4.20.2009

Cake Success


(For those of you who missed a few episodes, here's the setup for this story. My brother got married last weekend and as a wedding gift, my mum and I volunteered to make their wedding cake.)
My mum and dad arrived last Tuesday around midday and after a yummy meal of fresh pasta, we compiled our shopping list and went to work gathering the remaining ingredients/devices we'd need for the task.
On Wednesday, we made the cakes (all 2 layer, round cakes): a 12" white cake, a 10" red velvet cake, and an 8" chocolate cake. It went surprisingly smoothly, as we had done our calculations well. Challenges like 15 cups of cake batter not fitting in the Kitchen Aide mixer bowl were vanquished by smart contingency planning (having a giant spare bowl to mix in the remaining flour and milk by hand). The cakes rose well (there was some concern about the variables of baking at altitude) and seemed to turn out fine.
On Thursday, we made fillings for the cakes: chocolate ganache for the chocolate cake, raspberry-strawberry for the white cake (that used a base of raspberry jam), and we used one bought icing, cream cheese icing for the red velvet filling. Then, we made a double batch of buttercream frosting and my mum iced the cakes while I made 3 more batches. I then put on the "cornelli" squiggle texture on the sides. (Ouch, my hand was killing me when I would pause for a break!) As I finished those up, my mum put on a star edging around the base and the top of the side.
Saturday, my mum and dad took the cakes up to the wedding. The florist had brought three beautiful cake toppers, and the cakes were arranged as you see below. I was SO pleased with the final effect. Everything came together beautifully well.
The chocolate and red velvet cakes were the biggest favorites, but the white cake was fine too (a wee bit dry, but OK with the addition of the frosting).
We got lots of compliments and most importantly the couple (Max & Jenn) loved it (see comments, attached). Yay cake success!

Photo Credit: The Fabulous Jen A

10 comments:

neurondoc said...

Mmmm, cake! What a nice sister.

vince said...

Those cakes look lovely and sound scrumptious. Great job!

Janiece said...

Wow. I know who I'm calling for my next bakery request...

Although I do have a most delicious cream cheese frosting recipe. Remind me and I'll e:mail it over.

Charley said...

awesome! time to start up the next business!

kimby said...

Beautiful! Job really well done....now I want cake!

belsum said...

WOW!!!

Mummy Grabill said...

The were fantastic, Anne! The decoration was amazing and they tasted scrumptious! Great job!

Max Cutrell said...

It's difficult for me to put into words how happy Jenn and I were with the cakes. We could NOT have had better cakes! In the madness of the day we did get to try all three cakes. We loved all three, particularly the red and white cakes. I disagree with you, the white cake was (and still is) very moist! Amazing, amazing job!!

Anonymous said...

Wow. Those are gorgeous, Anne.

(Says the aficionado of Food TV's cake challenges...)

Jenn said...

Said simply - BEAUTIFUL & YUMMY!!

Thank you!