Another baking all-nighter

The cake order for yesterday went off nicely; but, as usual, I was up all night finishing it because I'm too anal to cut corners. I usually get at least a little sleep, but I seriously got a 20-minute nap (which resulted in about 10 minutes of actual sleep). I slept during my lunch hour, but I was walking dead when I got home. What took so long? The fact that I needed to make a new batch of filling because I forgot to figure out how much of my conserve I would need to flavor the buttercream. That took 4 hours to reduce to the right consistency; I had to keep the heat low-ish to keep it from boiling over. Apparently there's a fine line with strawberries.

I got some pictures that I'll post later on, but I have to say that taking pictures of my cakes reminds me that I need to take a cake decorating class. The cakes always look pretty good and taste great, but that just means it's time to up the ante. Plus, I want to get over feeling like an amateur with a piping bag. That all being said, people did gasp when they came to the party & saw the cake. A few asked if it came from Chandler's, which I take as both a compliment and an insult. Compliment because they think it's a real bakery cake, insult because my buttercream is better (Plus, I think their cakes look nice but not what I would call pretty.)

Anyway, my first foray into half sheets went very well, and while I don't think I'll be doing them in my usual 4-layer fashion, it's nice to have the option of making one cake to feed a crowd. I think next time I'll pull back on the buttercream between the 2 layers & add more filling. It tasted good, I just want it to look prettier. I like cake fillings more, anyway.