So, this is not a recipe or a step-by-step “how to” post, but since this is the place where I share my kitchen goings on, you get to hear about it. I made my first wedding cake! A friend from high school contacted me last fall to see if I would be interested in the job. My knee jerk reaction was to say no, I don’t do wedding cakes but then I thought heck, I could do that! It sounded like a fun challenge. Eventually the order morphed into a small three-tiered cake for the bridal party and 140 cupcakes on towers for the rest of the guests. I felt very comfortable with this concept as I have done several tiered cakes for bridal showers, baby showers and birthdays so I knew I could handle this project. The cake and cupcakes were all red velvet with cream cheese frosting (excellent choice!) and the cake was covered in homemade marshmallow fondant. I thought the cake design the bride chose was simple, elegant and beautiful. I absolutely loved it!
The biggest lesson I learned from this adventure was the importance of flexibility and how to roll with the punches. I didn’t receive the brooches to finish assembling the tiered cake until about 4 hours before I had to leave for the reception which was way too late for the timeline I had planned. Thankfully I finished frosting all the cupcakes with just minutes remaining, so I was still on time. I’ll spare the details but to say the set up scenario at the reception location was less than ideal is definitely an understatement. Thankfully my best friend Amanda was there to help, and using many skills we learned back in our Daisy, Brownie, and Girl Scout days, we made it work. The final set up was not exactly what I had envisioned because of some apparent miscommunication with the florist, but it ended up working out in the end. The most important thing was that the bride and groom were happy with the end result and since I heard only good things, I’m calling it a success.
Despite the stress of the final hours, I must say it was a truly amazing honor to have this role in a friend’s wedding day. Almost the whole time I was working on it, I was imagining the bride and groom cutting the cake and feeding it to each other, saving the top tier for their anniversary, and years later looking back through the pictures where the cake would be featured. I am so happy to have had this experience. Thank you Kathryn and Jake for letting me be a part of your special day. I wish you a lifetime of happiness together!
(Bottom photo courtesy of Robert Ginda)
