Two by two
My cousin is having twin boys! For her shower, I made an almond sheet cake with whipped chocolate ganache. The theme was Noah’s Ark. Her sister had a really cute shower invitation, so I drew most of the animals freehand based on the invite picture. The longest part was mixing all of the colors, but it was super fun to make!
Now I can finally sleep…for tonight.
The wedding reception was last night and it was really fun! I haven’t had Indian food in awhile and it was soooo good – traditional favorites with lots of potatoes, chicken, and naan. I could go for some right now. In the buffet room, the cake was cut as the evening wore on, instead of having been pre-cut and placed on plates. It was quite a messy presentation, and depending on when you got to dessert you only got one flavor of cake instead of being able to choose. But regardless most of the 220 portions got eaten.
Here’s a picture of me with the stunning couple:
The cake cutting was first, which was different than other weddings I’ve been to. Too bad the photographer and videographer were the hovering kind so we hardly saw any of it. Hubby managed to sneak a few shots in:
And now some gratuitous cake photos – the cake topper was supplied by the bride, he proposed on a swing so it was very appropriate:
I have to say, I learned so much from this experience. And it was great! I hope I get the chance to do it again.
Filed under Cake, Wedding | Comments (2)The graduation cake
After finishing off the wedding cake, I still had another cake to do, for a graduation party. There is a definite learning curve for cakes – but after 3 years, I’ve started getting the hang of sheet cakes. This one should be good to put any graduating high school senior into chocolate coma:
He’s going to Penn State, class of 2012. The blue color is fresh and will darken closer to the Nittany Lion blue overnight. Chocolate cake with rich chocolate ganache filling and icing, oooooooh baby. I love how smooth ganache can be. The decorations are made with simple decorator buttercream (shortening). This was a fun quickie compared to the monster wedding cake!
Filed under Cake, Graduation | Comment (0)It’s done
Wow. Never thought you could learn so much from your first wedding cake. It’s now 2AM and the kitchen is finally cleaned up from the mess that was my kitchen:
Notice the now almost empty 20 pound bucket of spackle, er, rolled fondant on the island.
In total, it probably took me about 20 solid hours to complete this project. I’ve picked up on some useful tips to save me probably at least 5 hours should I ever be hired for a wedding cake again. I’m just hoping that I’ll have the energy to dance at the wedding!
Here are images from the construction, I wanted to do a time lapse but we didn’t have the right equipment for it. I will add the top tier when I get there (you can see it in the background of the last picture):
Yes, building this even came to a point where I had to use a hammer. And no, the cake isn’t as hard as concrete.
Each tier sits on a cardboard plate, supported with wooden dowels that my husband whittled down to size. The design is based on one the bride gave me, inspired by the traditional henna for Indian weddings. It feeds about 220 not including the top tier, which I have the responsibility of collecting post-wedding to store for the happy couple when they return from their honeymoon.
Flavor combinations: Top & 3rd tier – chocolate Kahlua cake with chocolate buttercream; 2nd tier – vanilla cake with strawberry jam filling and vanilla buttercream icing; 4th tier – vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream.
Meltdown 1: Covering the larger tiers with fondant and taking 3 hours to figure out how to avoid completely cracking the edges. I happened to have just enough so that I didn’t have to panic when I had to throw a few pounds of fondant away because it cracked. Shortening and slight chilling pre-fondant helped.
Meltdown 2: Colliding with husband and dropping half the soaking syrup onto one of the tiers. Luckily the cake held its shape and should just be very moist.
Next obstacle: Delivery in a 4-door sedan two hours away. Wish me luck!
Filed under Cake, Wedding | Comment (1)