosting which may simplify the task of getting sharp corners? My fillings are usually based on the Neoclassic buttercream from "The Cake Bible" and completely inappropriate for frosting the outside of a cake in summer.

I have been lurking for weeks, but this is my first real post. I've been free-lance decorating for about 4 years now, but I need some 'skill enhancement' (a.k.a. HELP). I have just accepted a wedding cake for this August that sucks. It is 4 square layers smooth frosted. That's it. Oh, O.K. the layers are slightly separated and roses are stuffed in between, but from a cake decorator's (a.k.a. MY) perspective, this cake sucks. The cake layers are UNDECORATED! There's nothing, no piping, no flowers, NOTHING at the corners underwhich I can hide my mistakes. I can't include a pic of the cake because I can't figure a way to get from the website (it's in a Shockwave animation), but it's at www.cake-jewelry.com. My problem is that I am not at all good with make sharp corners on square cakes. Does anyone have any hints, suggestions, ideas?