Jackie and Chandy: We Do Wedding Cakes!

Last weekend was our big debut as official Special Occasion Confectioners, or makers of wedding cakes, if you will.

If there is one thing we are reminded of each time we make a cake, it is the importance of patience. It is a painstaking, precise, and deliberate process, and there is simply nothing that can be done to rush things. Skipping one step, bending one rule, or hastening even one element will result in a shoddy product that will, at best, look terrible, and at worst, collapse into a slumping heap of cake and frosting.

The actual baking was done well in advance, and my mom's freezer was brimming with ten wrapped cakes, ready to be assembled. We started with the bottom layer, which was actually constructed from four half circles. When stacking tiered cakes, it is so important for each piece to be square and level. Each side had to be a perfect 90 degrees, and the top had to be completely flat and level.

Once the general shape of each tier is set, the frosting can be smoothed to get that fondant sheen. After the frosting is set and dry, we smoothed it by lightly pressing strips of Viva brand paper towels. (I overheard about six different wedding guests remark how nice the fondant looked on the cake. But this was just covered with basic frosting!)

We placed the bottom layer on our custom cake plate. (It is a serious pet peeve of mine to see a gorgeous cake that has just been plopped onto a piece of plywood covered in aluminum foil. Just look at the cake featured in this post. The cake is gorgeous, but the plate really falls short.) After each layer is completed, we entered the assembly stage! This is where it started to get fun! We used cardboard circles and a caliper-type ruler to trace the circle in the exact center.

Next, we cut plastic dowels and inserted them into the cake to support the next layer. We really decided to be extra cautious and use a lot of dowels. These cakes get very heavy, and you can't have too much support.

Once the cake was assembled, we added the final embellishments. The bride requested a sage green ribbon trim, and we added a fondant pearl border around each tier. I think this really added some nice texture to an otherwise very simple cake. A couple of weeks before the wedding, my mom applied a coat of Scotch guard to the ribbons. This gave the ribbon adequate time to dry, so no chemical taste would transfer to the frosting, but prevented the greasy frosting from bleeding through the ribbon.

The final, and perhaps most difficult step, was transporting the cake to the wedding venue. We folded down the backseat of my parents' SUV, and placed the cake on top of a large foam pad covered in a white sheet. (The foam absorbed a lot of the impact and the sheet prevented any dust, fuzz or hair in the car from settling on our frosting.) It was an emotionally draining experience bracing the cake back there. We felt every single bump and turn in the road, and it seemed like the cake wiggled like Jell-o for the entire trip. But, it made it there in one piece!

My mom and I had a great time making the cake, and most importantly, I think the bride and groom were very pleased with the result. 

On an unrelated side note, our crew cleaned up pretty nice! We don't get dressed up too often, but at least we haven't completely forgotten how!