Wedding countdown

I am happy to report that the hours that I’ve spent watching “Ace of Cakes” on the food channel were not a total waste of time. I must have picked up some tips somehow because I managed to make my daughter’s wedding cake over the weekend and it went pretty well!

Don’t be concerned about the freshness; this isn’t the cake that everyone will be eating. The trend among young couples these days is to have a “dummy” cake that looks wonderful for the cake cutting photos but serve their guests from different cakes that are kept in the kitchen. It actually makes sense to me, because the trend is also to have these smooth surface contemporary cakes that are covered in fondant. If you have ever tasted fondant – yuck!

Years ago I worked as a craft coordinator for a chain of craft stores, part of that job included being certified as a Wilton Cake Decorating Instructor. I’ve done a few traditional wedding cakes for family, but this was my first attempt at a serious fondant project. I should have taken a video of the process, it was pretty funny! Imagine having this huge 22 inch circle of fondant that is centered over the cake and then as it drapes over the sides you have to mold it to fit. It has folds and ruffles and is entirely too large, but it works. Don’t ask me how, it just does. It takes a lot of smoothing and I recommend repeating over and over “I can do this, it is possible to make this happen, other people have done this, it must be possible”.

As far as the decorations are concerned, there are fresh flowers ordered for the top of the cake and the bride and groom requested that it be as contemporary as possible. I was oh so tempted to embellish it with a quilt block, but it is THEIR wedding. Lauren’s new last name will be Olson and her initials will be LJO and Jon’s are JLO, so the “O”s are a bit of a private joke. The good news is that I sent them a photo from my camera phone and they are happy with it – whew!