Cake Chat
Cake Chat with Amber Comadira-Smith from Cake with Amber
Amber shares her cake expertise so you can sweeten-up your cake skills and create amazing cakes with confidence!
PERFECTION ISN’ T THE GOAL- PROGRESS IS
This title, right? I’ m such a hypocrite, because I’ m honestly a huge perfectionist in my cake work. But knowing that I am a perfectionist, I always try to keep‘ progress’ top of mind, or at least surround myself with people who can remind me of that( thanks Mum and hubby!).
Recently I decided to start a little video series with another local decorator, talking all things cake, tips and‘ war stories’( ha!). At the time of publishing this article, we’ ve already posted our first video, with more on the way!
As part of the first episode, we shared our humble beginnings and looked back on the first cakes we ever made! And gosh … for me, it was initially a moment of cringe, but then it was quickly replaced by absolute admiration for myself. This inspired my Cake Chat article today where I wanted to talk about the importance of progress over perfection. And for the sake of being vulnerable and reflecting on growth, I’ ll be sharing a few of my first ever cakes with you, spanning back about 11 years ago( eek!).
That young gal in that picture was so proud of herself( though she definitely looks tired after a full day of decorating her first cake haha). It was meant to be a fishbowl cake, with tiny water droplets‘ jumping’ out to make the fish look like they were swimming. And while it’ s always easy to feel embarrassed looking back, there’ s something pretty magic
I think we forget sometimes that it actually takes time to be good at something. In a world where social media is flooded with highlight reels of everyone’ s best work( not to mention that AI can whip up polished cake designs in an instant too), it’ s easy to feel behind or not‘ good enough’ if you ' re not perfect straight away. But real skill- the kind that’ s in your bones- only comes from doing. From showing up messy. From trying, failing, tweaking and trying again. And gosh isn’ t it just frustrating sometimes?! But at the same time, it’ s absolutely monumental to our growth.
So if you’ re feeling a little stuck in perfectionism lately, here are a few things that help me when I’ m caught up chasing‘ perfect’ instead of enjoying the process: