December 3, 2012
Wedding Cake: The Second Attempt
On November 10th my lovely friend Elizabeth married a nice man named Eric. Because they were on a bit of a tight budget (and what soon-to-be-married couple isn’t, really?), they asked if my mother and I would do their Wedding cake, cupcakes, and Groom’s cake. Soon after, they asked us not to do the Groom’s cake, as they wouldn’t be able to afford the extra cost, but we decided to do it anyway as our gift.
The wedding cake itself was pretty easy. A small, two-layer vanilla cake with vanilla icing, wrapped in burlap and white ribbon. See?
Simple but Lovely
For this cake I believe I did the mixing, mother did the baking and mixed the icing, I iced it, and she adorned it with ribbon. It was quite the team effort!
Next came the cupcakes, which were to be the real “main” cake for guests. For these, they wanted half to be the same vanilla cake and vanilla icing as the Wedding cake, and the other half to be red velvet with vanilla icing. While I baked about half of these, my mom did most of the work baking and icing them.
Quite a lovely display, my mother did an excellent job
Finally, we arrive at the Groom’s Cake. He wanted a mocha-flavored cake decorated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle style. Originally I was sent a photo to go by from the internet, but apparently the photo is no longer available. Odd. So you will just have to take my word for it that this looks similar. Anywho, I was pretty much in charge of this cake from start to finish: mixing, baking (mom watched one of the layers for me in the oven as I had to run and do something else), making the fondant, and decorating. This was probably the most detailed fondant cake I have made thus far, but I am pretty happy with how it turned out overall.
It’s the Turtles!
There are always things you aren’t going to be 100% happy with, but that’s how it goes! The groom loved it, and it tasted awesome, which are the things that are truly important. Here’s a better shot of the lid (my favorite part)!
I would be proud to live under such a lid, especially if pizza was involved
See all those little grooves? I HAND STAMPED each groove into the fondant with a weird little scrap metal piece I found in one of my parents’ kitchen drawers (I washed it first).
The thing I was most nervous about at first was how to get the lid to balance, but that ended up being about the easiest part (I just stuck it on there with some water and it stayed like it was glued).
See that balance? Turns out it’s easy peasy
The next most nerve-racking part was the city skyline. I ended up having to re-make a new batch of fondant the night before the wedding and cutting it out again, as the first attempt got weird and kept falling apart in a way I have never seen before. So, that was exciting. But it all turned out well!
In the end, everyone loved everything, my mom and I were proud, and the bride and groom were happy. After vowing not to do a wedding cake again after my last experience, this time I think I would definitely give it another go. Hurray weddings!
The two love birds about to partake of the sweet deliciousness of cake for the first time as a married couple.
Until tomorrow,
Robyn
Going Beyond Zebra 