As I mentioned in a previous post, I made Wendy and Adrian's wedding cake. It was the first cake I've done for an actual wedding! All of my previous cakes were for birthdays or going away parties or simply practice cakes. Let me tell you- making someone's wedding cake is some serious pressure! While Wendy and Adrian are just about the most forgiving and low-maintenance people I know, the knowledge that this is their ONE big day meant that my perfectionist tendencies were in overdrive. So here's the full skinny...
Four tiers of carrot cake with cream cheese icing, all from scratch. I used Martha Stewart's Wedding Cakes for the carrot cake recipe (although I added chopped pecans and walnuts to mine) and The Barefoot Contessa for the icing recipe (it's the one for her coconut cupcakes- the hint of almond makes all the difference!).
I started baking Wednesday night. I continued into Thursday, when we ran into our first problem. Our dog, Pickle, has never (in almost 5 years!) ever eaten anything left on our kitchen table. As far as we know, she's never even tried. But Thursday morning I left some cake layers on the table to cool while I went to class and when I got home, one layer was gone completely and another had some bites taken out of it. Pickle not only looked slightly uncomfortable, but was actually 3 1/2 pounds heavier than normal! So Thursday evening, amidst Palin-Bingo and the VP debate, I finished baking all of the cake layers and started making icing.
Late afternoon on Friday I took all of the plastic-wrapped cake layers over to the venue along with the icing and all of the tools I thought I could possibly need. I've never driven so slowly on a highway or yelled so loudly at drivers who cut me off as I did in that 10 miles! But I arrived at the venue with cake intact and set to work...only to realize, after about four hours of icing, that I didn't have enough. So it was back to the grocery store and to my trusty Kitchenaid mixer to make more icing. And of course I made entirely too much in my desperation to not have to repeat the procedure, so my next post will just have to be "101 things to eat cream cheese icing on"! I (actually "we" would be the proper term since I dragged Justin with me each step of the way and required his DJ skills to keep the cake-making hopping) finally finished around 1:00am and put the nearly completed cake in the catering fridge.
Saturday was the wedding day!! After having a great lunch with my friend, Meredith, who was in town to photograph the wedding, we headed to the venue. While Meredith started taking photos, I made the dome of flowers for the cake topper. Around 4:00 we moved the cake from the fridge to the table- a task that took two strong guys as the cake weighed in at nearly 60 pounds!! Once there, I put the final touches in place and the task was done!
I am relieved to report that Wendy and Adrian were pleased with the final product and the cake was a hit with the guests...whew!! Here are a few photos...
1 comment:
The cake was delicious, Cindy, but your company was even better... well maybe it's a toss-up, the cake was just too scrumptious! We miss you guys!
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