I Have So Much To Learn!

I delivered the "1st Birthday" cake to the neighbor this morning at around 10:45.  Yes, finished it.  Yes, it was way more work than I thought.  It was  a good thing I had Thurs. and Fri. off from my "real job".  I really didn't plan for my chocolate cake to crack into 5 pieces and the 2 extra runs to Market Basket for ingredients.  So how did the cake turn out? 

The cake was for around 30 people.  I went back and forth from a sheet cake to a 2 tier.  I ended up doing a 2 tier (think it serves the whole town), but in the end realized I didn't have a box high enough so I had to be flexible and figure it out.  The top tier was a round 8 in. chocolate cake with an Oreo filling.  Oh, by the way, LOVE the oreo filling (got the recipe from the Whimsical Bakehouse) - highly recommend it!  The bottom 1o in. square was a vanilla cake with buttercream icing.  I iced both tiers in buttercream and used straws to stack the cake.  Along with the royal icing butterflies, I made some royal icing drop flowers.   I really hope the cake tastes good!  

What I learned from this cake:  
1. A lot CAN go wrong... and it WILL!  I was so discouraged the 1st cake I made fell apart.  It couldn't even be saved.  
2. Baking takes a lot of time.  No really, a LOT!
3. Recipes are all trial and errror. Even if I've used them before, they may decide they don't want to work that day.
4. One has to be VERY organized - something I need to work on.
5.  My kitchen really isn't big enough :)  And I'm not getting along with my oven.  She's not cooperating.
6.  I need at least a 100 lb bag of confectioner's sugar on hand.  Is that exagerating? 

Ok, I promised a pic.  Here is the cake:

Now back to that "horse" cake I'm working on for this afternoon.....