Being a Knock-Off Artist

Ok, so no, I don't sell "Rolox" watches on the streets of New York and scatter like flies when the heat comes after me.  But I do find gorgeous cakes on Pinterest and recreate them in my kitchen.  There are thousands of incredible bakers out there, and they have created millions of amazing cakes.  And this little thing called the internet makes pictures of them all available!  For free!  But still, every time I do it, I feel that twinge of guilt that says I ought to somehow credit the original artist somewhere on my cake.

My latest was this week, when a friend requested an engagement cake for a family party.  She sent me a picture from this great bakery, Sweet Sugar Treats in Australia, and asked if I could make it for their party this weekend:

I was, of course, super pumped to get to recreate such a beautiful cake for a dear friend, and I was flattered she thought I was good enough to make such a lovely cake.  Plus, I thrive on positive feedback, so I love getting compliments on my work (don't we all?), but still, I feel like a cheat and a scoundrel for being a copycat.

Should "imitation is the highest form of flattery" trump my plagiarist feelings?  Am I over-thinking and over-reacting, as I tend to do anyway?

Or am I right in feeling guilty about this?

Anyway, to get back to the cake itself, I adore the sweet simplicity of this cake.  But as simple as it looks, I had to cut out about a million tiny fondant hearts to drape over the sides.  I cut out this many hearts three times over:

And I cut the silhouette of the couple out of black fondant using the pushpin trick that I learned from Sweet Sugar Belle.

I don't know how other bakers are able to cut out silhouettes without the tiny rough, jagged edges I seem to end up with.

My proportions are obviously different than the original inspiration cake from Sweet Sugar Treats (which I totally expected), and overall I'm quite happy with how it turned out:

Congratulations and best wishes to A&W, P&G and A&A!